Erodex UK, a Black Country based supplier of graphite and EDM consumables to the aerospace industry supplier, is supporting the ‘Workplace Health at One You Walsall’ and ‘Healthy Years Ahead’ initiatives to help its employees and local community become more aware of the benefits of living a healthy, active lifestyle.

Workplace Health at One You Walsall, funded by Walsall Council, is a free healthy lifestyle service dedicated to improving the health and wellbeing of all residents across Walsall. Services exist to help residents make the best choices for their lifestyle, from health and fitness to emotional wellbeing.

Erodex HR manager Deborah Bayliss says: “As a business we were looking to engage our employees in health and wellbeing initiatives and saw the opportunity to become involved with Workplace Health at One You Walsall, in addition to the Healthy Years Ahead initiative, which works with individuals of 40 years of age and older. So far, we’ve held a workplace event to engage employees and introduce the initiatives. From this we gained expressions of interest in services offered by the organisations.”

She adds: “There’s been a great response and we’re looking to book in a practitioner to deliver two full days of health assessments for our employees. From these we’ll plan future health and wellbeing sessions in the workplace and signpost to outside services.”

Erodex employs 85 people across two sites in Halesowen and Darlaston, West Midlands, as well as a site in Croydon.
For further information www.erodex.com

Celonis and Accenture are teaming up to support Mann+Hummel, a global filtration solutions provider for markets that include EDM, to accelerate its company-wide digital transformation and become a data-driven enterprise. By leveraging intelligent insights and actions, Mann+Hummel will improve and optimise its processes to increase operational excellence and become even more customer-centric.

Accenture has supported Mann+Hummel’s data-driven enterprise journey since 2019. Together with global execution management specialist Celonis, Accenture will foster the firm’s process capabilities by helping to roll out Celonis’ execution management system across Mann+Hummel in a multi-year program.

With this strategic collaboration, Mann+Hummel will gain new levels of transparency and an objective, fact-based understanding of how its core business processes really run. This will enable the company to identify performance barriers in real-time and take automated action to remove inefficiencies and improve processes. Insights from the initial stages of deployment have already created process standardisation and optimisation in the areas of supply, distribution and production. This will be expanded on in the coming months across materials, planning and logistics, to improve cycle times and productivity, reduce rework, optimise inventory, increase automation and streamline global execution.

Emese Weissenbacher, executive vice president and chief financial officer at Mann+Hummel, says: “Our efforts and investments in standardisation are all targeted towards being able to stay a step ahead of customer needs. Deploying Celonis market-leading process mining and execution management capabilities enables us to drive more intelligent, data-driven insights, measures and decisions. I am convinced with this transformation we can take our business processes to the next level and create an agile platform for continuous improvement.”
For further information www.mann-hummel.com

Erodex Group has announced the 100% acquisition of Toolmaker Supplies Ltd (TMS) in a move that further strengthens its offer in EDM wire, wear parts and consumables. Founded in 2002, TMS was an independent stockist and supplier of wire EDM spare parts and consumables in the UK.

The business is now trading under the Erodex brand and operating from the Erodex UK headquarters in Halesowen. Several sales personnel from TMS have joined the Erodex team and will continue to support TMS customers with their EDM product requirements.

Erodex Group says the move makes it the UK’s largest distributor of brass and coated EDM wires, as well as the largest distributor of wear parts for all EDM machine brands.

Erodex has enjoyed a strong working relationship with manufacturer Bedra (Berkenhoff) for many years, introducing many next-generation coated wire products to the UK under exclusive agreements. Erodex engineers work closely with customers to ensure the delivery of optimum performance.

Erodex director Steve Rolinson says: “Erodex are delighted to have acquired TMS to further strengthen our position as market leader in the UK for EDM wire, wear parts and consumables. Like Erodex, TMS had developed a strong reputation over many years for the quality of its service and breadth of product range servicing the EDM industry. This level of synergy with our core values ensured that acquiring the trade and assets of the company made complete sense and has ensured for a swift integration.”

For further information
www.erodex.com

GF Machining Solutions has recently introduced four features to its latest generation of wire EDM machines: Intelligent Spark Protection System (ISPS) for monitoring spark distribution along the wire; iWire to optimise and reduce wire consumption; Uniqua, the company’s new HMI for EDM machines; and TurboTech, new standard technology that is faster than the existing speed technology on its wire-cutting EDM machines.

Essentially, the new ISPS module analyses sparks and clearly defines their concentration. As a consequence, it is possible to adjust machine parameters accordingly (in real time) to prevent wire breakage and maintain optimal cutting speed. The process is automatic and effective, especially when experiencing difficult cutting conditions and, as a result, users can eliminate machine downtime and process interruptions.

iWire is a sustainable, intelligent process that helps to optimise and reduce wire consumption. As an adaptive software module, iWire comes into its own when individual workpieces ready for machining present big variations in height or when the upper and lower heads cannot be placed close to the surface of the workpiece. The module helps reduce wire consumption rates by up to 40%, as well as wire costs.

According to GFMS, the Uniqua HMI is powerful and intuitive, helping customers to improve their productivity, determine and re-order their machining priorities and ultimately get the most from their wire EDM machines. Uniqua adapts to the customer’s way of working. Integrated on-board help and tutorials are always available, making it easy to use, not only for operators accustomed to ISO programming, but also for relative novices.

TurboTech offers an excellent speed-accuracy compromise in good or bad flushing conditions, is available for all wire types, and is fully integrated in Uniqua or AC Cut 2 interfaces.

For further information
www.gfms.com

Cutting tool manufacturers have always had the inconvenience of producing solid carbide and PCD cutting tools on two separate machines. Now, however, Vollmer has eradicated this issue with its flexible new VHybrid 260 solution that can grind carbide tools and erode PCD tools on a single platform.

Importantly, the VHybrid 260 allows users to switch between grinding and erosion processes in next to no time. Utilising Vollmer’s multi-layered machining technology, the vertical alignment of two spindles is a novel arrangement that allows the grinding and electrode wheelsets to pivot the C axis precisely, ensuring operators always achieve optimal results. If the tool requires both grinding and erosion, the VHybrid 260 can create one complete and efficient machining process for all tool production requirements.

The multi-layered spindle configuration allows the grinding of carbide tools with diameters of up to 150 mm on the top spindle, whereas the bottom spindle can accommodate both grinding and erosion. This design enables the machining of carbide or PCD tools up to a diameter of 150 mm thanks to the high-performance and finely tuned Vpulse EDM erosion generator. The generator delivers surface finishes to roughness of 0.1 μRa, while electrode calibration and wear control combines with a dressing device to provide fully automated processing.

Vollmer says that quality is built into every facet of the VHybrid 260, demonstrated by the company’s ‘wall concept’, which provides high rigidity and vibration damping through its concrete polymer foundation. This is complemented by spindle and motor cooling technology that creates thermal stability, while the vertical spindle configuration eradicates issues related to fixing and floating bearings.

For further information
www.vollmer-group.com