CNC meets manual machining
7 special machines for training and education
CNC processing and manual lathe work on a single machine? Blumenbecker had made this a reality and the company has now supplied the training services provider Kolping with seven of these special machines for its Olsberg centre.
It's eight o'clock on a Monday morning and there is plenty of activity going on in the metal workshop of the Kolping Training and Education Centre in the South Westphalia town of Olsberg. A low humming sound mixed in with individual scraps of conversation. Thirty aspiring industrial mechanics are here preparing for their Chamber of Industry and Commerce final exams. And playing the leading role are six new CNC milling machines and one CNC lathe. They are the centrepiece of the 'Industry 4.0' campaign that has been launched by the training services provider Kolping.
New technical equipment for the Olsberg training centre
Thanks to government funding, the training centre has invested a total of 750,000 euros in re-equipping its Olsberg workshops and training rooms. "This means that we are well prepared to meet the future demands of the digitisation age and have been able to increase our training capacities by 50 percent“, says a delighted Herbert Milisavljevic, Head of the Metals, Electronics and Plastics Department and Site Manager at the Olsberg Training Centre. The training provider can now accommodate some 170 apprentices and vocational retrainees every year, which represents a 30 percent increase on 2017. The Olsberg facility provides external training and vocational development programmes and also organises various activities on behalf of employment agencies and job centres. And private individuals are also increasingly using the services available at the centre.
The specification: digital processing and manual work on one machine
With the seven new machine tools playing such a key role in the growth strategy, the specifications tender for the project partner would inevitably be fairly demanding. "All the machines had to be capable of both electronic and conventional manual operation“, explains Milisavljevic, who continues: "This is really important for our in-house training programme. Most of our industrial clients only operate CNC machines. However, for their final exam our apprentices must also be able to turn and mill objects by the conventional method. And companies send them to us to master those very skills. What is more, we had very specific requirements when it came to the machine control systems: a Heidenhain TNC620 for the milling machines and a Siemens 828D for the turning machine.“ According to Milisavljevic, of all the suppliers contacted only Blumenbecker was in a position to meet all the specifications required. The industrial services provider already had a good working relationship with Kolping and had been supplying tools and consumables to the training company's various establishments since 2011.
» You could not get an easier working relationship. I only have one contact for all the different manufacturers and can get a range of custom products all from one source. «
Machine tests and a visit to the reference customer helped produce the ideal setup
With Blumenbecker, a suitable project partner had been found. Now for the next step. Milisavljevic and his training team paid a visit to the Blumenbecker Competence Centre in Münster. Here they were able to try out milling and turning machines from a variety of manufacturers under the watchful eye of Martin Spiek, Head of Blumenbecker's Machine Tools Section. There then followed a joint visit to a reference client. After some detailed discussions the ideal configuration was finally agreed on for the milling and turning machines.
Delivery to the installation site
It took six months and some intensive preparations on Blumenbecker's part before the seven analog-digital machines could be put into service. The commission included the delivery of the machines to the installation site. This transport operation involved the negotiation of a long and steep access road with a reduced height limit and culminated in the 14 tonnes of equipment having to be unloaded sideways outside the training centre. The shipment was then manoeuvred on heavy-duty rollers via a number of staircases to its final destination. To the satisfaction of all concerned there were no mishaps along the way and now, four months later, there is nothing to prevent the would-be industrial mechanics from preparing successfully for their exams.
The story continues:
The next project is already being planned
Meanwhile, Herbert Milisavljevic is thinking ahead. Before he retires, the 63-year-old wants to set up a training programme for mechatronics engineers. And here, too, Blumenbecker is the partner of choice, for "you could not get an easier working relationship. I only have one contact for all the different manufacturers and can get a range of custom products all from one source.“
