Development of a tool management system

Bar Code를 이용한 공구관리 시스템 개발

At present, the manufacturing industry is in a process of a great change. There is a demand for a variety of types and shorter product life. The change increases the number of different tools and frequencies of tool changes. For the most part, the tools are presetted and offset values are entered manually or via punched tapes to NC machines. Thus a large amount of capital is tied up in the tool area and considerable productive time is lost. Consequently, there is a need for improvement in tool management. This paper describes a computer controlled tool data management system which include: 1) tool identification with bar code. 2) computer aided management and updating of tool data. 3) tool data communication with tool presetter, CNC, etc.