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Editorial

By Dr. Christian Walti

Dear reader,

“Win the smart future together.”  The 17th China International Machine Tool Show (CIMT) is using these optimistic words to promote the world’s first major machine tool show of the year in Beijing, where Starrag will also be presenting its products and services.

“Together” is also the message of the latest issue of our magazine Star, which will also be published in Chinese at CIMT in April 2021. For Starrag, “together” means: First of all, precisely determining customer requirements, then developing tailor-made solutions. A prime example of this is the new Heckert H65 four-axis machining center, which meets all customer requirements from maximum dynamic to maximum productivity with the smallest possible footprint. 

The cooperation with German premium job shop CONCAD GmbH, based in Walldürn, is characterized by an eye-to-eye partnership: Managing Director Klaus Schwab suggested that Starrag combines the two machine types Droop+Rein FOGS and TF into a completely new machine concept. The Starrag plant in Bielefeld (Germany) met the customer’s requirements with a completely new high-performance, precision-cutting high-gantry machine. Satisfied, the regular Starrag customer immediately ordered a second equally new, but smaller Droop+Rein machine tool.

Often, however, special industry requirements also play a role: In the article “The right DNA for agricultural machinery”, you will learn how Heckert machining centers safely and efficiently process the heavy, large and robust XXL components for tractors, ploughs or fertilizer spreaders. Starrag has been looking at another target group in Immendingen, Germany over the past five years: Situated near Tuttlingen, the “world’s center for medical technology”, the Tech Center is demonstrating new manufacturing solutions for medical technology companies with presentations on high-precision Bumotec turning milling centers.

Sometimes, however, there are customers who work for several industries at once. One of these is the family-owned Schaller Group, which produces large, heavy components for aerospace, automotive and medical technology industries as well as the military. Regular American customers place extremely high demands on the machining of highly complex aluminum workpieces, a task now undertaken by a Starrag STC 800 X five-axis machining center. It’s not just technology that counts to Schaller, but also a sense of coming together. As such, Chief Technologist Justin Schaller does not feel like a Starrag customer, but rather a Starrag partner.

You will feel this special spirit of “coming together” in all the Star stories: Be it with the project for NASA spin-off company Amorphology, which received a Bumotec s191H machining center plus a custom-designed cutting tool for the production of microgears, or Swiss Berhalter AG, which is now entering a new business area with a five-axis large-scale Starrag STC 1250 machining center – a recipe for success that shows “a living partnership with our customers”.

All that is left to say is I hope you enjoy reading the Star 01-2021 issue and enjoy our “coming together”.

Christian Walti