The headline phrase is not commonly associated with mechanically engineered parts, but it sums up how one company owner views his production facility.

Werner Buschor owns Buschor Praezisionsmechanik AG, a medium-sized subcontract manufacturer in Switzerland, where he had two growing problems. The first was the increasingly tight nature of customer tolerances, prompting a reliance on operators to ‘tweak’ programs and tooling to achieve the desired results. His second issue was delivery times becoming shorter, causing him to look at unmanned production in the evenings and at weekends.
When trying to find answers to his accuracy problem Buschor found Kern Microtechnik and soon realised that the Kern Micro milling machine was also able to solve his second problem of working unmanned.
“The Kern Micro is the first milling centre that can stand up to our measuring machine,” he says. “The measuring machine has a measurement uncertainty of half a thousandth of a millimeter,
while the Kern Micro offers a positioning accuracy of half a thousandth of a millimetre. Our first Kern Micro was immediately connected to a System 3R automation system, with the possibility of adding another machine. The large tool magazine with 186 tools and the repeatability of the Kern Micro are ideal for automatic production.”
Key to repeatability is the thermal stability of the machine, with its smart cooling management system that ensures the temperature of structural components remains constant with a maximum deviation of 0.2ºC.
To improve matters even more, a second Kern Micro has been installed and connected to the workpiece changer. Kern is represented in the UK by Rainford Precision.
For further information https://rainfordprecision.com/

The first portal milling machine in the new Endura 900 Linear Compact series from Fooke is now in operation at Arnstädter Werkzeug und Maschinenbau (AWM). The installation is also a premiere for AWM: the company is venturing into new territory and can now handle tool weights of up to 20 tonne (previous capacity was 10 tonne). Fooke is represented in the UK by Phase 3 CNC.

“We had already set our sights on another supplier, but became aware of Fooke through a partner company,” says board member Klaus Kleinsteuber.
A convincing argument for AWM was the fact that the machine could be installed without foundations. On a relatively small footprint, the large machining area allows five-sided machining of workpieces made from steel, cast iron and aluminium, with traverse paths of up to 3500 x 2500 x 1500 mm.
The Arnstadt-based company uses its new machine for the fine-finish machining of injection moulds in order to achieve the required surface quality and necessary dimensional and geometrical accuracy. Above all, however, AWM can also use the Endura 900 Linear Compact to expand its customer base in the 10-20 tonne tool servicing sector, as responses to its expanded range of services have already shown. This factor is associated with a further advantage: large tools do not have to be dismantled first and reassembled after maintenance, but can now be machined in one piece – an enormous time benefit.
“This gives us a unique selling point in the region,” concludes Kleinsteuber.
For further information https://phase3cnc.co.uk/

NCMT has been appointed as the sole sales and service agent in the UK and Ireland for the range of vertical machining centres manufactured by Rema Control of Italy.

Founded in 1987, the company specialises in building large three- and five-axis moving-column machines with travels up to 8000 mm in the X axis and 1200 mm in Y. The manufacturer also produces trunnion-type five-axis VMCs, universal milling machines with box ways, and gantry-type VMCs with a rotary pallet changer.
For further information www.ncmt.co.uk

The Palmela plant of Volkswagen, near Lisbon, has installed an ONA AV35 wire EDM and an ONA QX4 die-sink EDM for its pressing and stamping operation, replacing two obsolete models from another manufacturer. Both machines offer 600 x 400 x 400 mm in X, Y and Z.

Among all the EDM machine suppliers analysed by the plant, ONA stood out “for its optimum quality-price ratio” and “the commercial and technical assistance received throughout the sales process”, reports VW.
VW’s new ONA EDM machines play a vital role in the manufacture of stamped parts at Palmela. Here, the usual wear and/or breakage of matrices makes a rapid machining response essential for their immediate replacement, so that production in the area is assured. More than 800 vehicles leave the plant every day. With the installation of ONA’s AV35 and QX4 EDM machines, the facility has not only reduced the risk of downtime, but increased production capacity.
When ONA asked Volkswagen Portugal to rate it as a supplier of EDM equipment, the company was given a score of 9.4 out of 10, making it an ‘A-Type’ supplier.
For further information www.onaedm.com

Smart EDM wire technology equipped with radio frequency identification (RFID) chips that enables manufacturers to fully exploit the potential of their AgieCharmilles Cut P wire EDM machines and, simultaneously, achieve Industry 4.0 level process control, has been released by GF Machining Solutions. The company’s premium wires featuring RFID chips facilitate greater process continuity and traceability, as well as improved process performance.

Due to Smart wire’s monitoring capabilities, the machine operator always knows how much wire is available for current jobs. The moment a spool of Smart wire is installed, the Cut P machine recognises and ‘logs’ the wire length. As a result, the operator knows, at a glance, the status of the wire spool and whether there is enough wire to complete the cutting operation without stoppages or interruptions.
Simultaneously, wire traceability is enhanced by the information in the machine report, which includes date of manufacture, type, lot and expiration date. Users of Smart wire can be confident they are using the optimum wire for every job because the technology checks and assesses the wire selected, and optimises the performance of the machine accordingly.
A wide range of Smart wires is available to suit different requirements. For example, if the machining priority is surface quality, GF Machining Solutions’ AC Cut AH 900/500/400 and AC Cut A 900/500 Smart wires are recommended. However, to achieve improved productivity, AC Cut VS 900+, AC Cut VS 900/500 and AC Cut D 500 Smart wires are the option to choose, while if maximised cutting speeds are required, AC Cut VH Smart wire and AC Brass 900/500/400 are offered as the solution.
For further information www.gfms.com