aerospace

The XXL sub-contractor from Jutland

The Danish company keeping machine tools in the family

In Barrit in Denmark, a small typical rural area in Jutland, extremely large, rotationally symmetrical components are produced at HACO A/S, one of the Starrag Group’s largest regular customers, for companies such as Siemens Wind Power, Vestas, Valmont SM, LM Windpower, KHS and MAN Turbo. HACO processes around 10,000 tonnes of steel per year into XXL parts at a high level of vertical integration (including welding) on very large Dörries vertical turning lathes.

- 20 % lower unit costs, + 15 % Improvement of quality

The family company HACO is a leading sub-contractor for very large, relatively flat and round workpieces that also develops its own components high up in the north of the country. This service is very popular with regular customers from the wind power sector and offshore industry who commission the Barritbased company to produce impellers or moulds for wind vanes and components for ship engines or bottle filling systems.

A glance at the machinery shows that, above all, size is sought after in Jutland. “Our latest Dörries vertical lathe was designed for components with a swing diameter of 6,500 mm“, says HACO managing director Henning Albrechtsen. “We have expanded it to 7,500 mm“. The actual leap into the world of XXL machines was taken in 2000: Albrechtsen bought a large, used lathe manufactured by Schiess and immediately received his first major order. At the same time, Dörries Scharmann took on the retrofitting of these production facilities and then also two further Schiess lathes.

In Barrit there are now eleven vertical lathes of varying sizes (swing diameter: 1,600 mm to 7,500 mm), of which nearly half are from Dörries: One of these machines is a used machine and four are new (Dörries VC 2500, 3500, 4500, 6000 and 6500). HACO produces almost everything on these machines in a single clamping position. 

What are the general advantages of purchasing machines from Dörries? “We have had a very good experience with DST machines when it comes to quality, precision and service“, says Albrechtsen. However, he believes the good reputation of the Dörries Scharmann brand also plays a crucial role – for instance, when the company is being audited by inspectors from potential customers, or certified by German TÜV auditors.

For the Starrag Group, sub-contractors are a particular challenge. “It is a matter of investment volumes and, therefore, keeping the machine hour rate low so that the job shop can sell its services successfully. The price of the machine is not crucial, rather the unit costs that can be achieved“, explains graduate engineer and Starrag Group sales director, Hubert Erz. “A very high level of fl exibility is also required so that the sub-contractor is able to adapt to a wide range of orders. It‘s a very difficult balancing act.“

Thanks to its machinery, the family business is able to produce components with a maximum diameter of 7,500 mm and a height of over 3,000 mm, with a precision in the range of hundredths of millimetres, in a single clamping position. The eleven machines are now not only used to produce individual parts, but also series in batches of 100 (machine parts). 

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