A highlight of the calendar for the media is always the Fritz Studer AG Press Trip to its headquarters in Thun, Switzerland, where industrial press representatives get to witness the latest innovations from this leading member of the United Grinding Group. As always, last month’s ‘Motion Meeting – Expedition 2023’ event presented the latest innovations, technology insights of what is in the pipeline and a comprehensive corporate overview that announced record sales figures post-Covid.
Following a presentation on the state of the global manufacturing sector, the sectors within and the impact of Covid lockdowns, conflicts and supply chain challenges; Studer’s Managing Director (CSO) Sandro Bottazzo discussed the position of the company. Despite global economic challenges, Studer announced that 2022 was the company’s third best year on record for order intake and it was a record year for customer care sales packages. With order intake up by more than 40%, 2022 was a year that went from strength to strength for Studer, as it recorded its single highest month for orders ever in December 2022.
This level of success is by no means just ‘good fortune’ – more a result of impeccable planning and strategising. At previous Studer press events, MTD magazine has reported on how the 111 year old company has invested heavily in its infrastructure and internal production workflow and systems, staff development and apprentices, the service and support structure, its Industry 4.0 C.O.R.E technology and its ever-evolving product line-up.
Giving reference to the supply chain challenges, CEO Jens Bleher said at this year’s event: “Despite the tense situation in the procurement markets, our operations and engineering teams jointly succeeded in reliably and continually providing very competitive and reliable delivery times.” Adding to this, COO Stephan Stoll said: “Our strategy of keeping our production resources at a stable level even during difficult phases was as much part of this success as the long-term partnerships we have enjoyed with our supplier base. We have also profited from the risk-based supply chain approach that has been followed for several years to minimise single-source dependencies wherever possible. Here, another success factor was the close collaboration between Engineering and Purchasing, who were able to evaluate alternative components well in time when bottlenecks seemed imminent.”
At this year’s event, it was evident that the investment in supply chain strategies and the development of new technology, along with the presentation of new machines through 2022 were all huge factors in the company witnessing record levels of success.
Commenting on this, Sandro Bottazzo said: “Overall, it was the third-best year in our company history in order intake. In 2022, we once again succeeded in expanding our position in the most important markets in the world and increasing our market share.”
New Technologies
In 2022, Studer introduced two new machines in China, the ecoGrinder and the KC33 – both entry-level machines manufactured in China for the Chinese market with the core components produced in Switzerland to assure the highest quality for entry-level technology. The ecoGrinder was unveiled in mid-June whilst the configurable KC33 model was introduced to the market in December. With the Chinese market being of such colossal size, manufacturing new machines locally, especially during the ongoing lockdown situation has already begun to reap rewards in terms of sales and market share in the region.
Studer also launched its new S36 grinding machine in May last year at the inaugural GrindingHub exhibition. The S36 was in part, designed to respond to the increasing demand for e-mobility production solutions. With a grinding wheel diameter of 610mm and a power output of 15kW, the machine is well-positioned for the efficient machining of automotive and hydraulic components in one clamping process with maximum precision. With several machines sold through 2022, customers are impressed by the environmental credentials of the machine with Studer’s energy monitoring concept being applied to many of the new machines. Deliveries of the first machines took place in February.
The launch of the S36 was subsequently followed by the October presentation of the new S100 at the BIMU exhibition in Italy. Classed as an ergonomically appealing universal internal grinding machine targeted at the ‘entry level’ segment, several machines have been sold since the exhibition, and the first deliveries will take place this month. Like all Studer cylindrical grinding machines, the S100 has a machine bed made of Granitan for dampening and its thermal characteristics ensure consistent grinding results and precision. The equipment on the S100 make it suitable for grinding a universal spectrum of parts comprising of geometrically defined basic forms and contours, which can be generated with interpolating axes.
The impressive cross-brand hardware and software architecture of the United Grinding Group can also be found on an ever-increasing number of machines. C.O.R.E. offers smart networking of several machines, freely configurable and user-friendly operation and the latest generation of contact sensors. C.O.R.E. also features a modern, large-scale multi-touch display with intuitive operation and numerous visualisation options for more efficient production. In 2022, Studer converted four machine types to C.O.R.E. and will continue the rollout on the internal cylindrical grinding machines throughout 2023 and into 2024.
As well as rolling out the C.O.R.E. system on more of its machines, Studer is also demonstrating its environmental credentials that are increasingly critical to both the industry and the future of our planet. Whilst the energy monitoring concept is being rolled out on many of the new machines, Studer has also introduced the new SmartJet® concept. A large part of the power and water consumed during grinding is required for cooling. With the SmartJet® intelligent cooling concept, Studer machines can save a significant amount of energy and resources.
