about

Editorial

By Dr. Christian Walti

Dear reader,

In this issue of our customer magazine, we will cover the various machines and services that our group offers – with examples ranging from manufacturing a luxury mechanical watch in Switzerland to an unusual service call-out to a Chinese turbine manufacturer.

For all of these activities, the Starrag Group always considers one thing as central: our customers. Our claim is that they will receive measurable added value from Starrag solutions. The article regarding our retrofi tting task for Chinese turbine manufacturer Hangzhou provides solid proof that this is no frivolous, meaningless promise. At the Hangzhou site, the entire production line of Starrag LX machines for blade machining has been modernised.

While improving the precision of turbine blades in China, Starrag has also been supporting a Swiss watch manufacturer during the production of an exclusive mechanical watch that sets new standards in the industry with an entirely new concept. The machine the manufacturer chose for this purpose – the Bumotec s191V vertical high-performance CNC machining centre – achieved a similar level of innovation in its own field. I personally recommend the interview between Felix Baumgartner, founder of chronometer brand Urwerk, and Stéphane Violante, Marketing Project Manager at Starrag Vuadens – it’s a great read. They were amazed to discover that both companies are among the avant-garde of their respective industries, producing surprising and astounding innovations.

Starrag has seen particular success in the aviation industry.  The new Starrag NB 151 has been specially developed for this sector, machining blisks for turbines more effectively than ever before. Increasing productivity is also a hot topic for Alfred Lilla, Sales Director Aero Structures at the Starrag Group, whose interview focuses on how Ecospeed machining centres can be interlinked into highly productive fl exible manufacturing systems (FMS). Currently, these solutions are particularly in demand in Korean and Chinese aircraft production.

A portal milling machine from the Droop+Rein T line received by our regular North American customer Metalex embodies XXL at its fi nest. Thanks to the huge amount of space offered (for example a maximum of seven metres’ clearance underneath the spindle), the contract machining company is now able to turn and mill even large workpieces easily in a single clamping operation – if necessary, the machine is capable of six-axis operation to improve flexibility.

Starrag has successfully transferred the output and quality characteristics of much larger machines into the new compact Heckert machining centres for pallets of 400 and 500 mm.

One example of this is the high degree of rigidity, which is a consistent feature of all framework assemblies. The machines perform impressively on the test stand, and this performance is reproduced in practice with increased productivity and a broader component range for end users.

All of these examples show how seriously we take our claim to our customers – but we can only make our demanding projects a reality thanks to our incredibly motivated expert employees.

I hope you enjoy reading this issue of Star 1/2019. If you would like to know more about the Starrag Group and our products and services, I recommend coming to visit us in person at one of our sites or at one of the numerous international trade fairs we attend.

Links

Starrag Company

Visit Company Profile

We use cookies to ensure the proper functioning of our website. For an improved visit experience we use analysis products. These are used when you agree with 'Statistics'. Privacy statement