MICRO MACHINING | NEWS
FINDING THE Right Machine
M
edartis, founded in 1997, is a dynamic SME that has some exclusive ways of ensuring it always provides the medical industry market with exceptional service. Part of this
service philosophy stems from its production facility and in particular the bar turning workshop that uses turning technology from Tornos.
Located in an ultra-modern building in the heart of Basel, at first glance the company premises do not seem a likely home for production equipment and yet, one floor is dedicated to machining centres and another to automatic turning machines. Recently, three Tornos EvoDeco 10 machines were being delivered to the third floor by a highly specialised team.
Choosing the best machine André Vogt, in charge of the bar turning department, said: “We follow a strict analysis procedure for selecting our production equipment and we only choose machines that are precisely suited to our current needs. We are always looking for ways to optimise and we cannot simply content ourselves with 'generic' production equipment.” Every machine is therefore studied in detail and chosen with care. Medartis developed its patented Tri-Lock system using the capacities of Deco machines. Mr Vogt explained: “The Tornos machines ensure we are always able to finish the parts; if, for example, a screw head needs polishing, it will be done on the Deco.”
Even though the choice is made as judiciously as possible, it is just the start and the company is always looking to improve and optimise. Mr Vogt told us: “With an annual growth in our turnover of almost 20%, we need to keep striving to find solutions that allow us to improve.
With the new EvoDeco machines just delivered, we should be very productive straight away and we aim to cover the requirements for our growth in 2014. For the following years, we will need to invest in the replacement of the old Deco machines, but also in extending our machine inventory.” The company currently has one Deco 10, 15 Deco 13 and three EvoDeco 10 with over 280 staff and 19 employed in the bar turning department.
From Deco to EvoDeco This quest for improvement also includes the replacement of the ageing Deco 13 machines. As almost 90% of production carried out on these machines has a diameter of less than 10 mm, the company decided to start replacing these with EvoDeco 10 machines. Mr Vogt explained: “The EvoDeco 10 machine has shorter strokes and offers the latest technology, particularly in terms of spindles. Switching from one machine to another has allowed us to increase productivity by 20%. The EvoDecos are also easier to programme and use. In addition, we switched to TB-Deco ADV and saw a significant change in performance. Simply having a built-in PC has also streamlined programming.”
10 | commercial micro manufacturing international Vol 7 No.2
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