No. 49 / 2017

InfoMAXThe experts for leveling and deburring

Wolfurt, Austria – Cable cars are a convenient transportation alternati-ve beyond the roads. These impressi-ve constructions are the specialty of the internationally active Doppelmayr/ Garaventa Group. In order to process cut parts without internal stresses, the Group invested in a new leveling facility in 2016. Using the FlatMaster® from ARKU, Doppelmayr/Garaventa now processes more parts. The Group

has also considerably simplified its production processes.

A global player in the cable car industry

Doppelmayr from the Austrian city of Wolfurt entered the cable car market at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1937, it produced the first tow lift. In the process, the company laid the foundation for its long-standing cable car tradition both nationally and in-ternationally. In 2002, the company

merged with Garaventa, a Swiss ex-pert for aerial tramways and funicular railways.

Today, the Doppelmayr/Garaventa Group is regarded as a quality and market leader in the cable car industry. The carts transport ski vacationers, city residents, tourists and materials. “Our customers want high comfort, safety and an appealing exterior”, explains

Walter Eberle, production planner at Doppelmayr. Level sheet-metal cuts are one key to the Group’s success. In Wolfurt, Doppelmayr assembles these parts to create complex primary com-ponents such as return-end stations and sheave assemblies.

Doppelmayr processes around 10,000 tonnes per year. The company relies on the versatile material for a good rea-son. “Sheet-metal can be shaped very well and gives us freedom when desi-gning the systems”, explains Eberle.

“In addition, it can also be leveled very well in comparison to other materials. This simplifies subsequent processes such as welding or edging.”

For a long time, a system from HRC Precision Leveling AG leveled the pa-nels. The Swiss company has belonged to ARKU since 2015. However, with an processing width of 1,500 millimeters, the machine soon proved to be too

small. Because many customers are implementing increasingly ambitious projects with larger cable car systems. The company required a new solution.

High-performance replace-ment

The cable car experts, first heard about ARKU’s FlatMaster® 88 200 from HRC in 2016. Doppelmayr/Garaven-ta immediately expressed great inte-rest in the hydraulic precision leveler.

ARKU Maschinenbau GmbH � Siemensstraße 11 � 76532 Baden-Baden � Germany � T: + 49 72 21 / 50 09-0 � E-Mail: info@arku.de � www.arku.de ARKU Maschinenbau GmbH · Siemensstrasse 11 · 76532 Baden-Baden · Germany · Phone: + 49 72 21 / 50 09-0 · Fax: + 49 72 21 / 50 09-11 · E-Mail: info@arku.com · www.arku.com

Continued on page 2

Perfectly level! (from left to right) Thomas Schmidinger, Head of the Maintenance Department at Doppelmayr, Richard Kohler, Head of the Steel Construction Department at Doppelmayr, Thomas Weinfurtner, Sales Manager at ARKU and Elmar Gunz, Head of Steel Construction, are pleased with the results.

The high road Doppelmayr/Garaventa achieves lean production processes with the help of the FlatMaster® from ARKU

Leveling

Three “sheet metal expos” take place around the world in November 2017. We are exhibiting at the Blechexpo in Stuttgart, at the Fabtech in Chicago and at the MWCS in Shanghai. This is a major challenge for mid-sized companies such as ARKU. We look forward to seeing you there and dis-cussing your needs and our solu-tions.

Whether leveling and deburring, fee-ding lines or industry 4.0, we have new solutions. If you cannot make it to one of the exhibitions then visit our new website. ARKU – Technology made with pas-sion.

See for yourself! We want to make it easy for you to meet and talk with us.

We are looking forward to your visit and an exciting exhibition autumn!

Albert Reiss, President & CEO

Chicago, Shanghai, Stuttgart

CONTENTS

LEVELING: P. 1 to P. 2

DEBURRING: P. 3

COIL LINES: P. 4

The 2,000 millimeter processing width looked to be the perfect solution for the company’s own large panels. The FlatMaster® processes panel thick-nesses between 2 and 23 millimeters. As such, it covers the essential parts spectrum of Doppelmayr/Garaventa. The system also ensures that pun-ched, laser-cut and flame-cut parts are almost entirely free of internal stresses.

Following successful tests in Baden-Baden, the company purchased the machine in June 2016. The company from Wolfurt now uses the FlatMaster® to process around one third of its yearly sheet-metal. This amounts to far more parts than before, within the same time frame. A good reason for Walter Eber-le to be happy: “With the FlatMaster® from ARKU, we are in a perfect position to serve the high demand for safe and aesthetic cable car constructions.”

www.doppelmayr.com/en/

Experience our leveling and deburring machines live from 7th to 10th November 2017 at the Blechexpo in Stuttgart, Germany (hall 1, booth no. 1001).

ARKU exhibits!

