Category Archives: Press Releases

Procon X-RAY GmBH, a leader in custom-designed industrial CT scanners, will be available in USA through Exact Metrology

November 30, 2015 – Exact Metrology announced today the signing of an agreement with ProCon X-Ray for exclusive rights to distribute the company’s product line throughout the USA.

ProCon, located in Germany, has been developing x-ray systems for non-destructive testing since 2004. The company is a state-of-the-art manufacturer of x-ray and CT (computed tomography) systems designed specifically for industrial applications.

ProCon offers several standard models, ranging from portable units and desktop models to full-size, stand-alone systems. Each of the company’s standard units can be customized to meet customer specific job requirements. The systems are all offered with high-resolution focus x-ray technology.

ProCon works directly with customers to determine the scope of requirements, then develops and designs a unit to meet the individual application needs. Units can be designed with multiple x-ray sources and multiple detector set-ups. This process results in customers obtaining exactly the type of metrology equipment required, without any unnecessary features. Turnaround time in production of the equipment is thereby reduced to a minimum. ProCon systems are also user-friendly and easy to use in operation, according to Exact VP Steve Young.

Exact Metrology offers a complete line of portable scanning and measurement technologies, as well as contract measurement for 2 and 3D laser scanning services, reverse engineering services, non-contact inspection, metrology services, 3D digitizing and training, plus its recently announced CT scanning services, usable by all types of manufacturing, packaging and product integrity concerns.

For more information on this agreement, please contact:

Steve Young, VP
Exact Metrology, Inc.
11575 Goldcoast Drive
Cincinnati, OH 45249
Local 513.831.6620
Toll Free 866.722.2600
www.exactmetrology.com
stevey@exactmetrology.com

Exact Metrology is an ISO 9001:2008 Certified Company.

Exact Metrology, with facilities in Cincinnati and Milwaukee and affiliated offices throughout the Midwest, is a comprehensive metrology services provider, offering customers 3D scanning, reverse engineering, quality inspection, product development and 2D drawings. The company also provides turnkey metrology solutions, including equipment sales and lease/rental arrangements.

Ann Arbor, Michigan – GMTA (German Machine Tools of America) represents various top-quality German metalworking machine builders companies, including Wera Profilator, K + G, Pittler, Praewema and WMZ, as well as Arnold lasers. These machines are sold to the North American market by GMTA, primarily for gear and spline production, as well as other power transmission and various metalworking applications. The company’s target markets include automotive, off-highway, energy and other heavy equipment manufacturing. Machines are provided for gear honing, gear grinding, the patented Scudding® process for gearmaking, polygon milling, turning, gear tooth pointing and multi-task machining operations, as well as various laser operations or laser line integration. This newsletter is provided to our friends in the media to keep you and your readers updated on News of Note at GMTA.

In the news…

Hard Scudding™ will change the face (pun intended) of gearmaking!

-GMTA will exhibit at several shows upcoming, including EMO in Milan and Gear Expo in Detroit.   At the latter, the company will show its latest development for gearmaking, namely, the Hard Scudding process. Just a few years ago, the concept of Scudding®, developed by GMTA and its partner company Wera in Germany, left the traditional skiving method in the dust, so to speak, for internal gear production used primarily in the powertrain buildup. This process, 5-10 times faster than gear shaping, formed the surface of the workpiece through several, small enveloping cuts, providing a surface finish and part quality level that was far superior to hobbing, shaping or broaching. Scudding is a continuous generating process, meaning no idle strokes on the machine tool, as when shaping gears.   Ring gears, sliding sleeves and annulus gearing, whether internal helical or spur, external helical or spur or blind spline, synchronizer parts with block tooth features and synchronizer hubs remain among the popular products in the market, made with Scudding technology.

Today, this continuous gear cutting process is widely used in production environments for internal, external, helical and spur gears, as well as splines and other components in the powertrain world. The machining can be done without the need for an undercut or groove (clearance) and lead of the gear can be manipulated via axial motions (crown/taper).   It is a demonstrably superior technology and automotive suppliers have embraced its advantages for many years now.

Impressive a technology as it is, the industry took another step forward recently with our new process known as Hard Scudding™. The conventional Scudding process provides excellent results on green or soft gears, while this new advancement enables the re-machining of hardened gears with a tooth-to-tooth composite error and total composite error in the AGMA 12, DIN 5 range and a surface finish better than 1.5 Ra.

