Aluminum & Extrusion

Aluminum extrusion is driven by press capacity, die management, setup losses, and downstream constraints (aging, finishing, packing).

factory.online helps extrusion plants improve press utilization, reduce scrap, and stabilize delivery performance by aligning planning with shop-floor truth.

Specific challenges in extrusion plants:

• Press and die constraints: die availability, maintenance, cleaning, and changeover time dominate throughput.
• Setup variability: heating profiles, tuning time, alloy changes, and operator-dependent stabilization periods.
• Yield and scrap losses: butt scrap, start-up scrap, dimensional deviations, and rework loops.
• Downstream bottlenecks: aging ovens, anodizing/painting lines, cutting, CNC, packing.
• Sequencing dependencies: alloy/temper families, die groups, profile complexity, and finishing readiness.
• Energy intensity: peak-load management and energy optimization opportunities.
• WIP visibility: bundles, racks, and batches moving across stages with frequent holds.
• Planning vs actual speed: planned rates differ from real press behavior under specific dies/profiles.

**What factory.online delivers:

• Press time is lost to setups and die changes → sequencing by die family and alloy in APS packs the press programme and cuts changeover minutes per shift.
• Nobody knows the true press OEE → real-time downtime capture with reasons, plus BEEDIGIT machine integration, turns press performance into a number you can act on.
• Scrap and butt-end losses stay invisible → yield tracking per billet, die and order with actual costing shows exactly where the metal goes.
• Aging, finishing and packing become the new bottleneck → the full routing is scheduled end-to-end, so downstream capacity is planned together with the press.
• Die availability breaks the plan → dies and tooling are modelled as constrained resources, so the schedule only promises what the die pool can actually run.