en.Wedoany.com Reported - Leland Bailey, Project Manager at Sandvik Coromant, points out that against the backdrop of rapid industrial automation development, the cutting process itself remains a blind spot in manufacturing, and sensor tools are the key to achieving true automation.
Manufacturers have achieved automated monitoring and deployed dashboards, but the moment metal contacts the tool often relies on operator experience and post-processing inspection. According to Deloitte's 2025 Smart Manufacturing and Operations Survey, 92% of surveyed manufacturers believe that smart manufacturing will become the primary driver of competitiveness within the next three years.
If the machining process still relies on feel or conservative parameters, simply speeding up program execution or adding robots is not enough. True automation requires real-time knowledge of what is happening during the cutting process and taking action before defects appear and downtime escalates.
Sensor tools refer to cutting tools, tool holders, or collets with embedded or attached sensors that capture critical signals during the machining process. The system tracks cutting forces and vibrations, detects surface chatter at the cutting edge, and transmits information in real time to the operator interface or machine controller to detect anomalies and take corrective actions, including brief pauses, parameter adjustments, or tool changes. The key lies in providing cross-shift consistency through repeatable interventions.
In terms of improving productivity, sensor tools achieve gains by stabilizing the cutting process and reducing unplanned downtime. Once the process is secure, manufacturers can extend unattended time windows, shifting focus from the number of shop floor personnel to continuous cutting time. In tool life management, real-time signals enable evidence-based decisions; the shop floor replaces inserts when signal characteristics indicate end of life, rather than relying on counter expiration or intuition.
A report from the World Manufacturing Foundation shows that 74% of companies struggle to recruit the talent they need, and manufacturing must balance this through internal training. As experienced operators retire, sensor tools help transform years of experience into transferable explicit data, preserving signal traces, thresholds, and event logs to guide parameter selection and facilitate cross-shift troubleshooting.
Using sensor tools enables automation of machine-led decisions. When chatter exceeds set limits or a sudden surge in cutting force indicates a fault, the controller can automatically interrupt, retract, modify feed, or trigger a tool change without human intervention, protecting part quality, tooling, and equipment in an instant.
Sandvik Coromant's sensor tool solution CoroTurn® Plus offers two capability levels. The first level streams real-time data to a PC or tablet via CoroPlus® Viewer, allowing operators to gain real-time insight into surface chatter, cutting forces, and receive over-limit alerts. The second level achieves machine-integrated protection by pairing CoroTurn® Plus with CoroPlus® Connected; signals are input into the machine NC, and after users set limits, the controller automatically initiates protective actions, supporting block stop, optional pause, and a configurator for feed rate and cutting speed override.
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