Tooling Digitalization: Basics

Tooling digitalization can be the solution for today’s manufacturing systems, where the tool failures can cause as much as 20% downtime, leading to significant productivity and profit losses. 

Therefore, managing the lifecycle of the tool supply chain is essential for achieving the four main goals of advanced manufacturing: improved quality, increased efficiency, reduced energy consumption, and minimized pollution.

You can also read: How to Increase Injection Mold Life

Tooling Digitalization Evolution

As the 21st century progressed, the rise of Industry 4.0 brought further changes. Some of them were the integration of the Internet of Things (IoT), big data analytics, and cloud computing into manufacturing. Sensors were increasingly used to collect real-time data on tooling performance, enabling proactive maintenance and lifecycle management.

Today, tooling digitalization encompasses not only monitoring and data collection but also advanced predictive analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. These innovations allow manufacturers to optimize tooling processes, improve quality control, and significantly reduce downtime, marking a substantial shift from traditional practices to data-driven, efficient operations.

The current diagnostic

Despite the increasing significance, demand, and scale of tooling assets and the rise of digitalization, traditional practices remain widespread, even in big and global companies. Many manufacturers still rely on manual data management for their tooling assets. 

Plant and tooling  managers submit Excel files, often lacking a standardized format. This outdated method offers minimal strategic value and is vulnerable to human error and manipulation, diminishing the reliability and usefulness of tooling data.

You can also read: The Future of Plastics: The Vision, Chapter 1 of 3

Four company benefits from tooling digitalization

These key areas are driving significant advancements for companies in the whole tool supply chain, enabling more efficient operations, cost savings, and enhanced quality control across their supply chains:

• Increased Efficiency through Real-Time Monitoring
  Digital tooling enables real-time monitoring of production processes, allowing manufacturers to track machine performance, detect issues early, and optimize workflows. With IoT-enabled tools, data on tool wear, cycle times, and production rates can be gathered and analyzed continuously. This reduces downtime and prevents unexpected breakdowns​.
  
• Predictive Maintenance and Reduced Downtime
  Tooling digitalization allows manufacturers to shift from reactive to predictive maintenance. By collecting data on the condition of tools, companies can anticipate when a tool is likely to fail and schedule maintenance before it impacts production. This minimizes unexpected machine downtime, enhances production continuity, and lowers maintenance costs​;
• Enhanced Product Quality and Precision
  Digitalized tooling systems provide higher precision and consistency by automating previous manual processes. Advanced digital tools can adjust to real-time parameters deviations, ensuring high-quality, defect-free products. This results in better quality assurance and reduces scrap rates and waste​
• Cost Optimization
  Digitalization in tooling helps optimize material usage and reduce waste through improved precision and accuracy in production. It also lowers labor costs by automating various tasks. Consequently it provides insights that help streamline production cycles, cutting operational expenses in the long run.

This is the first part to cover this extended topic from the basic point of view, the next chapter will show you some tool milestones that some companies on the tooling supply chain are using to stay competitive and be more aware about what the industry is demanding.

To read more: Tooling Market Report by Type, Material, End Use, and Region 2024-2032