G ildemeister AG, which incorporates Gildemeister lathes, Deckel-Maho milling machines and machining centres, Sauer ultrasonic/laser technology plus the DMG sales and service operation, is enjoying continued growth. With plans laid to boost output from its 10 production sites (see box item, below), it hopes to capitalise further on what it sees as continuing world growth over the coming years. As Dr Rüdiger Kapitza, chairman of the Gildemeister board, outlined at a recent open house event at Deckel- Maho Pfronten in Pfronten, Bavaria, 2004 marked a turnaround in the machine tool business with global consumption growing by 13 per cent in that year, followed by 15 per cent in 2005, 8 per cent last year, and with 5, 3 and 3 per cent predicted for 2007, 2008 and 2009, respectively. Gildemeister claims to be taking some 5.3 per cent of the world market for metalcutting machine tools, putting it ahead of all its competitors. And to take its share of the continued growth of the machine tool market, Gildemeister will up production of machines from last year’s 5,500 to over 6,000 this year. In fact, Dr Kapitza said that 2007 will be “the best year in the history of Gildemeister”. Last year was the “best ever order intake” at € 1.443 billion (up 42 March 2007 ● www.machinery.co.uk Expanding fortunes Gildemeister sees a growing world market and aims to capture its share, maintaining or even extending its claimed global leadership position.Andrew Allcock reports Turning product Gildemeister Drehmaschinen GmbH Bielefeld, Germany Graziano Tortona SrI. Tortona, Italy Gildemeister Italiana SpA. Bergamo, Italy Milling product Deckel Maho Pfronten GmbH Pfronten and Geretsried, Germany Deckel Maho Seebach GmbH Seebach and Geretsried, Germany Ultrasonic and laser technology Sauer GmbH Idar-Oberstein, Kempten, Germany Production plants Famot Pleszew SA Pleszew, Poland Deckel Maho Gildemeister (Shanghai) Machine Tools Co Ltd, Shanghai Production around the world
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Gildemeister AG, which incorporatesGildemeister lathes, Deckel-Maho
milling machines and machiningcentres, Sauer ultrasonic/lasertechnology plus the DMG sales andservice operation, is enjoying continuedgrowth. With plans laid to boost outputfrom its 10 production sites (see boxitem, below), it hopes to capitalisefurther on what it sees as continuingworld growth over the coming years.
As Dr Rüdiger Kapitza, chairman ofthe Gildemeister board, outlined at arecent open house event at Deckel-Maho Pfronten in Pfronten, Bavaria,2004 marked a turnaround in themachine tool business with globalconsumption growing by 13 per cent inthat year, followed by 15 per cent in2005, 8 per cent last year, and with 5, 3and 3 per cent predicted for 2007, 2008and 2009, respectively.
Gildemeister claims to be taking
some 5.3 per cent of the world marketfor metalcutting machine tools, puttingit ahead of all its competitors. And totake its share of the continued growth ofthe machine tool market, Gildemeisterwill up production of machines from lastyear’s 5,500 to over 6,000 this year. Infact, Dr Kapitza said that 2007 will be“the best year in the history ofGildemeister”. Last year was the “bestever order intake” at € 1.443 billion (up
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Expanding fortunesGildemeister sees a growing world market and aims to capture its share, maintaining or even extending
its claimed global leadership position. Andrew Allcock reports
Milling productDeckel Maho Pfronten GmbHPfronten and Geretsried, GermanyDeckel Maho Seebach GmbHSeebach and Geretsried, Germany
Ultrasonic and laser technologySauer GmbHIdar-Oberstein, Kempten, Germany
Production plantsFamot Pleszew SAPleszew, PolandDeckel Maho Gildemeister(Shanghai) Machine Tools Co Ltd,Shanghai
Production around the world
DMG.qxd 22/2/07 3:25 pm Page 42
23 per cent on 2005), with this predictedto rise to €1.7 billion this year. Sales last
year of €1.33 billion (up 18 per cent)are expected to rise to over €1.37billion. Interestingly, some 31 per
cent of last year’s turnover wasgenerated by services. Profits doubled to€27.1 million with double-digitpercentage growth forecast for 2007.
GROWTH OPPORTUNITIESParticular areas of increased salespointed up by Dr Kapitza were:horizontal machining centres; verticalturning (including a brand new productto be launched at EMO); automatedturning; and its Sauer ultrasonic/lasertechnology business. Dr Kapitza sees anadditional €100 million coming fromthese areas in 2007.
To support this expansion, itsfactories’ capacities are being boosted ortheir facilities upgraded, while aroundthe world new technical centres are also
being established. The idea is to get moreout of the same factories by improvingproductivity – a 15 per cent productivityimprovement was achieved last year andDr Kapitza said more would be done thisyear; increasing Gildemeister’s current5,558 headcount is not considered ameans to the end. Installing more plantin its production factories and improvingworkflow, space utilisation and logisticsin its assembly plants seem to be thefocus. In addition, intelligent partsprocurement and supplier terms(payment when machine is shipped, forexample) plus pushing design down thesupply chain, as is done in theautomotive industry, are part of what DrKapitza calls Gildemeister’s “costleadership” ambition.
