MATERIÁLY, TECHNOLÓGIE, PRODUKTY
To o l i n g , t o o l s

Automated tool
dispensers MATRIX
Comprehensive solution of every situation
Text: Lukáš LUKÁČ, Rastislav HULEJ, Vlasta RAFAJOVÁ, photo ISCAR, K&M Innovation, Regal Beloit Slovakia, DANEX Slovakia

Inspired by the Fourth Industrial Revolution, but also taking into account the speciﬁcs and new challenges currently posed by the situation surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic, new, sometimes revolutionary,solutions are emerging in the ﬁeld of „tool management“. Their common goal is to provide better, moreefﬁcient and safer ways of managing, logistics and managing cutting tools in production facilities.

ISCAR offers such a solution in the form of MATRIX dispensing
cabinets. The technical qualities and type diversity of MATRIX machines guarantee effective tool management in various types ofproduction facilities, including their speciﬁc or special requirements
for the management of tools and accesories.
Worldwide, ISCAR has already installed approximately 10,000
MATRIX machines, and in Slovakia they are used by several dozen
companies.
The MATRIX family of automated tool dispensers are powered byunique management software can help customers with:
Drive down costs
Guarantee production output
Optimize stock levels
Streamline purchasing
Control cost per unit (CPU)
Select the right tools for each job

80|

5/2020 | www.leaderpress.sk

MATERIÁLY, TECHNOLÓGIE, PRODUKTY
To o l i n g , t o o l s
MATRIX Statistics in Slovakia

MATRIX in Slovak industry• First installation 10/2007.
• Currently 80 cabinets installed in Slovakia.
• The current number of registered withdrawals in Slovakia is more than
3,000,000.
• Average savings in the ﬁrst year of implementation 10 - 15% of the total
value of managed tools, in the following years about 8% per year.
• System lifespan? All of the oldest even MATRIX 3rd generation are still
100% functional.
• The usual return of investment is from half a year to 2 years, dependingon the use - deployment of the system.

MATRIX dispenserts have been used on the Slovak market for 14years and are actively used by lot of companies. Some of them have really long-term experience with its operations. Speciﬁc examples - references from companies that use MATRIX machines in theirproduction ﬂoors, can be a useful inspiration for other companies
that are currently looking for a solution for the management oftools. We therefore bring some of them ...

DANEX Slovakia, s.r.o.
The company DANEX Slovakia, s.r.o., which was established in 1992 as a custom production operatingin the ﬁeld of machining of metallic and non-metallic products and components, is today an establishedengineering company with high credit even in foreign markets. In addition to custom production of machineparts, its production portfolio consists mainly of special bearings and components for the automotive bearing industry. In the 28 years of its existence, the company‘s technology park has developed from simple
conventional machines to today‘s CNC technologies, represented by CNC lathes, CNC swiss turning lathes and CNC milling centers. Thanks tohigh-quality technological and personnel equipment (the company currently employs 85 highly qualiﬁed workers), DANEX achieves high quality
and accuracy of manufactured products. This is also the reason why the company has competed not only at home but also in demanding markets
in Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria and the USA. According to the CEO of DANEX Slovakia, Rudolf Danihel, the company‘s primary goal
remains to achieve the highest quality of production, continuous improvement of internal production processes, teamwork and a growing numberof customers.

