As, unlike its competitors, the Hessbased company machines its moulds rather than casting them, production with the some 50 machine tools the company has in operation is an extremely important process. In some cases, the machine tools must machine the moulds to precise specifications between 30 and 50 μm. Following on from the excellent experience the company had with Starrag Customer Service for retrofitting work, HERBERT ultimately decided to purchase a Dörries vertical lathe for the economic machining of moulds ranging from 2.6 metres to a maximum of 6.5 metres. “Another solid workhorse of a machine was required; a powerful and durable machine that we can use to develop a greater presence in the contract manufacturing business for companies in the region,” Production Manager Wolfgang Stumpf explains: “The machine therefore also has to be flexible. For example, we want to use it to turn components for wind turbines and wind machines.”

The perfect opportunity presented itself for the Hesse-based company in 2013 when a Liebherr factory offered a used Dörries CTE 320 vertical lathe (built in 1983) which had been equipped with a new Siemens 840 D control in 2001. “We weren’t prepared to accept any compromises in terms of retrofitting,” the Production Manager notes in retrospect. “In order to achieve the level of quality offered by a new machine, anything that did not live up to our requirements was ultimately replaced.” The retrofitting work was performed by the Starrag Customer Service. The team completely replaced the hydraulics as well as some of the electronics. The main bearings in the collet chuck were also replaced and all guiding parts were re-shaved.

However, the purchase of the used machine was ultimately an exception – the subsidiary of the Starrag Group normally only offers new products. “If we sell a used machine as a general contractor, we only do so as part of an extensive retrofit,” Hans Jeschke Dipl.-Ing., Director Customer Service, explains. “After all, our customers expect to receive the same, extremely high standard of quality from a used machine from us as they do with a new machine. As such, we completely overhauled the mechanics and returned it to an as-new condition.” The Customer Service also put the refurbished system into operation in exactly the same way as if it were a new machine.