“SmartJet® can reduce water consumption by 40% and energy consumption by 50%,” says Martin Habegger, who is in charge of the project at STUDER. The savings are achieved by using a clever nozzle design and an optimised line system with the appropriate pump and sensor-supported intelligent control software that can support the operators to a much greater extent. Until now, operators had to take care of the cooling for the grinding process themselves. This involves first and foremost the correct positioning of the nozzles and manual adjustment of the volume flow. This costs time and mistakes can easily happen and lead to unnecessarily high consumption. Frequently, operators use too much lubricant or do not align the nozzles optimally. To change this, Studer joined forces with ETH Zurich to develop the technological bases and then advanced the SmartJet® concept to market maturity. It works with a frequency-controlled pump and a ram pressure measuring unit. The cooling lubricant flows through an optimised line system from the tank via a manifold to the flow-optimised and adjustable nozzles at the grinding wheel. There, a sensor measures the pressure upstream of the manifold. Using numerous parameters, the software calculates the best exit speed for the volume flow, regardless of whether roughing, fine grinding or finishing is taking place.
Alluding to the new product introductions, Daniel Huber, CTO at Studer said: “With our product offensive, innovative, and application-specific solutions, we can better address the needs of our customers. In 2022, we presented an innovation at almost every large trade show.” Referring to the rollout of the C.O.R.E system, Huber said: “Only manufacturers that offer intelligent machines with intuitive operation, digital assistance, and monitoring systems, automation options, as well as efficient process management will be successful in the future.”
The final frontier
With the C.O.R.E technology rolling Industry 4.0 solutions and much more throughout the portfolio, a key feature of the 2023 event was automation. It is well acknowledged in most developed nations and industries that manufacturing skillsets are diminishing, and machine tool manufacturers are increasingly factoring this into the design of their machine architecture and CNC control interfaces. Another prominent aspect for bridging the skills gap is automation, and at the ‘Motion Meeting – Expedition 2023’, Studer presented its uniLoad and easyLoad technology in a room with a space exploration theme.
Discussing automation at the event, Daniel Schafroth, Systems Division Manager at Studer said: “There are still a lot of prejudices about automation in grinding. However, for us at Studer, the opposite holds true. Automation should enable operators to do their work more easily, efficiently, and safely. For grinding, processes must be performed repeatedly in the same way, with high precision and reliability. Automatic solutions for multi-machine operation are also relevant, as these can greatly relieve the workload of the operators, who then only have to fill magazines and no longer need to laboriously load each machine. However, grinding fundamentally requires the operators to have a high level of competence, and automation should not be something that hinders them. Automation only makes sense where the operator doesn’t have to have a decisive influence on the process.”
The easyLoad system presented at Studer is ideal for external and universal cylindrical grinding machines (S31, S33, S22, and S41), offering value for money with full integration in machine control to make automation accessible for small businesses. The easyLoad is suitable for use as a gantry loading system for shaft parts with a workpiece length of up to 300mm and a diameter of up to 30mm. The adjustable synchronised conveyor allows the autonomous processing of up to 50 workpieces. The standard gripper is designed for individual parts, the V-gripper for two parts, and the heavy-duty gripper for workpieces that weigh more than 5kg.
Alongside the easyLoad was the uniLoad automatic loading system that makes it possible for operators of the Studer S31 and S33 external cylindrical grinding machines to significantly increase productivity. The system docks to the machine from the left. With a prismatic conveyor and all racks at full capacity, it can perform automatic processing of parts up to 350mm long and 100mm diameter.
For businesses confined by the available space in their facilities, Studer offers the smartLoad for the S11 machine. Alluding to this, Schafroth says: “In modern production halls, it is of particular importance to make efficient use of the space.” The smartLoad for the S11, a production cylindrical grinding machine for small workpieces has a footprint of only 1.8sq/m. The smartLoad unit can feed in workpieces from outside the machine, using either a conveyor or a swivelling unit, as well as clamp them and place them back after the machining.
In the past, radius internal cylindrical grinding machines have been particularly difficult to automate, due to the limited space available. One reason for this is the restricted enclosure geometry resulting from the high work head. Studer has now developed an optimal solution for this with the arrival of the roboLoad. This external loader for the S121, S131, and S141 is designed as a gripper arm with quick-change jaws and has space for workpieces on six trays.
“With the robot arm outside the machine, we gain a lot more freedom, thanks to the rotation axis, the roboLoad can get in for loading and unloading without having a direct path available,” says Schafroth. Until now, automation solutions for grinding were largely based on linear technology such as beams and slides. However, at the moment the roboLoad is not primarily intended for large series production, but more for automated production during night shifts or extended breaks. But Schafroth is sure that the trend toward using robotic arms in grinding will persist.
