Good ideas were needed not only for the automation of the system in the TIA portal, but also for the safety of the operators: Berner and his team developed a special steel block equipped with a sensor. It is used during maintenance or cleaning work or to set up an assembly for a new profile. The roller table is lifted to make the machine accessible. The steel block can be used to secure the position of the table so that it does not accidentally fold down and injure someone. If the safety block is forgotten, the sensor registers this. If someone enters the danger zone monitored by a laser scanner, an alarm sounds and the motors are stopped immediately. “The communication via Profinet works very well,” explains Berner, ”and the laser scanners from a third-party provider could be integrated without any problems - we really appreciated that.” In order for certain parts of the machine to be cleaned, the rollers have to rotate very slowly - a process that is not without danger. The retrofit professionals at GAP Engineering installed a special pedal for this purpose. It must be pressed constantly during the cleaning process, otherwise the machine stops immediately. The project, which took around a year, was worthwhile, says Barmaz: “Thanks to this retrofit and the many creative solutions from GAP Engineering, we now have a machine that meets the latest safety requirements.”