Its lathe assembly plant in Bielefeld isgetting a makeover with new car parkand all-covered walkways betweenbuildings, for example, but has alreadylast year seen an improved logistics
www.machinery.co.uk ● March 2007
SUPPLY SIDE
Gildemeister AG spends some €40 million to €50 million on its R&D activitiesannually to turn out machines like this new DMC 55 duoBloc k machine. It is a
figure that will not diminish, underlined chairman of the board Dr Rüdiger Kapitza
DMG.qxd 22/2/07 3:26 pm Page 43
system installed. At the lathe andmilling/machining centre basemanufacturer in Poland, output will beboosted with an expansion to itsproduction facilities of 3,400 m2,production hours will rise from 190,000to 240,000.
TONNES OF CASTINGSThis latter operation takes in castings formachining and assembles the finisheditems into machine bases destined forGildemeister’s turning and millingproduct assembly facilities, as well asassembling some machines complete. Itsoutput is to be upped from 2,100 units intotal to 1,900 base units plus 600complete machines (lathes plus 3-axis milling machines), and it willprocess some 30,000 tonnes of castmaterial supplied from nine differentplants this year.
At the Tortina and Bielefeld lathe
assembly plants, 20 per cent moremachines are to be processed, and it isthe same for the Pfronten plant, whichhas a horizontal machine focus andwhere 2007’s target is 1,450 machinesthrough better logistics. At Seebach,where vertical machining centreproduction is concentrated, output willbe boosted from 1,700 units to 2,000 thisyear. A flow line assembly set-up is partof the solution here. DMU 50 and 70machines will be assembled along two170 m lines.
At the multi-spindle and sliding-headmachine assembly plant in Italy,Bergamo, a 25 per cent increase isforecast, taking machine output to some500 units.
In China, the target for the future isthat 500 machines will be manufacturedthere annually, said Günter Bachmann,Gildemeister board member. A newproduct, the CTX310 Eco, an almost 100
per cent local machine will supportgrowth and will be Gildemeister’s“decisive step into China”.
And in India and the USA, forexample, new Technical Centres will beopened this year.
Driving business growth will beoffering machines that people want tobuy, of course. As Dr Kapitza underlined:“We are technology driven. We spend€40-€50 million each year in R&D – 5 to6 per cent of turnover – and we will notgo below this figure. We employ 430staff in R&D. It is the only way we cankeep the edge. This is why our customerscome to us [to Pfronten] and ask whatare our future innovations.” And atPfronten there is a new €3 millionrestaurant to feed guests – 440 at thesame time!
SHOW TIME FOR 40 MACHINESAnd so it was that the open house eventwas the stage for a display of some 40machines, with the world launch of anew horizontal machining centre – theDMC 55 duoBlock, a 400 mm pallethorizontal machine. This takes thecompany head-to-head with establishedJapanese machine tool makers whichdominate this sector, said Dr ChristianLang, managing director Deckel-MahoPfronten. It represents the thirdgeneration of the company’s duoBlockconstruction concept – “most precise;best ergonomics”. It is also its firsthorizontal to feature HeidenhainiTNC530 control. Priced at €230,000, themachine is claimed to be “unique in itsclass”, and is manufactured at thePfronten site. It is the first of a new linewhich will also see models 65 and 75added – 500 mm and 630 mm pallets,respectively.
Other technology noveltieshighlighted were large bevel gearmachining on a DMU 100U duoBlock.Machining in the soft state followed byhardening and then finish hard millingproduce a DIN 5 standard gear with nogrinding operation required.
A DMU 100P was show fitted with a115 kW, 600 Nm integrated spindle builtby GMN, Nürnberg, Germany. A first,
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DMG’s virtual machine concept. To be unveiled at the forthcoming EMO in Germany,September, only the machine tool manufacturer can provide a 100 per cent accurate modelfor each machine type and each serial number, Dr Kapitza emphasised
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this machine was a real crowd puller as ittore through aluminium at the rate of 9 litres/min.
Demonstrating the potential of itscombined milling and turning capabilityon a DMC 125 FD DB was a wind turbinegear housing which was being machinedcomplete in just two steps comparedwith the previous seven. This customernow has five of these machines,Machinery was told. A smaller multi-tasking machine, the DMC 160FDduoBlock, was shown machining aeroengine casings – Volvo has five suchmachines integrated with a Fastemspallet system.
Water turbine blisk machining on aDMU 100 duoBlock machine wasanother demonstration; previousmethods for production of such partswere via casting, but a machined profileis more efficient.
Automation in the form of a DMC835 V with Kuka robot and a DMC 105Vlinear with Erowa robot was on show.The Kuka system takes just half a day toset up, emphasised Dr Kapitza, whichmeans it can be up and running in 1/2 day.
DIGITAL DIVERSIONSSoftware development also featured,with the company highlighting its newdigital machine concept. A softwaremodel of its machines will supportcollision-free programming.Importantly, only the machine toolmaker can offer a 100 per cent accuratedigital machine file for every machinetype and each machine number, thechairman of the board underlined. EMOwill see this software unveiled.
But it is not only about technology; itis about service and support, and DrKapitza said the company would expand
its activities to a level that will mark it outfrom its competitors. “We must bettermatch services to customers in thefuture,” he said. A large boost to 24 hourtelephone support activities is in thepipeline, and this will not be a ‘callcentre’ operation, he was keen to pointout. Around-the-clock technicalassistance will be available from peoplewho know the machines and thesoftware – “we are not talking about amobile on somebody’s bedside table”.
To say that Gildemeister hasambitious plans doesn’t quite capturethe tone – Dr Kapitza’s succinctstatement does: “We intend to win”. Andthe company’s 60-machine, 3,500 m2
presence at EMO, a hall 2 takeover, willdeliver that message emphatically.■■