MATRIX brought order to managing tools
In accordance with the effort to improve the internal processes in the company, tenyears ago DANEX Slovakia decided to reﬂect on ISCAR‘s offer and install the ﬁrst
MATRIX cabinet into its operation ﬂoor. „We evaluated this as a possible beneﬁt forthe company in terms of gaining an overview and control over the consumption oftools. The decision for the tool box was enhanced in particular by the possibility ofobtaining information on the consumption of tools and implements linked to a speciﬁc completed order or a speciﬁc employee, ”explains R. Danihel. Currently, DANEX
uses two MATRIX cabinets - Series 4 and 5 MAXI - in which cutting and clamping
tools (cutting inserts, drills, holders) are located. „Until time we had these cabinets, itwas very difﬁcult for us to manage the dispensing of cutting tools. Ten years ago, ourcutting tools has been moving in between machines and production ﬂoor unaddressed, and when the workers were not tidy, it was always difﬁcult to ﬁnd. Although tool
management systems were introduced, it was not effective until they had hardware
and software support in the form of tool boxes, ”adds R. Danihel.
Every month, DANEX records 2,000 to 2,500 movements - withdrawals fromMATRIX. Employees access MATRIX via their chips and item barcodes.
„Withdrawals from vending machines are very intense and if all the withdrawals operations were made via stock keeper, he would be quite
overwhelmed and couldnt work on anything else. In addition, we have a three-shift operation, the machine works fully even in the afternoon andat night. Although it did not dismantle the stock keeper for us, because he has a cumulative function at us, it made it much easier for him to work aswell. All movements, selections are recorded in MATRIX and the storekeeper receives information in the e-mail every morning about which items
and how much to add to the tool boxes. The system does this automatically. „According to R. Danihel, costs of cutting and clamping tools are about 5 to
7 percent of the total production costs, which is not negligible. „Every healthy
company that protects its costs managing, has to focus on the costs of tools andtooling as well. We have tidy up the cutting and clamping tools with help ofMATRIX cabinets, and today, thanks to this, we can obtain information from thesystem to optimize production. We can also call back to workers if they consume
tools responsibly. ”After all those years, they consider the decision to install cabinets as right one.
„I can‘t imagine working without MATRIXes anymore. It is deﬁnitely a systemthat I can only recommend to engineering companies, „concludes the executive
director of DANEX Slovakia.
www.leaderpress.sk | 5/2020|

81

MATERIÁLY, TECHNOLÓGIE, PRODUKTY
To o l i n g , t o o l s

Regal Beloit Slovakia, s.r.o.
Regal Beloit Slovakia, s.r.o. is an engineering company focused on the production of high-performance couplings for the torque transmission, primarily for the industries of mining of minerals, aswell as catalog couplings designed for various industries. The company based in Nové Mesto
nad Váhom is part of the American Regal Beloit Corporation, which operates in more than 40 countries around the world in various industries and employs more than 25,000 people worldwide.
As the production manager of Regal Beloit Slovakia, Roman Halienka says, the company employs a hundred people and its technological equipment - CNC lathes, CNC milling machines, grinders, machines for the gears production, ... - determines its production program. „We are a company with its own production program so all our products are intended for internal
purposes. We also adapt the equipment of our machinery for this. Approximately 90% of the material we process is made of carbon steel,
we also use titanium and stainless steel. Our couplings have a circular shape, so about 70% of the input material is in the form of rods, but
we also use forgings and burnouts. ”
A number of different machining processes and tools used, led the company to the ﬁrst vending machine from ISCAR, ﬁve years ago.

MATRIX relieves us from manual orders
According to Mr. Halienka, the ﬁrst MATRIX dispenser was intended
only for consumables (inserts, drills, taps, endmills etc.), which had
been dispensed by a stock keeper before. „We gradually worked ourway up to acquiring ﬁve MATRIX cabinets. It is no longer intended
just for storing cutting tools. We have a special MATRIX for measuring
gauges, a cabinet dispenser for special tools, another one for grooving holders, and a machine with tools used in gears production. „Employees access the cabinet via a chip card reader, which they also
use for attendance or as food system. R. Halienka considers the exemption from manual ordering of items to be one of the most signiﬁcantadvantages of dispensing cabinets. „Individual tools - items have minimum quantities set in MATRIX according to the kanban system. Whenthe quantity drops to the speciﬁed limit, an item order is automaticallygenerated and sent to proper supplier. They deliver tools within 24 or
48 hours and issue us an invoice once a month.“The savings were reﬂected in the company immediately after the installation of the ﬁrst MATRIX. „We detected a tool-cost saving of 30
percent in the ﬁrst year. This has been created by several effects, such as personalized selection, when operators are aware that every withdrawal
is linked to their name. They only choose to withdraw if they really need something. Reducing the variety of items also contributed to the savings,
and we also saved on the stock keeper, to whom we could give another job. The use of photographs also creates annual savings for us. MATRIX
allows you to upload photos of individual stored products. We worked with university student who took photos of each of our items. This madeit easier for people to select tools from the machine. They can ﬁnd it faster by photo, they don‘t have to search it by name. The seconds savedin terms of the number of selections and employees multiplied by the hourly rate of work mean a saving of 3,300 euros per year, ”explains theproduction manager.
He adds that MATRIX is very ﬂexible and can also be used to monitor
tool life. „In MATRIX we store also tools, which we withdraw once
time but then return them after use, for example regrinding purpose.
If we set the tool life in system, for example 10 cycles or 20 regrinds,
we simply get information on how much the tool will last and when it
is necessary to order a new one. The system can also be used to set
the quantity of workpieces that can be produced with the regrinded
tool. This means that if the tool is capable to produce 30 parts andonly after this job goes for regrinding, and operator has to produce
only 10 parts, it is not necessary to have the tool reground immediately. During return of used tool, MATRIX asks how many parts has
been produced with tool and without this information, we could notcorrectly evaluate and use the maximum tool life after grinding. Thisis especially important for special tools with a delivery time of 10-12weeks. „Five MATRIXes are currently the optimal number for the company andfully meet the expectations for effective tool management. „If our production expands, we will certainly invest in MATRIX cabinets again,“concludes R. Halienka.

