• United Grinding GmbH

BluePlus – How Fritz Studer helps customers use resources efficiently

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Global energy requirements are constantly increasing. In order to counteract the rapid increase in energy and climate change, the available energy must be used more efficiently and effectively. Energy efficiency is also becoming an important topic in machine tools. The Verband Deutscher Maschinen und Anlagenbaue.V (VDMA – German Engineering Federation) has therefore taken up this topic with the ‘Bluecompetence’ label. Sustainability is the focus and the label aims towards establishing energy efficient products, technologies and processes that save on resources.

  This label may only be used by companies that have acknowledged the conditions of use in writing and have committed themselves to the implementation of energy and resource efficient solutions. Having been given the rights to use this label, United Grinding Group and therefore STUDER too are pioneers in the industry. Optimised use of resources begins with consideration and Analysis of the machining process chain. The best energy is always the energy which is not used, or can be avoided. It is therefore important that the best finishing strategy and the most efficient production technology is ascertained for each workpiece.

  Not every measure is the best solutionfor every machine to achieve the maximum resource efficiency.It's more about ensuring that the right thing is done at the right moment. The goal must be to improve production times, shorten processing timesand save on energy costs. This can not only save energy but also provide customers with a direct benefit. Fritz Studer AG is a major player in state-funded projects concerned with energy efficiency, also in collaboration with universities.In these projects improvements to grinding machines have been developed, which once implemented will lead to a reduction in the energy consumed by machines.

  These improvements have been achieved by taking constructive measures in the area of coolant supply and the extraction system and by using energy-optimised electric components.The software used in STUDER machines contributes in a major way. Fritz Studer AG has won the PRODEX Award for Innovation 2012 (in Basel) and the Intec Prize 2013 (in Leipzig) for the ‘StuderTechnology’ software. This software reduces and optimizes processing times (by up to 50%) and the energy consumption of STUDER grinding machines.This helps considerably to save energy. This is also what the respective juries thought when they awarded the prizes.

Cited here are four examples of where STUDER is taking action to design its cylindrical grinding machines more energy-efficiently:

• Granitan® machine bed: The manufacture of STUDER machine beds made of Granitan requires less than 40% of the energy needed for a comparable iron cast bed
• StuderTechnology: ‘StuderTechnology’ immediately optimises finishing processes even more and reduces processing times down by 50%
• StuderGRIND/StuderWIN: Thanks to a detailed process simulation for setup of a machine for new production tasks, down-times and spoilage can be avoided.Energy and raw material requirements are also reduced
• Machine components: More energy efficient equipment in the coolant and extraction system.Further physical saving-project measures are being developed all the time

  The international environmental management standard ISO 14001 defines globally recognized requirements on an environmental management system and is part of a family of standards. ISO 14001 focuses on a continuous improvement process as a means of achieving the objectives defined in relation to the environmental performance of an organization.

  Fritz Studer AG, ISO 14001 certified since September 2014, has defined the following principles in relation to its products:

• Resource-conserving machine design combined with an engineering approach that takes account of the entire life cycle
• Special methods and simulation techniques, which optimize the machine structure and the machine dynamics
• Development and application of technologies and methods to save Energyand costs
• Energy-efficient manufacturing and production concepts
• Fluid and thermal concepts with reduced use of fluids
• Support of the machine operator in optimizing the energy consumption of his process

  The STUDER concept of the “4BlueSteps” is used to implement these principles.

Step1: The optimal selection of components and dimensioning of the measure.

Step2: Standby Management optimised to customer requirements.

Step3: The software ‘StuderTechnology’.

Step4: EE4C – a concept, which, in collaboration with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich/Inspire, has been developed to enable the optimal design of a machine's configuration with regard to the energy consumed for each produced workpiece.

  BluePlus demonstrates that Fritz Studer AG is in a position to offer its customers even more value in the areas of sustainability and energy efficiency than our competitors.