The Chinese success story started in 2006 when the Starrag plant in Chemnitz delivered a Heckert HEC 1600 with quill to a German manufacturer in the wind energy sector in China. In 2007, a wellknown Chinese company also received a Heckert HEC 1600 as a turnkey solution. The customised solution was well received, as shortly thereafter the company ordered three Heckert HEC 1800s, the largest model in the Heckert Large Athletic series to date.

“Supplying products to two important customers in the wind power sector early on has laid the foundation for Starrag’s success in the Chinese wind power industry,” claims a delighted Hubert Erz (Dipl.-Ing.), Senior Consultant Sales/Renewables. “A total of 100 Starrag machines from the Heckert, Dörries and Berthiez product ranges went to China, where they have since been turning, milling and grinding very high-quality wind turbine gearbox components.”

The feedback from customers on these two particularly popular models shows what companies in the wind power sector attach particular importance to – and not only in China. We are talking about the Heckert HEC 1600 and Heckert HEC 1800, the two top models in the Heckert Large Athletic series. The horizontal machining centres from Chemnitz are suitable for complete and multi-sided machining of gearbox housings and planetary gear carriers used in wind turbines with an output of 1.5 to 6 MW. Thanks to the modular design principle, they can be customised in terms of loading mass, pallet size, interference zone and XYZ tracking.

In addition to precision, productivity is also required. Here too – according to feedback from the Far East – the two machining centres perform very well: This is partly owed to the high degree of automation of the machines, thanks to the Heckert HEC models which machine workpieces up to 25% faster than competitor machines. Setup times are reduced by the standard equipment with pallet changer, which enables workpieces to be set up during machining and thus enables unmanned shifts over a longer period of time.

The enormous amount of space available in the Heckert tool magazines increases productivity even further: This calls for the compact tower magazine with up to 450 tool positions. Bridge tools weighing up to 50 kg and with a diameter of 950 mm can be accommodated here. In addition, the tower magazine can hold 30 tools up to 800 mm long for automatic use in the main spindle.