„Grinding technology“ in dialogue

The visitors took the motto of our first GrindDate so literally that our application technicians and engineers had very little time to breathe a sigh of relief. On Friday, 24th and Saturday, 25th April, interested visitors were always present at one of our Multigrind® grinding machines in our demonstration room.

To hear and see: GrindDate Program

To be honest, we had hoped for this, but we did not expect these two days to be so intense. After all, it was a premiere for everyone involved, and that with normal assembly operations. In any case, we were very pleased to welcome around 150 customers and interested parties. Of course, we put a lot of effort into it and offered our visitors a comprehensive programme on all aspects of grinding technology and grinding machines. On six Multigrind® grinding machines and a Waida grinding centre, it was possible to see live how the most diverse parts (mould plate, punch, turbine blade, hob, shaft part, milling cutter with full radius, indexable insert) are ground. In addition, our guest speakers and three employees of Haas Schleifmaschinen gave technically interesting lectures. Yes, and then there were the regular guided tours through our production facilities to show users where and how we build these precise Multigrind® grinding machines.

"Decisive is on the field" - and in production

It goes without saying that my colleague Thomas Bader also took the opportunity to guide visitors through our production facilities himself. After all, and Thomas is like me and probably all thoroughbred technicians, the music plays where it smells of machining. The personal conversation directly at the machine cannot be replaced. This genuine, unadulterated manufacturing atmosphere is simply inspiring. We notice this again and again when users visit us in Trossingen.

Precision in a double pack.: Multigrind^® CU

The two Multigrind® CU grinding machines attracted special attention, precision in a double pack so to speak. For the first time we presented this compact grinding centre for the manufacturers of cutting tools at the AMB 2014 in Stuttgart. Incidentally, the first machines are about to be delivered to a leading manufacturer of precision tools.

Short and crisp: Presentations by experts

Our lecture program was started by engineer Ruben Fischer on the subject of "structure-borne sound tool measurement", followed by Dr. Andreas Kreyßig from Marposs, leading manufacturer of production measurement technology and process control.

Dr. Kreyßig spoke about "structure-borne sound recognition and balancing". Carlo Bzdok and Tobias Tute from the working group of Prof. Dr.-Ing. Harald Goldau from the Magdeburg-Stendal University of Applied Sciences dealt with the "measurement of process forces" and thus also with process control and more precision.

"Taghi Tawakoli from the Furtwangen University of Applied Sciences informed his audience about "New developments in grinding technology" and particularly emphasized the introduction of functional structures into the workpiece surface by means of targeted oscillation movements of the grinding tool.

As with all the presentations, Wolfram Hermle, Software Manager at Haas Schleifmaschinen, no chair was left free. He impressively demonstrated the performance of our geometry-based intuitive grinding software Multigrind® Horizon in almost 30 minutes. The contribution by Peter Haefeli from Haefeli Diamantwerkzeugfabrik AG was short, crisp and instructive. Haefeli spoke about the grinding of profile plates with pointed discs and showed how the cycle time can be reduced and the dimensional accuracy increased by specific technical measures (e.g. choice of bond, grinding software, dressing). This was highly instructive for the manufacturers of cutting tools. In his lecture on Haas clamping technology, Haas engineer Michael Mattes emphasized the importance of the right clamping device in the course of increasing automation and increasingly complex workpiece geometries. Customers who have been grinding with our machines for a long time know that clamping technology is one of the major hobbies of our designers.

Open and constructive: Dialogue with users

Do you remember the slogan "Bauknecht knows what women want"? Almost every child knew this slogan in the 50s, 60s and 70s. We at Haas Schleifmaschinen have the same claim as well, only with regard to grinding machines. We go even further. We would like to be so close to the market and the technical developments of our customers that we can offer grinding technology that users don't even know they will need in a few years. For this we need an open, intensive and constructive dialogue with the users. A dialogue that we would like to conduct even more intensively with you on all channels in the future. We prefer, see above, to have a personal conversation on site, in the hall, at the machine. Therefore, after the successful premiere, there will again be a GrindDate next year at Haas Schleifmaschinen in Trossingen.

You did not make it to GrindDate, but would also like to take a look at our production facilities and talk to us about your specific grinding tasks? No problem, write me.

Grinding with attitude!

Dirk Wember