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METAV is the premier trade fair for contract
manufacturers
XXL search: too large for the internet
Frankfurt am Main, 9 June 2015 – What has a trade fair still got to offer in
the age of Google and Co.? For Christian Roterring from Germany’s
Münsterland region, the answer has been installed in his factory for the
past two years: a Spanish travelling-column milling machine that he
had found at the METAV in Düsseldorf.
This search was conducted at boardroom level: Christian Roterring, an
engineering graduate and Managing Director of Erka Maschinenbau
GmbH from Ahaus-Wüllen, was at the METAV, his company’s favoured
trade fair, to find a replacement for an aged bed-type milling machine
now more than 20 years old. After the fair, he finally decided on a
travelling-column milling machine from MTE Machine Tool Engineering,
S.A. in Itziar, Spain. The machine is designed to handle components
measuring up to 8 metres in length, 2.5 metres in height and 1.2 metres
in width. It possesses a multi-purpose milling head swivelling
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automatically in two planes, a 40-fold tool changer, a Rückle round
table, and an integrated Renishaw probe. “At first we were intending to
buy a milling machine that had a traversing distance of only four
metres,” explains Christian Roterring in retrospect. “But because we had
space for something larger in a new hall, we ultimately bought the
significantly bigger traversing-column milling machine.”
Erka is looking for a vendor of equal standing
For his XXL machine, Christian Roterring attached particular importance
to finding a vendor who in every phase of the collaboration would offer
corresponding XXL service support. It was here that the GermanSpanish large-machine manufacturer MTE from Montabaur in the state
of Rhineland-Palatinate faced an exceptionally tough challenge. “The
first step involved was to check the building’s structure,” says the
entrepreneur. “In our case, because of the poor quality of the subsoil,
there was a lot of extremely demanding foundation work needed.” A
good XXL vendor, he adds, will excel in terms of being familiar with
these problems and being able to provide appropriate assistance.
Machinery manufacturers who “can deal with us on an equal footing”
can best be shortlisted at a trade fair like the METAV, since it’s there
that all the important XXL vendors are gathered together at a single
location.
XXL machine completes the company’s stock of machinery
The METAV search proved to be successful: the MTE system for
manufacturing large-dimensioned components has since 2013 rounded
off the company’s stock of machinery. To quote Christian Roterring:
“Our comprehensive capability portfolio makes it easier for many
customers to order ready-to-install components from us. When we find
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something’s outside our capabilities in terms of its dimensions, then on
occasion we will decline an order.” But since investing in the MTE
machine this does not happen so often: Erka uses it, for instance, to
machine very long components, from which customers make base
frames for their machines.
Author: Nikolaus Fecht, specialist journalist from Gelsenkirchen
Number of characters (with space) 3 124
Background
Erka Maschinenbau GmbH, Ahaus-Wüllen
For 30 years now, this contract manufacturer has been building up an enviable
reputation with a very broad manufacturing portfolio and operational focuses in the
fields of turning, milling and drilling. Its customers come from the packaging industry
and the mechanical engineering sector, vehicle manufacturing, the printing-press and
food/beverage industries, plus producers of plastics.
Payroll: 50
Further information under www.erka-maschinenbau.de
METAV 2016 in Düsseldorf
The METAV 2016 – the 19th International Exhibition for Metalworking Technologies – will
be held in Düsseldorf from 23 to 27 February. It showcases the entire spectrum of
production technology. The principal focuses are machine tools, production systems,
high-precision tools, automated material flows, computer technology, industrial
electronics, and accessories, complemented by the new themes of Moulding, Medical,
Additive Manufacturing and Quality, which are now permanently anchored in what
are called “areas” with their own nomenclature in the METAV’s exhibition programme.
The METAV’s target group for visitors includes all branches of industry that work metal,
particularly machinery and plant manufacturers, the automotive industry and its
component suppliers, aerospace, the electrical engineering industry, energy and
medical technologies, tool and mould-making, plus metalworking and the craft sector.
Further information under www.metav.de
http://twitter.com/METAVonline
http://facebook.com/METAV.fanpage
http://www.youtube.com/metaltradefair
https://en.industryarena.com/metav