InfoMAX

ARKU-Ticker

Continued from page 1

Through mountains and valleys: The corporate group de-livered and assembled all of the cable car components for the Giggijochbahn in Sölden (Austria).

Hennersdorf, Austria – The compa-ny Wöhrer Metallbautechnik cuts and shapes panels for the machinery and construction industries. The parts made of aluminum, steel or even no-ble metals are often consigned to the

customers on short notice. The cus-tomers assemble these parts to make weaving looms and façade elements. That is why flatness is essential for downstream processing of these parts. However, laser cutting creates inter-

nal stresses in the material. This is due to the high cutting temperatures. As a consequence, the parts deform and create dents. These deformations need to be corrected.

Enough hammering

For a long time, Wöhrer relied on ham-mers and muscle power to level the panels. However, the processing took too long for rapid delivery. It was also impossible to entirely remove all of the uneven areas. Where one dent disap-peared, two more appeared. The com-pany needed a faster solution with re-producible leveling results.

Karl Wöhrer and his son, Christian, discovered the FlatMaster® 55 on the Internet. The first tests took place at ARKU in Baden-Baden. The two were very enthusiastic when the first flat parts left the roller leveler. “The FlatMaster® 55 leveled different ma-terials rapidly and reliably. It was the perfect choice for us”, remembers Karl Wöhrer.

Since purchasing the parts leveler in 2015, Wöhrer has leveled its products much faster than ever before. Now the leveling only requires one hour per day instead of several days. The monthly turnover has increased by 7% thanks to the higher order volumes and satis-fied customers.

www.woehrer-laser.at

Experts together (from left to right) Christian Nau, Sales at ARKU and Christian Wöhrer, junior manager at Karl Wöhrer Metallbautechnik, examine a flat perforated panel.

From hammers to rollersWöhrer Metallbautechnik rapidly and reliably produces flat panels

Leveling

InfoMAX

Which materials does ARKU deburr or level at the Leveling and De-burring Center in Baden-Baden, Germany? What is the added value for customers? Find out this and much more in ARKU‘s regular podcasts. Listen and enjoy! http://en.arku.com/en/leveling-and-de-burring-center/arku-video-podcast.html

New on ARKU’s podcast

Geisenfeld, Germany – Cutting panels is the core competence of Schnittpunkt. The contract metalworker shapes ma-terials with laser-cutting and autoge-nous gas cutting systems. Customers demand ever higher vertical integrati-on from suppliers. That is why Schnitt-punkt also offers processes such as deburring, leveling and pressing in ad-dition to edge finishing. In Geisenfeld, the company processes steel panels up to 150 mm thick along with stainless steel and aluminum panels up to 30 mm thick.

Customers include vehicle and ma-chinery manufacturers. These cus-tomers demand short delivery times and constantly increasing quantities. This has consequences: since 2011, Schnittpunkt’s order volume has incre-ased by 5% every year.

Effective workload reduction for employees

“The strong growth challenges our employees”, explains the Managing Director Erwin Stuiber. “They were unable to keep up with the volume of

autogenous gas-cut parts using ma-nual deburring with scrapers and ang-le grinders. We searched for a more efficient solution to reduce their wor-kload.” Stuiber was familiar with ARKU, having purchased a FlatMaster®. For years, the leveler has ensured high-quality parts. “We knew that ARKU also offers deburring machi-

nes”, emphasizes the Managing Direc-tor Olaf Rautner.

After the initial talks with ARKU, the decision was made in 2016 and Schnitt-punkt purchased an EdgeBreaker® 4000 Plus. The system deburrs and rounds autogenous gas-cut panels on both sides without having to turn them

over. This saves Schnittpunkt valuab-le time when working with the heavy parts. Since February 2017, the com-pany has delivered perfectly deburred panels to customers. Now the emplo-yees only work up a sweat because of the summer temperatures.

www.laserschnitt.de

(From left to right) Olaf Rautner, Managing Director at Schnittpunkt, Christian Nau, Sales at ARKU and Erwin Stuiber, Managing Director at Schnitt-punkt with the parts before processing.

In sync with customersSchnittpunkt GmbH handles high order volumes with the EdgeBreaker®

Deburring

It is available with a fresh design and contains all of the important informa-tion about our products and services.

The new website appears in seven lan-guages and is also designed for opti-mum viewing on all end devices such as

smartphones, tablets, laptops, etc. This enables you to conveniently navigate our website even when you are travelling.

“The revision focused on the users. We not only wanted to create a user-friendly website for the visitors, but also offer them an experience”, says Alexandra Schuldt, Head of Marketing at ARKU.

The website has been completely re-vised. Additional functions and a clear structure make the new website user-friendly. With only a few clicks, you can access the desired categories such as leveling and deburring machines or feeding lines.

