Appel: Tile-Control E

Appel has begun the new year with excellent results and a new series of orders, including four new large-format dimensional and diagonal control systems for Casalgrande Padana. As part of a programme to upgrade its lines, Casalgrande Padana has adopted new-generation Appel instruments called Tile-Control E featuring fully-automatic size change systems, very small overall dimensions and a capability for the maximum connectivity and data sharing.
Appel has also received major orders from the large Brazilian manufacturer Portobello, the Indian firm SIMS Ceramic and leading Italian groups including Marazzi and Serenissima.

Appel has introduced many new features over its entire product range. The most significant innovations concern the connectivity of the appliances, which can be connected in a network using the installed ports. This allows remote support to be set up and a remote connection made directly to the machine’s operator panel from any PC, making it possible to display, modify and download all collected data (via VNC server installed on the machine). All the statistical data processed by the machine are loaded into a convenient .csv file which can be instantly downloaded using any USB device and managed from any PC.

Powerful supervision software has also been introduced, allowing the user to store all the data collected during the various production runs. The data are stored by means of bar charts showing the production percentages recorded at the end of the run. The supervision software also generates a file that stores production runs in chronological order, with the option of weekly/monthly/yearly breakdowns. These production runs can be assigned a reference name and contain all the associated statistical information (total number of pieces, total number of pieces per sorting class and total number of pieces measured for each defect).
A simple search tool can then be used to extract the data at any time. Last but not least, the system can be used to remotely view the real-time status of a production run, again using intuitive bar charts.