03/14/2008

Convinced by Schuler servo technology: Saxonia-Franke orders second press with servo direct drive

Shortly after Schuler officially unveiled its new generation of blanking and forming presses with servo drive in early 2007, the first line was put into operation. The first company to invest in the new technology was the supplier Saxonia-Franke. With up to 40 percent increases in output compared with conventional eccentric presses, Saxonia-Franke has been able to raise productivity considerably. Impressed by the new technology and enjoying full order books, the customer has now ordered a second such line from Schuler – just one year after launching production on the first machine.

Amongst other things, Saxonia-Franke specializes in the development and production of complex fastening and safety elements for the automotive, electrical and construction industries. Forming lines play a decisive role for the economic production of such complex precision parts. The higher the quality and the wider the spectrum of the parts which can be produced on one line, the faster investment costs can be amortized. Wolfgang Faul, Production Manager of Saxonia-Franke, explains one of the key benefits of Schuler’s new servo technology: “In addition to the increased output of the machine, one major reason for ordering the first line was the flexibility offered by the freely programmable slide kinematics. In tough everyday practice, we have seen that the technology delivers what it promises. In view of our high capacity utilization, the machine’s output and Schuler’s fast delivery times, the decision to invest in a further line of the same type was not particularly difficult to make.”

Fast availability of new lines

The new blanking and forming press is due to start production at Saxonia-Franke in early September 2008. One major reason for the short delivery time of this machine type is its modular construction from standard components and the use of various machine types independent of the order. The blanking and forming press ordered by Saxonia-Franke also consists of a basic machine already in stock. Schuler is thus actively countering the trend toward growing delivery times. This fits exactly with customer needs for quickly available, high-performance and flexible forming lines, as Uwe Rosenauer one of Schuler’s sales engineers explains: “The key issue for our customers is flexibility. Every day they have to produce a wide variety of products on the respective machine. Our customers must be able to quickly produce large quantities of high-quality parts. At the same time, the proportion of standard parts produced over a longer period is declining. The market is currently dominated by short production cycles with many different parts. Our new press generation is tailored exactly to these requirements.”

Press duo raise flexibility

Like its predecessor, the new blanking and forming press for Saxonia-Franke boasts a press force of 400 tons. The bed measures 3.05 x 1.40 meters. The press is equipped with a coil line and Schuler’s feed system. Saxonia-Franke uses almost exclusively its own, self-developed and constructed progressive dies for the forming process. The tryout functionality of the servo technology also helps shorten the tryout phase. With the aid of a hand-wheel, for example, the slide can be moved up and down in degrees or continuously, and thus exactly positioned. The slide movement is reversible at any point. The “Quick Lift” function also enables the operator to move the slide to TDC at any time, if required. The ability to freely program the movement curves means that the press can be quickly configured for the production of various parts. The individual curves are stored in a die database and are quickly available in the case of die changes. This significantly reduces changeover times and downtime. The operator is given further support by the machine’s visualization system. This ease of operation drastically reduces the time from tryout to serial production of top-quality goods.

Comprehensive range for all purposes

Presses featuring servo technology are available with press forces of 250 to 3,200 tons. The new press range is rounded out by an extensive package of services – from maintenance and servicing to finance models and the return or retrofitting of used machines.

Since its launch in early 2007, Schuler has sold over 30 servo presses to car part suppliers and household appliance, electronics and furniture manufacturers.