The capital investment is minimal for shops and production departments already doing Scudding, because the same gear can be run on the same CNC machine, using a solid carbide tool to do the work. Recent testing done on various internal automotive powertrain and agricultural machinery ring gears is showing extremely positive results.   Stock division calculations on the tooth position are standard technology for GMTA and Profilator, so re-cutting is quick and easy. Using the latest CNC technology to control the machine kinematics, users are able to transfer this technology to Scudding machinery that is already deployed in the field. Thus, the same part can be cut on different machines at different times, allowing for more flexibility in scheduling. With today’s portable programming, onscreen or offline tool path and cutting condition simulation, plus the immediacy of call-up onscreen for all values and tolerances in real time, the busy machine shop or large production department stays flexible and demand responsive, using this Hard Scudding technology. In some cases, this new technology is applicable on near net, pre-hardened gear blanks, allowing significant step reductions in the manufacturing process.

In operation, cutting 60-100 thousandths per flank on a tooth, the Hard Scudding process can be used on a carburized or through-hardened parts; nitriding generally does not provide enough case depth to ensure sufficient stock for “clean-up”.   An automotive ring gear, for example, which requires 40-50 seconds for Scudding can be produced with Hard Scudding in 25-30 seconds.   This process development stands as a viable and very cost-effective alternative to conventional grind-and-hone operations, yielding a highly attractive cost per piece and extended tool life scenario.   The added benefits of reduced capital outlay and a significantly more consistent end product bode well for the automotive powertrain and other gear market segments.

STOP BY BOOTH 2109 IN DETROIT, OCTOBER 20-22 TO LEARN MORE OR CALL SCOTT KNOY TODAY!

-GMTA management will be attending EMO in Milan with its partners, then exhibiting at Gear Expo, being held this year in Detroit, October 20-22.

-GMTA is running at “light speed” with their new Arnold laser work cells. Available as single or double work cells, the Arnold systems are offered as CO2 or fiber lasers, with full integration into a machining line, either by means of robotic part articulation or other automated transfer mechanisms, most of which are being supplied to customers by GMTA engineering.   Leads from the last IMTS and the company’s aggressive ad program are already being developed into serious opportunities for the company, often in tandem with other machine tool lines and auxiliary equipment now offered by GMTA, according to company President Walter Friedrich.   The most recent development is laser cladding, a process of simultaneous metal deposition and fusion, with an extremely high degree of control on the geometry.   This technology has considerable application in the aerospace, medical, power gen and oil & gas market segments, in addition to the GMTA home base of automotive.

-The new Mexican office of GMTA, located in Queretaro, is reporting brisk activity, owing to the substantial procurement authority in-country now. According to VP Scott Knoy, “This contrasts with bygone days, when the decision-making and purchasing were largely centered in America and specifically in Detroit. It’s a whole new ballgame with the Mexican market today and we believe our new location (Queretaro) there is well positioned to serve this dynamic manufacturing environment.” GMTA already has a substantial installed base of machines in Mexico from all their partner companies. At the new facility, machines are in place for demo and test runs, plus the facility is fully staffed with application engineering, technical support, after-sale service and parts inventory.

-Sales continue to be brisk on the 9- and 10-speed transmission projects in the automotive market. Scott Knoy, GMTA VP, comments, “We’re seeing a lot of activity here in the States and in Mexico, so we know our timing was right with the opening of our new facility there.”

Claudia Hambleton

-As part of the company’s ongoing commitment to education, GMTA Corporate Treasurer Claudia Hambleton volunteers for the Junior Achievement program in Saline, Michigan for educating K-12 students about jobs, entrepreneurship, financial literacy and work readiness in today’s competitive and changing market. She is active in the recruitment of local business people in the area to assist the program.

-The alliance with Star SU, through which GMTA is sourcing tooling locally, continues to prosper and mutually benefit both companies.

– We are proud to announce a business transaction between the Profilator Group and the Dr. Dieter Murmann Beteiligungsgesellschaft, in which Dr. Dieter Murmann Beteiligungsgesellschaft has acquired all shares of the Profilator Group, consisting of Profilator GmbH & Co. KG and the U.S. affiliate company GMTA (German Machine Tools of America Inc.). The Murmann family has long term plans with the Profilator Group to act as an autonomous business, striving for future success and ongoing technical developments. The current management team of the entire Profilator Group will remain the same, including Thomas Buchholz as Managing Director of Profilator in Wuppertal, Germany and Walter Friedrich as President of GMTA.

