Editor’s Pick

Halter system extends unattended production

Compact robotic systems from Halter CNC Automation are suited to loading and unloading CNC machine tools, as family business Armbruster GmbH in Steinach, southwest Germany reports. The same machine tending technology is available in the UK market through 1st Machine Tool Accessories.

Armbruster employs about 130 staff and specialises in manufacturing complex, high-quality products such as surgical instruments and implants for the medical sector. It also provides subcontract machining services to a broad range of industries in batch sizes from 1 to 1000.

Florian Schätzle, team leader for machining support at Armbruster, says: “We’ve been committed to automation for a long time. The milling section is fully automated, although the eroding area is only partially autonomous. As regards turning and turn-milling, most production is automated by bar magazines but traditionally we load and unload billets manually for chuck-type work. We therefore decided to invest in a billet loading and unloading robot from Halter, a Universal Premium 35, which tends an existing Mazak Integrex i200 chucking lathe on the shop floor.”

The new solution made it possible to increase the number of workpieces of more than 200 mm diameter in the buffer of the robot cell from six parts previously to an additional 16 parts, i.e. a total of 22. Longer shafts from which several individual parts are machined may be similarly accommodated, enabling even longer periods of unattended production.

Says Schätzle comments: “Our staff realise that the robot cell enables them to organise their working hours better, for example for quality control of finished parts, without having to be present at the Mazak every minute to avoid machine downtime.”
For further information www.1mta.com

New level of success in metalworking

Today, as industrialists are increasingly willing to leave the memory of Covid-19 behind, it is undeniable that the pandemic has forever changed many aspects of commercial life. More communication and business took place online as face-to-face meetings were not possible during Covid-related restrictions. This also affected exhibitions such as Metalex, the ASEAN region’s leading machine tool and metalworking exhibition.

“The last full-scale Metalex event was held in 2020, with Covid-19 preventing us from organising the show in 2021,” says Sirirat Sungvichai, exhibition management director of RX Tradex (formerly Reed Tradex). “However, when the government allowed large-scale events again, we created a special edition of the event called ‘Metalex March’ in March 2022, which was a huge success. It showed that everyone in the metalworking community wanted to meet their colleagues and experience new machinery and technologies with their own eyes.

“One factor that helps businesses grow and become successful is networking, whether it’s a network of customers, suppliers or business partners,” she continues. “Therefore, when the pandemic started to improve, we started aiming for Metalex (to be held on 16-19 November 2022 at BITEC, Bangkok) to make a grand comeback. We want to make this event a meeting place for everyone in the metalworking industry to come expand their networks in the ASEAN region.”

Sungvichai goes on to say that it will be an event where everyone gets to improve production efficiency together, add value to their products, and generate business opportunities that will foster growth. Over 85,000 participants from all over the region will get to experience over 2500 brands of metalworking technologies, and meet with representatives at international pavilions from Germany, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and the Republic of China (Taiwan). What is even more exciting is that some technologies will appear for the first time in the ASEAN region at Metalex.

In addition to the machinery and technology exhibition, Metalex will host concurrent seminars on a variety of up-and-coming topics such as AI, smart materials and many more. Interested participants can pre-register online.
For further information www.metalex.co.th

EuroBlech 2022: the future of sheet metal

The world’s leading trade exhibition for the sheet metalworking industry is back and opens its doors this week (25-28 October) at the Hanover Exhibition Grounds in Germany. A total of 1300 exhibitors from 39 countries are ready to showcase their latest manufacturing solutions covering a total net exhibition space of 88,000 sq m.

Reflected in this year’s motto ‘Your gateway to a smarter future’, EuroBLECH 2022 focuses on intelligent solutions and the ongoing automation and digitalisation of the manufacturing chain to enable greater output and efficiency. Furthermore, a new presentation area will deliver around 20 sessions across the four exhibition days, offering insight into innovative companies and projects, interesting discussions and valuable networking opportunities.
For further information www.euroblech.com

Ambitious sustainability strategy from Ceratizit

Cutting tool specialist Ceratizit presented its ambitious sustainability strategy at the AMB 2022 exhibition in Stuttgart last month. The aim of this strategy is to make the company the leader in sustainability for the hard metal and cutting tool industry by 2025. In order to reduce its own carbon footprint quickly, Ceratizit is focusing on three major levers: an increase in the use of secondary raw materials to over 95%; switching all sites to green electricity from wind, solar and hydropower in the next few years; and switching to the use of blue hydrogen for production, which is produced from water by electrolysis with green electricity.

The first milestone in the implementation of the new strategy is 2025, by which time Ceratizit plans to be CO2 neutral, entailing a reduction in actual emissions of 35% compared with the reference year 2020. The second stage, 2030, envisages a reduction of 60% in comparison with 2020, while the most ambitious goal is to achieve net zero by 2040.
For further information www.bit.ly/3SejLmh

New XYZ showroom draws the crowds

XYZ Machine Tools was pleasantly surprised by the number of people attending the opening of its latest showroom. Located just off the M62 near Huddersfield, the 5000 sq ft showroom contains an extensive selection of XYZ machines, all under power and available for customer demonstrations and training. Thanks to its proximity to the motorway network, visitors travelled from across the north of England for the open day, with orders received for six machines and many requests for quotes.

Nigel Atherton, managing director at XYZ Machine Tools, says: “Due to its location we expected a good response from customers, but even we underestimated the turnout. In total we had 94 people from 55 companies attend the day, about 50% more than we anticipated. Our 40-space car park was overflowing at times. Overall it was very encouraging and indicates that there’s still lots of positive sentiment in the manufacturing sector.”
For further information www.xyzmachinetools.com