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Historically evolved decentral organisation structures led to suboptimal implemented improvement measures by neglecting comprehensive dependencies within the tool life cycle. Cost saving measures in one life cycle process can manifest as performance deficits in others, for instance the interdependencies of low priced cutting tools and the resulting quality loss within the cutting tool operation. Therefore, a life cycle-orientated indicator is necessary to support the holistic evaluation of planned or implemented measures and their impact towards the entire tool life cycle system. This paper presents the hierarchical tool total costs of ownership (TTCO) indicator which considers tool-related costs and tool unit performance parameters. Furthermore, the indicator supports the assessment of long-term measure impacts by calculating the TTCO-based experience curve. An IT architecture concept was developed to support the time-intense (TTCO) data acquisition, calculation and its analysis towards implemented organisational and technical improvement measures by providing assisting applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The complexity and number of variants of today's cutting tools is constantly growing due to the customer-specific requirements. These requirements and constantly changing circumstances in manufacturing environment can result in complications for the tool management since conventional tool histories and tool management systems are not pursuing a comprehensive approach to collect all necessary data along the tool life cycle. To identify and evolve dependencies of all relevant processes and process parameters, support tool manufacturers and their development departments as well as end users wanting to extend tool life to its fullest, tool history data must be distributed. Once tools have an individual tool ID, the acquisition of tool usage data via installation of process monitoring devices, together with tracking data and information of individual tools enable a holistic knowledge base and the adaption of tool concepts to fit the steadily changing circumstances in manufacturing environment. The objective of this research project is to support optimisation procedures in early stages of the tool life cycle by developing a generic tool history data pool. A methodical approach was developed for defining tool history data to support the information flow by using a life cycle process model. The intention is to detect and track relevant data and their sources such as MES, ERP, NC control, identification technology and sensors in stations located in the tool life cycle and allocate and distribute the history data from the shop floor to suitable process owners. The approach supports tool life cycle management and can lead to enhancing tool performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]