Things are happening in Trossingen, but hello. After the promising presentation of the Multigrind® Radical at the GrindingHub in Stuttgart last May, the high-tech tinkerers from the Black Forest are going one better. The gamechanger for all tool manufacturers is now also available with an ultra-compact, super-fast automation system.

We ask. How has the market reacted to the new tool grinding machine? Is there any initial customer feedback? What can automation do and why do people in Trossingen talk about the best tool grinding machine in the world?

My conversation partner Thomas Bader, technology pioneer and Managing Director of Adelbert Haas GmbH, is visibly proud of the new compact tool grinding machine.

Carina Kabisreiter: How do you integrate powerful automation into such a compact machine? 

Thomas Bader: Yes, that was the challenge. An outstanding feature of the Multigrind® Radical is its extremely compact design. With a minimum footprint of around 2.7 square meters and a height of just over 2 meters, it is ideal for the smallest of hall environments. With integrated automation, the footprint increases to just 3.7 square meters. In return, the customer gets a fully automated and super-fast production unit with built-in productivity enhancements that set new standards in manufacturing. Regardless of whether they are grinding straight rotary or plate molds. And the new fast is also incredibly easy to handle.

Thomas Bader lacht: Remember, a Radical doesn't take breaks, it just gives the tool time to recover.

Carina Kabisreiter: Why don't you tell us some specific performance data, Mr. Bader?

Thomas Bader smiles whimsically: "We'd be happy to discuss the details in a one-on-one meeting, expert to expert. Besides, we don't want to completely unsettle our market participants, we just want to spur them on. The tool grinding industry is looking for change, and we can clearly feel that in the interest shown in our new machine. 

Carina Kabisreiter: Mr. Bader, we are not satisfied with this answer after such a successful market entry. Our readers' interest in facts and figures is understandable, isn't it?

Thomas Bader: Well, here are a few superlatives. We drastically reduce non-productive time. Due to the parallel tool and grinding wheel change, we save an enormous amount of time and manage this discipline in just a few seconds. Milling cutters, plates and drills are ground as required. In large quantities, or as a very small series from batch size 1 to 1,000.

And here previously unrecognized potential is raised. Assume that you produce 2,000 hours per year in single-shift operation. Then, with an average machining time of 4 minutes per cutter, you will produce 30,000 cutters per year in single-shift operation. If you manufacture in two shifts, you will produce 60,000 cutters, and in three shifts 90,000 cutters. The industry average for a tool grinding machine is 30 seconds for workpiece change and 15 seconds for tool change.

A Multigrind® Radical, on the other hand, requires 8 seconds for the workpiece change and 3 seconds for the tool change. If we now assume that the workpiece has to be changed once and the tool twice to produce a milling cutter, the Multigrind® Radical saves 46 seconds in non-productive time. This results in a savings potential of around 77% compared to the industry average. At an hourly rate of €80, the Multigrind® Radical saves €0.50 per workpiece change and €0.26 per tool change.

That pays for itself immediately. In addition, the machine can be quickly integrated into production. This can be completed within a few hours, i.e. without any loss of time and without any major programming effort. Parameterization, templates and ERP information are provided immediately by Multigrind® Horizon Software. This means that no control is required and the Gamechanger is ready for production on the spot. All that's left to do is quickly feed in the parts via automation and off we go. This is definitely rock around the clock.

Carina Kabisreiter: Rock around the Clock, you're referring to unmanned production, right?

Thomas Bader: With the Multigrind® Radical, we want to push the boundaries. A tool grinding machine without limits. Thanks to its compact appearance, it is also perfect as a solo performer for a garage start-up. The real purpose of the Multigrind® Radical is to combine several tool grinding machines into a hyper-profitable production cluster. Imagine 5 or 10 Multigrind® Radical side by side, there's a lot going on. This makes flexible, fully automated, unmanned series production the production standard. Lights-out production, 24/7 or, as the Beatles sang so beautifully, Eight Days A Week. By decoupling operation and machine, this happens with maximum independence. The machine operator is mobile, can control several machines at the same time and is always up to date. Freedom and maximum control.

Carina Kabisreiter: And why do people in Trossingen talk about the best tool grinding machine in the world?

Thomas Bader: Our claim was exactly that. We set out to design and then build the best tool grinding machine in the world with the Multigrind® Radical. Operated by powerful software that regulates everything in the background and only serves to control everything in the foreground. When, as in this case, aspiration and reality correspond, it's fair to call a spade a spade, isn't it? And anyone who knows Adelbert Haas knows that we only develop something new if we can fundamentally improve what already exists, otherwise we leave it alone. The time was ripe, and we delivered. Ultimately, of course, it's our customers who decide. Only when they talk about the best tool grinding machine are we satisfied and continue to tinker with the next big thing.

Carina Kabisreiter: What prompted Adelbert Haas to develop a tool grinding machine just now? The other Multigrind® machines are, as the brand name suggests, rather high-tech grinding machines with multiple applications. From medical technology and aerospace to pumps and materials handling. 

Thomas Bader: It's like always at Adelbert Haas, our customers challenge us and we then try to exceed their expectations. And when it comes to tool grinding, this meets a very, very long tradition in our company. As early as 1938, the HS 1 tool grinding machine was presented at the industrial trade fair in Leipzig and repeatedly improved in the following centuries. In 1984, we then developed the first CNC 2-axis tool grinding machine and replaced it in 1989 with the 5-axis type HB 3045-5. The successful Multigrind® HT was born in 1998. Many of these fossils are still doing a good job and some are being brought up to date through our retrofit program. Of course, these retrofit machines do not make a fair comparison with the new Multigrind® Radical; they are worlds apart. Anyone who has to face the competitive pressure of automated production today definitely cannot do without a Multigrind® Radical. That's why, when it comes to tool grinding, we have gone back to our roots, taken our customers' wishes seriously and followed our premise. Who, if not us? When, if not now, and where, if not here in Trossingen?

Thomas Bader weiter: It is also interesting to note that, parallel to the development of the Multigrind® Radical, we have also been working intensively on our heritage brand. From our self-image, we have long since ceased to be a pure machine builder. Since 1990, our own software development has become an important driver for more performance, more precision and unrestrained solution competence. This is often underestimated and we wanted to change that. The "Schleifmaschinen" in our previous company name Haas Schleifmaschinen limits us and we have long outgrown it as a software pioneer. This also became clear to us when designing the Multigrind® Radical. We took up this challenge and gave our company a new name. Haas Schleifmaschinen became Adelbert Haas GmbH at the beginning of 2023. Looking back at our founder and pioneer Adelbert gives us this new perspective forward.

Towards the future, the future of high-tech grinding.   

Carina Kabisreiter: That sounds like a plan A, A for Adelbert. Mr. Bader, we wish you every success and thank you for the interview.