Across all industries, the increasing competitive pressure forces more and more manufacturers to more than ever try to stand out from the crowd. Individual machine concepts are in great demand. "Especially in the shipbuilding industry, but also in the field of hydroforming and hot forming, we are experiencing high demand for new customized machine concepts", says Hartwig Hiestermann, Managing Directors Sales at Graebener® looking back on the past EuroBLECH exhibition in Hanover – one of the leading international technology fairs for plate processing.
A prime example for this trend is the automotive supplier LINDE+WIEMANN which has been banking on a customized Graebener® hot forming press for the specially developed ACCRA® production process for many years. The long-time partner of Graebener® with its headquarters in the Hessian town of Dillenburg is currently manufacturing the new ZSB-A pillar of a middle-class car which was introduced onto the market in September at the new workshop in Elstra close to Dresden. For the first time, Graebener® presented the new A-pillar at the fair in Hanover (see picture above) and received considerable attention with this exhibit.
Current projects confirm great interest in special solutions
One reason for this great interest is that in contrast to the conventional hot forming, the ACCRA® process does not use plates but rather pipe shaped profiles as semi-finished products. During the ACCRA® process, these profiles are pressurized with an internal pressure of several hundred bars in the Graebener® hot forming press and thus widened, pushed against the tool cavity and ultimately cooled down in one single process step in order to adjust the material properties correspondingly.
"This is exactly the kind of individual application we have specialized on", explains Hartwig Hiestermann. "We see ourselves more as a provider of solutions rather than a mere machine builder."
Current projects of Graebener® in the U.S. and in Mexico substantiate the demand for special technological solutions in the field of hydroforming as well. In the shipbuilding sector, Graebener® with the patented TWP® technology generates increased interest, especially in Asia.
"The more sophisticated the challenge they are facing, the more the customers consider our solutions to be advantageous", remarks Hiestermann. "We clearly experienced this trend in Hanover which encourages us to continue on this path."
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