82|

5/2020 | www.leaderpress.sk

MATERIÁLY, TECHNOLÓGIE, PRODUKTY
To o l i n g , t o o l s

K&M Innovation, s.r.o.
K&M Innovation, s.r.o., is a Slovak engineering company specializing in precision machining of metals andplastics, as well as the subsequent assembly of various structural product subassemblies for measuring, pressure and ﬁltration technology. The company operating in Stará Turá is a supplier to the gas, water andautomotive industries and its major customers include, for example, Honeywell, Nissens, Boge, Wertheim,Manz, HDO, Sensus.
The company employs about 80 people andmanufacture comprises three-shift system. TheK&M Innovation machine park consists of CNC lathes and machining centers, technologies for splitting materials, 3D measurement devices, as well as classic milling machinesand lathes. The product portfolio of K&M Innovation, s.r.o., is extremely diverse and it
is right to say that the company works with a wide range and variety of input materials.
„We machine practically all metal materials, from steel and stainless steel, through aluminum, aluminum alloys, brass, bronze, titanium, and we have also been machining plastic
for about two years, all exactly according to the customer‘s speciﬁcation. In addition, weprovide comprehensive customer services in the areas of heat treatment and surface treatment of components manufactured by us. We place great emphasis on the high qualityof our products and therefore we have a well-equipped metrology center. „“ explains
Peter Filan, the company‘s director.

MATRIX helps to save us two stock operators at least...
The variety of material groups used of course means, a large number of diverse tools for machining it. Increased demands to ensure the right tools
in the right quantity and delivery time, together with the effort to continuously improve and optimize all processes in the company, which is a naturalpart of K & M Innovation‘s own business strategy, led the company to decision to use a dispensing machine.
According to Peter Filan, the MATRIX Maxi from ISCAR has been used in
the production hall since 2016, and after four years of operation, they can
only state satisfaction. „We mainly use our MATRIX for storing of carbide
inserts and smaller cutting tools such as drills and endmills. I see its positivesprimarily in the managed withdrawals of tools, respectively in the possibilityof having a detailed and targeted overview of the consumption of tools by
speciﬁc workers, or for individual production projects. To access the MATRIX,
our employees use their chip cards, which are also used to record attendance. A detailed overview also allows us to react immediately to any increased
consumption of the tools. „Mr. Filan estimates the reached savings of total tool costs by 2 %. However,they also record savings in the area of personnel. „The MATRIX system saves us at least two necessary stock operators, and that is a true realistic
estimation. If we didn‘t have such a device - which allows us to dispense tools during all three work shifts - we would have to secure a tool stock and aperson in it, who would take care of all tool movements - for each shift of course. Over time, I consider our decision for a MATRIX to be the right one,and in case of necessity, we will go with the MATRIX system again, ” adds the director of K&M Innovation.More information about the production
program, technological possibilities and references of K&M Innovation, s.r.o., can be found at: www.km-innovation.sk

If you are interested in lending MATRIX cabinets or free of charge trial andtesting of system directly at your place for three months or if you have any
questions regarding MATRIX, the marketing and technical staff of ISCAR for
MATRIX in the Slovak Republic are available to you:
Lukáš Lukáč, lukac@iscar.sk, 0911 637 495
Rastislav Hulej, hulej@iscar.sk, 0903 452 042

ISCAR SR, K Múzeu 3, Žilina, 010 03, info@iscar.sk