-GMTA is a corporate sponsor of the Smart Factory Industry Forum, being sponsored by the German American Chamber of Commerce and held at the Digital Manufacturing & Design Innovation Institute in Chicago on October 9.

For more information on this announcement, please contact:

GMTA (German Machine Tools of America)
4630 Freedom Drive
Ann Arbor, MI 48108
Phone: 734-973-7800
Fax: 734-973-3053
Web: www.gmtamerica.com
Email: scott@gmtamerica.com
Attention: Scott Knoy, VP
Connect with GMTA online:

Aluminum profiles are produced in all shapes and sizes.

Often, these profiles can be very difficult to machine, because of the various shapes, sizes, number of operations required and cycle times needed. When a profile shape will not allow the holes to be punched and cycle time makes producing the parts on machining centers impractical, Suhner, with its modular design and broad assortment of spindle options, can now offer processors an ideal solution to their machining needs.

Suhner’s line of spindles for Profile Machining includes the popular MONOmaster Electric Driven, Pneumatic Feed Units, ranging in size from the smallest BEM-3 unit, capable of drilling up to a 3mm hole in mild steel, up to the BEM-28 unit, capable of drilling up to 28mm in mild steel and having 200mm of controlled stroke.  Many of the units in the MONOmaster line are available with other options, such as inline, direct drive units for the BEM-6 and 12S, as well as 1:4 speed increasers for the BEM-6 &6D units capable of speeds up to 14,400 RPMs @ 60 Hz.  With the larger BEM12 & 12D units, the option of 4:1, or 16:1 gear reduction is available, giving RPM speeds as slow as 40 RPMs @ 60 Hz.

Suhner on Profile cutting and drilling machine

Suhner MULTImaster Drive System

Suhner also offers the MULTImaster line of flexible shaft driven units, a feature not currently offered by any other spindle manufacturer.  These units are driven by Suhner flexible shafts and are ideal in areas where spacing is a critical concern.  The smaller BEW-3 unit allows spacing as close as 48mm center to center.  The BEW-6 unit, as close as 55mm center to center and the larger BEW-12 unit, as close as 75mm center to center, are also available.  Using these units with Suhner’s VG System, users can drive up to (8) spindles with a single motor. 

For high precision, tough applications, Suhner offers the POWERmaster line of spindles.  This includes the BEX-15 & BEX-35 machining units, capable of running at speeds up to 23,000 RPM’s.  These are block units, capable of milling, drilling and sawing operations.  Suhner also offers a complete line of slide products to provide the feed movement for the block spindles. These slides are available in pneumatic or ball screw feed design, for either servo or gear motors. 

Also very popular in the machining of aluminum profiles is Suhner’s line of adjustable and fixed spindle multi-heads for drilling special hole patterns or hole spacing where spindles are too large to fit into the required spacing for the center to center distances needed.  Suhner’s line of special fixed spindle multi-heads is built in Rome, Georgia and often can be built to spec in less than six weeks. 

Suhner Roof Racks – 2015 Ford Escape

A typical machine used by a major automotive roof rack manufacturer incorporates many of these Suhner items to produce the long bars for a Ford Escape roof rack. 

This machine uses Suhner BEW-6 units to drill 6mm holes from the front and back side of the part, where electric spindles will not fit.  BEM-12 motorized units, with special fixed spindle multi-heads are being used to produce 8mm diameter holes that are too close for even the smallest spindles to produce, when mounted side by side.  Suhner’s BEX-35 PowerMaster units are used at each end of the part to saw the part to length (Under Yellow Covers).  All these operations are ongoing at the same time to produce complete machined parts in seconds, a feat impossible to do on any conventional CNC machining center.  

Suhner 2 Spindle MH Head

Suhner 3 Spindle MHF Head

With Suhner’s modular spindle design and machining capabilities, most every need of the aluminum profile industry can be met in every market segment, whether automotive, industrial, solar, aerospace, military or commercial aviation.

SUHNER INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS, CORP.
Hwy 411 S./Suhner Drive
P.O. Box 1234
Rome, GA 30162
Phone: 706-235-8046
Fax: 706-235-8045
Attention: Lee Coleman, Automation Division
www.suhner.com
automation.usa@suhner.com

Text and pictures files can be found and down loaded at:
www.suhner-press.com