As Development Engineer for parts and processes, Christiano Sala is responsible for CNC machining in Oss. The machines in this area include eight from Heckert: six CWK 500 D and, as of recently, two HEC 500 D. “I have known Heckert for quite some time as a global leader in machining centres that are suitable for milling, drilling and turning complex workpieces. It was a stroke of luck for us when Benny Van Haver from the Heckert sales department came to us in 1999 to recommend the CWK 500 D machining centre for machining a flywheel housing. That’s because this machine, with a rapid traverse of 82 m/min and 1 g acceleration, allowed us to achieve the shortest production time by some distance”. The robust machine design, the size of the collision circle and the hydraulic clamping options met the expectations of Christiano Sala and his colleagues. Benny Van Haver, responsible for Brabant Alucast in the Netherlands as Head of Sales for the Benelux countries at the Starrag Group, confirms that this successful partnership has expanded in the subsequent years: “We worked together to build a robot loading system for the CWK, then there were another five CWK 500 D orders for machining oil pans, valve housings, ladder frames, crankcases and gearbox housings. All machines are designed with a robot automation interface, and some feature fire protection equipment for magnesium machining”. The six Heckert CWK systems still work in three-shift operation, with no notable decline in precision or performance. “The long-term quality of these machines makes the investment particularly worthwhile”, believes Christiano Sala.
 

Much faster than comparable machines

As Christiano Sala explains, “We of course conducted extensive research into which machines would be best for this application in the long term before purchasing the two new HEC 500 D machines. After all, we are talking about quantities of 100,000 parts per year, probably over a period of several years”. Using the exact same programme, Sala and his colleagues compared the production time per part on a Heckert CWK 500 D built in 2005 (402.0 s) with that of a Japanese machining centre built in 2013 (388.4 s) and the new Heckert HEC 500 D built in 2015 (321.2 s). The results (see values in brackets) were clear: The HEC 500 D was 20 % faster than the previous CWK 500 D model and 17.3 % faster than the Japanese machining centre, which is only two years younger. For Benny Van Haver, this is confirmation of the successful development work at Heckert: “The R&D division has retained proven qualities such as the robust, durable machine construction, but upgraded essential details to the latest technological standard, for example with highly dynamic feed drives and extremely precise profile rail roller guides in all linear axes”. Christiano Sala is also very satisfied with the result: “It is nice to see that Heckert takes our suggestions and those of other users seriously and incorporates improvements accordingly”. For him, this success is paying off in hard cash, as the shorter cycle times ensure the capacity of the two HEC machines is sufficient for the volume of the latest order. With the previous machines, it would have been necessary to invest in a third machining centre.