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120 experts, 10 stations, 2 days

AERO STRUCTURES TECHNOLOGY DAYS 2016

The numbers often reveal more about an event than a wordy description: At the 2016 Aero StructuresTechnology Days, more than 120 experts from the global aerospace industry visited the ten stations of the Aerospace and Energy business unit to find out about the precise, highly productive manufacture of titanium and aluminium structural components for aircraft in accordance with the Starrag Group slogan “Engineering precisely what you value”.


“We are demonstrating how to increase productivity and safeguard reliability in the production process by increasing availability and component quality”. The message from Dr Norbert Hennes, head of the new “Aerospace and Energy” Business Unit was well received by representatives from the aircraft industry. Due to a dramatic increase in demand for new aircraft, manufacturers in the industry who need to increase productivity – often under conditions where space is mostly limited in their production halls. The new ECOSPEED F 1540, which provides increased performance of up to 87 % with a small footprint, was created as an answer to this difficult remit, and is designed for medium-sized structural components for example (pallet size: 1,500 mm × 4,000 mm). The 100th machine in the ECOSPEED series, which celebrated its première at theAero Structures Technology Days 2016, also features significantly simplified installation and quick commissioning.

Industry 4.0 is also more than a vision for the future at the Starrag Group – it is already a reality and is ensuring a high level of reliability in the production process. The flexible manufacturing system (FMS) for Korea Aerospace Industries Ltd. (KAI) in Sacheon city is a prime example. South Korea’s only aircraft manufacturer ordered nine ECOSPEED F machining centres, which are connected by a rail transport system. In 2016, this FMS is being fitted in one of the world’s largest concentrated lines in the aerospace industry. As its core element, the system features a master computer, which automatically monitors all processes. “It ensures that everything runs automatically”, says Dr-Ing Bruno Valkyser, Head of Electrical Engineering and Commissioning. “The user only needs to clamp the parts to be machined on the pallets. The rest happens fully automatically”. The master computer controls the entire process – from automatic loading and storing of the raw material to the unloading of the finished components.

The new 150-kW spindle, which almost doubles (+87%, to be precise) the removal rate compared to typical 80-kW spindles offered by the competition, attracted high levels of interest in Mönchengladbach. Dipl.-Ing. (BA) Lüder Kahle, Supervisor Applications ECOSPEED: “We therefore developed a 150-kW spindle to complement our standard 120-kW version for use in the Sprint Z3 parallel kinematic machining head from the ECOSPEED series.” Numerous technical innovations (including extended spindle monitoring) enable significantly higher cutting forces, which increase the removal rate to an effective 12 l/min – an increase of 25 % in comparison to the 120-kW spindle. The market launch of the new spindles is planned for 2017.

It is often the amount of unproductive time that affects performance. A lot of productive time is lost checking geometric deviations, for example. A new procedure ensures an enormous amount of time is saved by making it possible for every operator to check the head kine- matics and – if required – to compensate for this. It allows the operator to quickly check the machine and result log at any time, thereby ensuring the quality of the components. “The ECO-TRIM program enables every operator to check the machine and quickly compensate for any deviations if required”, explained Thomas Troup, Head of Application Engineering during demonstrations on an ECOSPEED F machining centre. “The Sprint Z3 headof the machining centre can be checked geometrically in the simplest way – this all happens very quickly and is even possible with very little previous knowledge. A straight, fully automatic check including the log with a time stamp for the current status of the machine with the geometric deviations to the last electronic fingerprint saved in the CNC takes 40 minutes”.

It was not just these three highlights that received a positive response. Demonstrations on the other seven stations and at the stands of technology partners (such as Ceratizit, CGTech, GMN, Haimer, Ingersoll, Iscar, Kenna- metal, Sandvik, Siemens and Walter), as well as the presentation by Prof. Dr. Christian Brecher of the Machine Tool Laboratory at RWTH Aachen University, were also well received by visitors from Belgium, China, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Korea, North America, Russia and United Kingdom (see also Opinions: Views from at home and abroad). As a regular customer commented, “Everything is done right with a focus on productivity, profitability and process reliability”.

Opinions: Views from home and abroad

About one-sixth of the 100 ECOSPEED machining centres that have been sold so far (16, to be precise) are in use at Premium AEROTEC. “Beside the enormously high levels of efficiency, the machines from the Starrag Group stand out due to the fact that the production systems have been developed and adapted to be exactly in line with our needs”, explains Dr Matthias Lange, Head of Cube and Rotation Machining at the Varel plant. “Thanks to the highly dynamic 5-axis simultaneous cutting, parallel kinematics sets the benchmark for us when it comes to machining large, complex aluminium structural components compared with conventional machining”.

The Starrag Group also enjoys a particularly good reputation in China:

Yang Hong, Vice General Manager of the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC: state-owned aerospace and defence company with headquarters in Beijing), was an honorary guest at the 2015 Turbine Technology Days in Rorschacherberg, the Swiss headquar- ters of the Starrag Group. A delegation from an influential AVIC subsidiary also visited the 2016 Aero Structures Technology Days, no doubt due to imminent investment in production technology by the Chinese aviation industry. Zhang Yuan, Deputy Director of Product Man- agement Department for the AVIC Beijing Aeronautical Manufacturing Technology Research Institute was visibly impressed after a look behind the scenes. Together with his team, he took a closer look at the ten demonstration stations, examining everything in detail.

As one of Europe’s leading aerospace engineering firms, the British Hyde Group has been providing customers around the world with design and manufacture solutions for over 40 years. Hyde is a trusted partner in the field of engineering solutions for many aircraft manufacturers. However, the company is not yet using machine tools from the Starrag Group, so it was also Paul Mellor’s first visit to Mönchengladbach and his first experience of tripod tech- nology in a factory. The technical director of the Aero Products division of Hyde Aero Products Ltd., Dukinfield was very interested in and impressed by the ECOSPEED with the new 150-kW spindle. “With regard to its accuracy and efficiency it could be a solution for our future business. With regard to the software and the additional service, I can see a really good solution for us and I’m looking forward to collaboration on future projects”, said Mellor.

Michael Lurquin from the Machining Competence Center of Belgian company SONACA (Société Nationale de Construction. Aérospatiale SA) in Gosselies was also particularly interested in the tripod technology. “I’m very impressed by the efficient way the ECOSPEED is cutting aluminium parts”, commented the technology expert. Lurquin was intrigued by the characteristics of the ECOSPEED F 1540 and the demonstrations for the different services (such as application technology and advanced training). He was also impressed by the level of knowledge and expertise demonstrated by the Starrag specialists in the new Aerospace & Energy Business Unit.

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