At a grand opening held last month, DMG Mori unveiled extensive improvements to its Famot machining centre and CNC lathe factory in Pleszew, Poland, one of the largest production facilities in the group with around 700 staff. A total of €60m has been invested, partly to extend the factory to 50,000 sq m, including 14,000 sq m of production area and 7000 sq m devoted to assembly, which together receive more than 140,000 parts a day from store. In the production hall alone, 50 machine tools, mainly from DMG Mori, operate around the clock. New also are a castings store, logistics hall and inductive hardening facility.

The remainder of the investment went on digitising the entire process chain, from receipt of order, through production planning and monitoring, machine data acquisition, supply chain management and machine assembly, to shipping. It is the first DMG Mori plant to operate digitally over a manufacturing service bus, end-to-end, on all added-value levels.
For further information www.dmgmori.com

RPI UK, a specialist developer and manufacturer of precision positioning devices for rotary and angular inspection systems, has supplied Wenzel’s Bulgarian distributer with a QuadSlimLine rotary table. Integrated into a Wenzel CMM, the rotary table will enable a European aerospace giant to measure blisks, saving up to 40% in inspection time.

RPI UK, the world’s leading specialist developer and manufacturer of precision positioning devices for high accuracy rotary and angular inspection systems, has supplied Wenzel’s Bulgarian distributer with a QuadSlimLine rotary table. This will be integrated into a Wenzel CMM machine to enable a European aerospace giant to measure aero engine disks, saving up to 40% in inspection time

Specifically designed as a fourth axis, RPI’s rotary tables are accurate to ±0.5 arcs seconds. This precision is equivalent to hitting a golf ball at a hole more than 22 km away and scoring a hole in one every time. Rotary tables also increase a CMM’s available measuring volume, thereby providing greater flexibility in what can be measured.

The installation of the QuadSlimLine on to the Wenzel CMM was carried out by 2M Trading, the Bulgarian distributor for both RPI and Wenzel.

Timothy Matyushin, 2M’s general manager, says: “We installed RPI’s Quad Slimline on to Wenzel’s LH108 NG CMM, incorporating a Renishaw UCC S5 controller and Renishaw MODUS software. The result was a CMM that worked smarter with increased flexibility, capacity and throughput, which resulted in a 40% reduction in inspection time for one of Europe’s major aerospace manufacturers. They’re so impressed that they’ve ordered another two QuadSlimLines to be installed on to their CMM machines later this year.”
For further information www.rpiuk.com

A presentation on seam validation measurement at this year’s Co-ordinate Metrology Society Conference (CMSC) in Nevada, USA showcased how Lockheed Martin incorporates GapGun – Third Dimension’s best-selling hand-held laser measurement system – into the company’s quality inspection processes deployed on its F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF).

Lockheed Martin explained how seam validation – the process of measuring the gap and mismatch between body panels – has become a networked process whereby seam types can be measured at a faster rate, repeatedly delivering significant improvements in time saving and reducing the risk of human error.

Quick and easy to use, GapGun takes measurements throughout Lockheed’s production line, so problems can be headed off before they arise, thereby accelerating and streamlining the production process.

Using LINK SDK – Lockheed’s customised seam validation management system (SVMS) – check plans can be sent straight to GapGun via the network rather than being manually downloaded. The results are then passed straight back to the SVMS.

Dennis De Roos, chief sales and marketing officer at Third Dimension, says: “We are delighted that Lockheed Martin has chosen GapGun to improve quality control for the F-35 aircraft. GapGun is simple to use and saves manufacturers time and money, while increasing efficiency.”

GapGun is used by manufacturers in the aerospace, automotive and energy industries. The device is sold in 25 countries and has made its developer, UK-based Third Dimension, a two-time winner of the Queen’s Awards for Enterprise.
For further information www.third.com

Once it was a technique that helped protect knights in armour from the crashing blows of their rivals. Now, Ford is applying a cutting-edge version of the same technology to help make its cars safer than ever. The first fully automated hot-forming process shapes and cuts parts of the all-new Ford Focus – which are integral to protecting drivers and passengers – using large furnaces, robots and 3000°C lasers.

The hot-forming line – fully integrated within the company’s Saarlouis vehicle assembly plant in Germany – was built as part of a recent €600m investment in the facility. Hot-formed steel pieces are subjected to temperatures of up to 930°C, unloaded by robots into a hydraulic press that has a closing force up to 1150 tonnes, and then shaped and cooled in just three seconds. The boron steel is so strong by this point that a laser beam hotter than lava is used to precision-cut each piece into its final shape.
For further information www.ford.com