Life cycle oriented milling tool management in small scale production

The milling technology is characterized as the most important manufacturing technology in a variety of industries. Moreover, recent developments in hardware and software issues have increased technology's complexity which is, beyond others, caused by different milling variants and a high number of different milling tools. Milling tools are responsible for a significant cost position in manufacturing driven companies which is shown in the paper by an industry wide survey. Due to the costly and wasteful production it can be shown that this is a significant cost driver. This paper introduces an integrated life cycle oriented approach for the standardization and optimization (including the reuse of tools by standardized repair processes) of milling tools in order to enhance the life cycle of milling tools, reduce overall costs and therefore raise the company's sustainability.