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From the leading trade fair to the start of the season: Starrag makes its presence felt in Hanover and Bilbao

Starrag wrapped up the trade show season with a strongappearance at EMO 2025 in Hanover. As the industry’s leading trade fair, EMO remains the central meeting place for international manufacturing technology. In 2025, it continued to attract visitors from all over the world.

The impressive two-story Starrag stand effectively showcased the Group’s wide range of offerings. Highlights included the Heckert X70 machining center, a complete nose landing gear from an Airbus A350, and machining operations on a Bumotec 191neo.

Another particularly exciting aspect was the combination of real machinery and a digital experience: Using VR glasses and 360° applications, visitors could immerse themselves in the world of Starrag technologies and experience machines, motion sequences, and machining processes from entirely new perspectives.

EMO 2026

The BIEMH in Bilbao kicked off the 2026 trade show season.

It will be a while before the EMO returns to Hanover. The next event in Hanover won’t take place until 2029.

The BIEMH in Bilbao kicked off the 2026 trade show season. Starrag show-cased its offerings there under the motto “From small to gigantically large”, demonstrating the full breadth of its portfolio, from small precision solutions to gigantically large machine concepts. At the same time, the company sent an important signal to the Spanish market: MCAP Innovation Beyond Machinery was introduced as the new general representative for Spain. Thus, BIEMH not only marked a successful start to the season but also signaled the continued expansion of its international market presence.

125 years of Heckert – from Wanderer to high-precision 5-axis machining

Heckert

Heckert’s roots date back to 1885, when Johann Baptist Winklhofer and Richard Adolf Jaenicke founded the Chemnitzer Velociped-Depot in Chemnitz. The bicycle repair shop quickly evolved into an industrial manufacturer under the name “Wanderer”, and from 1899 onward, it also began producing milling machines. Over the decades, this developed into a broadly positioned industrial company with international significance. Alongside the production of vehicles and office equipment, machine tool manufacturing in particular grew into a key pillar of the business. Following the destruction of the plant in 1944 and its subsequent reconstruction, the company was renamed VEB Fritz Heckert in 1951. During this period, a clear focus on machine tools emerged. Heckert played a decisive role in shaping industrial manufacturing, particularly through the introduction of numerically controlled machines and a consistent focus on high-productivity series machining. Since 1998, Heckert has been part of Starrag. Today, the name stands for highly productive horizontal machining centers that combine precision, dynamics and process integration. With 5-axis technology, automation solutions and deep manufacturing expertise, Heckert enables applications that would have been considered unfeasible just a few years ago.

With RCS 8.0, Starrag introduces a new generation of turbine blade machining.

RCS 8.0 – where experience meets AI

30 years of CAM expertise meets machine intelligence: With RCS 8.0, Starrag introduces a new generation of turbine blade machining. This innovative software combines proven strategies with AI-assisted optimization – for maximum precision when working with complex free-form contours. Automated workflows, intelligent geometric adaptation to variable unmachined parts, and direct real-time feedback make the machining process faster, safer, and more efficient. At the same time, familiar features remain: Thanks to comprehensive backward compatibility, existing programs and strategies can be seamlessly integrated.The result: reduced machining times, extended tool life, and a new level of process reliability on 5-axis machining centers.

Next level of cam software