Sales manager appointment

GF Machining Solutions, a milling, EDM, laser and additive manufacturing machine and automation systems supplier, has appointed Gary Purcell as its new sales manager for the whole of Ireland (Republic and North). Purcell was previously applications engineering manager at Waterford-based Schivo Medical, a contract manufacturer specialising in the medical device and life sciences sectors. Although already established as a key partner with Irish medical component manufacturers, Ireland’s med-tech sector provides GFMS, through its latest appointment, with significant business opportunities.

For further information www.gfms.com

Schuler site turns 50

In 1973, Siegfried Heilmann and Fritz Haller founded Gemminger Maschinenbau GmbH(GMG), thus laying the foundation for today’s Schuler plant in Gemmingen. Initially, the focus of the business was on the manufacture and sale of special machines, feeding and linking systems, and the automation of machine tools. Today, Gemmingen is the competence centre for press line automation, hydraulic systems and equipment within the Schuler Group, to which the site has belonged since 1989.The factory is home to approximately 330 employees.

For further information www.schulergroup.com

ROSA names new UK and Ireland agent

Midlands-based Master Abrasives is now the authorised agent in the UK and Ireland forgrinding machines made in Italy by ROSA Ermando SpA. Mutual agreement has been reached with ROSA’s current distributor to ensure gradual handover. For several years, ROSA has been represented in the UK by NL Machine Tool Consulting, whose managing director Norman Loughton is now considering slowing down as he heads towards retirement. Following a three-way discussion, it was mutually agreed that Master would represent ROSA moving forward, working closely with Loughton in a seamless handover. 

For further information www.master-abrasives.co.uk

Helleris 130 years old

130 years ago, Hermann Heller opened a trading and manufacturing company for patented products and watchmaking tools in Nürtingen, Germany. With the business selling tools of all kinds, the engineer laid the foundations for the long-term success of the company, which entered the mechanical engineering sector in 1898 with the production of cold circular saws, blade skiving machines and thread cutting machines. In 1900, Hermann Heller’s brother Ernst, a trained tradesman, joined the company, marking the birth of ‘Gebr. Heller Werkzeug- und Maschinenfabrik’ (Heller).

Manufacturing state-of-the-art CNC machine tools, Heller today maintains the spirit of a family-run business with a strong sense of tradition. Since 2016, all shares in the group have been wholly owned by the family. Dr Thorsten Schmidt (CEO), Andreas Müßigmann (CFO), Dieter Drechsler (COO) and Peter Weber (CSO) currently manage the group.

For further information www.heller.biz

BMA opts for Uniport 6000 machining centres

For over 170 years, BMA AG has been a well-known developer and manufacturer of machinery to perform all of the core processes involved in sugar production. In addition to its headquarters in Braunschweig, Germany, BMA has subsidiaries in China, Tunisia and the USA.

“As well as manufacturing our own products, such as centrifuges, we make our comprehensive fleet of machinery available to other companies on a contract manufacturing basis,” explains Jens Dohnalek, the production manager for mechanical machining, mechanical engineering, drum manufacturing and electrical and control cabinet construction at BMA.

The CNC machines from Unisign are also located in his department. BMA purchased its first Unisign machines in 1993, a Uniport5 and a Univers6. Two years later, the company took delivery of its first Uniport6 machine, which just like the Univers has been in operation ever since. In 2018, BMA expanded its fleet of machinery once more with the purchase of two Uniport6000 machines.

BMA machines large quantities of various components made of steel, stainless steel (or duplex stainless steel) and cast materials on its Uniport6000 machines.

“The workpieces that we produce include items such as centrifuge components, housings, scaffolding trestles, tube plates, support plates and tubular shafts, and these machines are also able to accommodate larger components,” says Dohnalek. “That’s very important, as it enables us to machine welded assemblies complete. That wasn’t the case before. We had to do the mechanical machining first and the welding afterwards, which was a big disadvantage.”

As a final point of note, BMA made a conscious decision to purchase Uniport6000 machines that offer pendulum machining, so the company can operate using parallel set-ups.

For further information www.unisign.com