In addition, we also inform you about the latest podcast episodes along with domestic and international events that might interest you. A direct contact option for ARKU service along with an overview of all of the worldwide loca-tions and branches round out the web-site.

Visit our new website: www.arku.com

The new ARKU website is online!

Profit from the results of numerous leveling demonstrations and our ex-tensive expert knowledge. Experienced leveling specialists at the ARKU Leveling and Deburring Center pass on their practical know-how to you during our training. The leveling training can also be held at your compa-ny. Your contact at ARKU: Alexander Enke (alexander.enke@arku.com).

Leveling training for operators

Burgau, Germany – The connecting elements for exhaust gas systems need to fulfill extremely demanding flatness and roughness standards in order to function reliably. Customers do not accept even the smallest mis-takes. This is extremely challenging for feeding lines for stainless steel with a panel thickness of up to 12 mm. That is why Ernst Klimmer GmbH stri-

ves to ensure absolutely reliable pro-duction processes. The company ma-nufactures products such as drawn parts, fine-cut parts, clips and flanges for the automotive industry worldwide.

Klimmer shapes all of the cut pieces with punching and bending. The origi-nal material consists of stainless steel panels up to 12 mm thick. The compa-ny cuts these from coils. “These rings can curl up and rub against each other during the decoiling process because of their high internal stresses. This would result in scratches on the coils”, explains the Managing Shareholder Torsten Klimmer.

Battling scratches

To prevent this, he decided to purchase the CompactFeed® series from ARKU

in 1998. The first CompactFeed® 80 800 with a feeder-leveler was followed successively by six further models. The reason: the feeding lines gently supply the sheet metal coils to the cut-ting and shaping systems. In addition, the CompactFeed® systems are also capable of processing the thick parts that make up the majority of the pro-duction.

“ARKU is the market leader for feeding lines for material. The CompactFeed® consistently guarantees the desired quality of our parts as the feeding li-nes run reliably with almost no defects. When a problem actually does occur, ARKU’s competent employees provide rapid assistance. This has not changed in almost 20 years”, emphasizes Klim-mer.

A glance at the constantly growing machine park confirms this. Like the machinery, the company has also de-veloped positively. “Thanks to the re-liable feeding lines, our productivity has increased considerably”, emphasi-zes Klimmer. “They help us to safegu-ard the growth and competitiveness of Klimmer.”

www.klimmer-gmbh.de

Just like Tom Sawyer and Huckle-berry Finn, ARKU’s trainees and DHBW-students also constructed their own raft at the end of a recent workshop. The task demanded team

spirit and all of the participants contributed to the final result. The objective was clear: demonstrate that together we are stronger.

Two teams were formed. They had the task of constructing floating bodies, tree trunks, boards and ro-

pes into functioning and seaworthy rafts. The job not only involved a lot of thought but also a lot of laugh-ter. The end was exciting when the rafts were put to the test. The re-

sults were promising as the photo reveals.

The outdoor event was a success. ARKU’s students and trainees now have the best foundation for their future cooperation.

At this year’s ARKU summer event on 15th September 2017, the com-pany owner Albert Reiss recognized the lasting dedication of three em-ployees. Monika Fütterer and Chris-tian Hartmann celebrated 10 years and Hans-Peter Pflüger 40 years of employment of the company. Hans-Peter Pflüger has been an essential member of the ARKU team for de-cades. Holding various positions, he has worked to make ARKU a success as a member of the management. Pflüger joined Sales via Enginee-ring at the end of the 1980s. Today

he remains an expert in sheet-metal working and is highly valued by both colleagues and customers. He has been responsible for deburring ma-chines sales since 2015.

The core of experienced employees helps the company to successfully handle the booming business. ARKU also invests heavily in training young employees and currently employs 14 trainees and 8 students. Further-more, the company is also proud to employ four refugees from Syria and Africa.

Progress thanks to team spirit

Hans-Peter Pflüger: 40 years of loyalty

Masthead / Publisher: ARKU Maschinenbau GmbH, GermanyResponsible: Albert Reiss, CEO Coordination: Alexandra Schuldt, Head of MarketingLayout: Marschner+Kühn GmbH & Co. KG, Rommel & Company, Germany Print: Naberdruck, Germany

InfoMAX

(From left to right) Albert Reiss, President & CEO at ARKU, employees celebrating anniver-saries: Hans-Peter Pflüger, Monika Fütterer, Christian Hartmann and Managing Director Marcus Bartle.

A successful result: ARKU’s trainee team and the rafts they constructed.

20 years of gentle decoiling

Coil Lines

(From left to right) Torsten Klimmer, Managing Shareholder at Ernst Klimmer GmbH, Drazenko Dobras, Sales Coil Lines at ARKU and Robert Weigl, Technical Planning at Klimmer in front of an ARKU CompactFeed® feeding line.