In the course of this year, GROB-WERKE has been represented at 26 trade fairs worldwide. In the first ten months of the year, the company appeared at fairs in the USA and Brazil, in the Asian markets China and South Korea; in Europe it had a presence in Russia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria, Switzerland, Turkey and England as well as in Germany. On the whole, all the events produced successful results for GROB. Leading trade fairs such as the AMB and IMTS are particularly important for our company. Even smaller shows such as Machtool in Poznan, MACH in Birmingham, SIMTOS in South Korea or BIMU in Italy regularly offer GROB a good opportunity to establish itself firmly in additional countries. Regardless of size, they all provide an excellent platform for expanding worldwide awareness of the GROB brand, particularly in the universal machine business, impressing prospective customers with our 5-axis concept while also generating new orders.
IMTS and AMB – 2014 trade fair highlights
The International Manufacturing Technology Show 2014 (IMTS) in Chicago, Illinois and the International Exhibition for Metal Working (AMB) in Stuttgart were the trade fair high points of the year. With over 110,000 visitors, the IMTS remains the most important trade fair in the USA for manufacturers of machine tools. The trade show took place at Chicago’s McCormick Place for the thirtieth time in its ninety-year history. The AMB in Stuttgart, with its long history, is likewise important. Here, in the heart of the German mechanical engineering industry, it is considered one of the top 5 international trade fairs for machining technology. Once again this year, its 90,000 visitors set a new attendance record. “Both fairs were qualitatively and quantitatively an unqualified success for our company and exceeded our expectations,” stated Alexander Attenberger, Head of GROB international universal machine sales. More than 500 direct trade show contacts at the AMB as well as the IMTS, and sixteen direct sales of universal machines at the AMB underscore the significance of both trade fairs for GROB-WERKE.
AMB innovations: software technology by GROB
At the AMB, GROB-WERKE presented the state-of-the-art of its universal machines, the G350 NEW and G550 NEW with novel drive configurations in the rotational and linear axes. Both machine demonstrations attracted a lot of interest. The G350 NEW machine at the show demonstrated high-speed machining of an aerospace integral component. The second exhibition unit, a G550 NEW equipped with a newly-developed motor spindle with a cross-feed device, showed machining processes such as contour turning, interpolation turning and high-precision modulation-assisted machining. In addition, two additional GROB technologies, GSC and G-Net made their debut at the AMB. Using GROB Swivel Axis Calibration (GSC), geometric deviations are measured within a few minutes and corrected via the machine control system. Thus GSC is essentially more accurate compared to other known processes, achieving more exact machining of individual pieces.
G-Net, the GROB manufacturing execution system, uses web technology to support extensive transparency in the entire production process. Employing modular applications for processes such as operating data logging (G-Fusion), machine data recording (G-Record), visualization of machine sequences on a mobile terminal (G-Mobile) or machine maintenance (G-Care), it is possible to adapt all these routines to individual customer requirements. The perfect interaction between precise machinery and intelligent G-Net technology generates substantial productivity advantages.
At the IMTS, the visitors viewed a G350 and G550. The G350 was equipped with a SIEMENS 840D sl control system, a 16,000 rpm motor spindle as well as HSK-A63. The G550 was outfitted with a HAIDENHAIN iTNC 530 control system, a 10,000 rpm spindle as well as HSK-A100. “Our appearance at the IMTS was a great success,” said William Vejnovic, Head of universal machine sales at GROB Systems. “Many visitors to our stand were interested in our 5-axis technology which is very important to us in the American market. With the increasing prominence of the “GROB” brand in the universal machine business, our market share in this particular segment is steadily growing in the American market. Thus the IMTS was an important milestone in our endeavor to position GROB in what is for us a relatively new market for universal machines. And not just that. The strong and professional team of GROB Systems has made a particularly distinct impression!”
On the whole, the international trade show presence has shown GROB-WERKE to be a front runner in the area of universal machines. “The two leading trade fairs in America and Europe were not the only successful events with interesting discussions and potential customers,” Jochen Nahl, Director of Sales, happily noted regarding trade fairs of the past year. “We had excellent attendance at all our trade fair stands, demonstrating that with our universal machines and technical solutions we are well positioned in the market. Even our newly designed stand was well received by our visitors.”
