Club of Metalworking goes live

The VDW’s new Club of Metalworking is free to join.

Those signing up receive a welcome pack, membership card and regular newsletter, while the club automatically provides free-of-charge season tickets for the EMO and METAV trade fairs. In addition to free use of the public transport network at the exhibitions, members can also enjoy accelerated admission, the cloakroom and the Club of Metalworking’s lounge. What’s more, exclusive club meetings provide opportunities for networking. Launched last week, within a few hours more than 1000 registration enquires were received from all over the world.
For further information www.clubofmetalworking.de

36-session conference

A cornerstone of the expanded Subcon 2018 event will be The Engineer Conference, with 36 free-to-attend sessions across two theatres.

Rolls Royce CTO Paul Stein will deliver the keynote presentation within a highly-anticipated programme that also features: Dr Caroline Hargrove, CTO of McLaren Applied Technologies; BAE Systems’ Dr Henry White; Dr Nadine Stech, who helped to design the Linx prosthetic leg; the CTO of Fujitsu UK Graeme Wright; the AMRC’s head of digital Prof Rab Scott; Prof Dame Jane Jiang, who heads up the EPSRC’s Future Metrology hub at the University of Huddersfield; and Prof Rajkumar Roy, director of manufacturing at Cranfield University.
The free-to-attend presentations will showcase cutting-edge innovation and best practice from the worlds of engineering, manufacturing and supply chain management.
For further information www.subconshow.co.uk

36-session conference

A cornerstone of the expanded Subcon 2018 event will be The Engineer Conference, with 36 free-to-attend sessions across two theatres.

Rolls Royce CTO Paul Stein will deliver the keynote presentation within a highly-anticipated programme that also features: Dr Caroline Hargrove, CTO of McLaren Applied Technologies; BAE Systems’ Dr Henry White; Dr Nadine Stech, who helped to design the Linx prosthetic leg; the CTO of Fujitsu UK Graeme Wright; the AMRC’s head of digital Prof Rab Scott; Prof Dame Jane Jiang, who heads up the EPSRC’s Future Metrology hub at the University of Huddersfield; and Prof Rajkumar Roy, director of manufacturing at Cranfield University.
The free-to-attend presentations will showcase cutting-edge innovation and best practice from the worlds of engineering, manufacturing and supply chain management.
For further information www.subconshow.co.uk

Automotive supplier places trust in Tornos

With more than 4000 employees in 10 countries, Bontaz-Centre has fully placed its trust in Tornos, accrediting much of its success to the machine-tool brand. In fact, the French firm has recently expanded its fleet of Tornos NC multi-spindle lathes and Swiss-type machines significantly.

Bontaz-Centre is a global success story on how to transform a bar-turning workshop into a worldwide automotive supplier. The history of the company is closely linked to that of its founder, Yves Bontaz, a man that formed the company with the aim of developing an innovative, dynamic and fully future-driven enterprise.
As a born entrepreneur from the Arve Valley, Yves Bontaz decided, together with his twin brother Florent, to join the National Clock-making School in Cluses. In 1958, the brothers were conscripted to maintain aircraft for the French army. After 30 months of military service, Yves realised that he wanted to go into business for himself. However, to purchase his first machine, his parents ended up selling their horse. He canvassed his first customers and soon began expanding his machine inventory, which rapidly increased from 5 to 30 machines.
For 10 years, the subcontractor manufactured for the big names of the Arve valley. However, this kind of bar turning was poorly paid, so productivity and quality became a keynote issue for Bontaz. Even today, these two aspects still form the basis of the company. After 10 years of contract manufacture, Bontaz bought his first three multi-spindle lathes and became a supplier to Peugeot and Renault. The margins were higher and the two customers ordered large volumes.
One day, the purchasing agent of a major car manufacturer gave him a part no other bar-turning company wanted to produce. The component was a cooling nozzle, entirely made of aluminum, and it was the main part of the engine cooling system. This contract marked the beginning of sustained growth for Bontaz.
Environmental protection became a central issue in the 1990s. The better the engine cooling system; the less polluting the engine. The result was a 20-fold increase in the demand for cooling nozzles, which was the start of globalisation for the Bontaz Group. In response to the constant pressure on pricing exerted by the purchasers, Bontaz established its first subsidiary in Eastern Europe, which was soon followed by a subsidiary in Shanghai. Today, over 400,000 new cars comprising a component manufactured by Bontaz will roll off a production line each month.

After China, Bontaz also gained foothold in the US, South America and then in North America. Today, the company has almost 4000 employees and branches in nine countries, with four sites in Tunisia and China respectively, plus manufacturing plants in Morocco, the Czech Republic, India, Brazil, the US, Japan and South Korea, and of course the company’s headquarters in Marnaz, France.
In short, Bontaz has become a major tier-one supplier to the automotive industry. Apart from the famous cooling nozzle, the company specialises in the assembly of various sub-assemblies, such as electro-magnetic handbrakes and all types of fluid control systems.
In Bontaz machine shops around the world, a large number of Tornos cam-type multi-spindle lathes can be seen. Just recently, various Tornos machines of different types have found their way into the workshops and this includes Tornos Swiss DT 13 machines.
“The Swiss DT 13 was chosen due to its competitive price, its productivity and its quality,” says Yannick Bontaz, nephew of Yves. Swiss DT 13 machines are a valuable alternative to cam-type lathes as they boast the flexibility of numerical control while being ultra-productive. Thanks to their L-type kinematic system, the machines can achieve highly competitive cycle times.
Additionally, the company has installed a series of Tornos Swiss GT 32 machines.
“With its B-axis facility, rigid structure, high performance and driven tools that can reach speeds of up to 9,000 rpm, the Swiss GT 32 machines are able to tackle machining tasks of high complexity,” says Yannick.
The company also reports that it now has four MultiSwiss 6×16 machines, although it was never a foregone conclusion that the machines would be Tornos models.
“Even if we trusted Tornos and their cam-type multi-spindle lathes for a great many years, we still decided to contact another manufacturer for NC multi-spindle machines,” Yannick reveals. “However, over time we realised that the MultiSwiss would offer a very high performance. We decided to take the plunge and purchase our first Tornos NC multi-spindle lathe.
“The machine is very easy to operate and set up,” he adds. “Set-up changes can be realised in no time and this is a major advantage. Furthermore, the MultiSwiss provides us with exceptional responsiveness. The quality of the parts and of the series produced is also excellent. That’s why we have already installed four machines and ordered a fifth.

“Given the success of the MultiSwiss 6×16, we did not hesitate when Tornos presented us with the MultiSwiss 8×26. And we have to admit that the machine has already fulfilled its promises in terms of dimensional accuracy, thermal stability and surface finish. We owe the success of our company to Tornos’ expertise and their sophisticated machines. So, we are looking forward to the two new machines that will complement our MultiSwiss 8×26 fleet.”
The entrepreneur from the Savoy region, a colorful personality, concludes: “Tornos displays the same conscientiousness in everyday work as I do.”
For further information www.tornos.com

Maximum precision and fast machining

Maintaining maximum precision while working more efficiently is something the Hirschvogel Automotive Group has been able to achieve using the HyperMill CAM program from Open Mind.

The amount of programming required has dropped dramatically and there has been a double-digit percentage reduction in machining times. Furthermore, one important side effect is that there is much less stress on tools and machines.
Hirschvogel manufactures powertrain parts, chassis frames, engines, gears, and diesel and fuel injection components which are increasing at such a rate that the company will shortly achieve a turnover of €1bn. The Denklingen plant manufactures parts using hot, warm and cold forming processes, and rotary swaging operations. Without a high degree of technical expertise in the area of toolmaking, it would not be possible to ensure the required quality of the products. The latest manufacturing technology has an important role, too; plans were first put in place during 2013 to switch from the previous CAM system to a more powerful solution.
Although 13 CAM suites were initially considered, the company opted for HyperMill as it reduced programming times significantly. This factor was important as toolmaking typically involves small batch sizes; around 200,000 tools are produced each year by Hirschvogel, with batch sizes fluctuating between one and 24. The tools weigh between 100 g and 12 tonnes, and are manufactured on 32 machining centres, 17 of which are of five-axis configuration.
“In the past, when I developed a five-axis NC program for a toothing stamp, I had to wait for about one and a half hours for the paths to be calculated, but with HyperMill the paths are calculated in around five minutes,” says NC programmer Günter Fasching, providing an example of the savings achieved.
For further information www.openmind-tech.com