With more than 150 years of experience, EMAG group belongs to the top 10 machine builders in the world of metal cutting industry. EMAG is one of the unique companies which is capable to combine production machines to lines with various technologies like turning, milling, grinding, hobbing, skiving, induction hardening, laser welding, joining or even electrochemical manufacturing. Andreas Zieger, Director - Indian Operations, EMAG India Pvt Ltd elaborates on the company profile in this interaction with IPF.

 

Kindly brief us about your company?

We manufacture production systems for precision metal components mainly used in industries like automotive components, aviation or medical equipment. With 3000 employees worldwide, we are serving all major car OEMs around the world and their suppliers for lot of parts in the engine, transmission or steering of their cars, and our challenges turn around production cycle time and uninterrupted 100% high end quality.

 

Of the two broad segments of machine tools – metal cutting machines and metal forming machines – which segment do you cater (or belong) to?

If you mention metal cutting and metal forming we are at home in the metal cutting corner but as already mentioned on top there are more technologies to combine to get nowadays part produced. Besides turning, milling, grinding and hobbingas cutting technologies you find the hardening as an integral technology to achieve the required properties of the sophisticated high end parts in modern cars. Here we can give production line integrated induction hardening machine, complete solutions with uniform results and energy efficient process compared to older case hardening or batch solution. Our multi-frequency generators can pinpoint the hardening effect and follow most challenging forms. Furthermore I want to mention also our joining and laser welding machines. Everyone in the automotive industry is fighting to reduce weight and wants to increase efficiency of the engine and transmission tract. Thus the engineers come up with more sophisticated and more compact parts, where components need to be produced in sub parts and later be brought together in a stable and accurate way. Camshafts are therefore changing to build versions, diff-cases are welded and not anymore bolted and a gear box needs tooth wheels with synchronizer rings. Finally we get harder material in turbochargers and jet engines in airplanes out of titanium material where normal tools do not last for more than some cuts and in such cases we have no tools for manufacturing, where chemical reaction leads to removal of material atom by atom without a cutting edge. You see the world in machine tools is very complex and the players who understand the complex world and the complete process can find solutions and saving potential.

 

What are the benefits offered by your products and services to your customers?

Above I mentioned a lot of modern technologies, which helps to find the best production process, on the other side we see a need for a stable production process to minimise the waste of resources and trouble free supply chain. Here our experience with our OEM customers is pushing us to develop complete production systems from raw part to finish part in 100% correct quality, cleaned and even marked for traceability of the production. Many years back we changed to fully automated machines. Actually EMAG invented the 'Inverted Vertical Turning' machine, where the integrated pick up system of the spindle was fully automated with smaller foot print, optimal chip flow and more ergonomic handling. Now we see that in Europe the majority of the turning machines in the mass productions follow that principle. Around that single machine automation we developed a modular multi technology machine concept and a modular automation, which allows our customer even in optimised mass production to have the flexibility to react on the often necessary change in the automotive industry. To answer you short, technology and automation in unity with a great flexibility is what we want to offer our customers.

 

Machine tools industry has been catering largely to automotive and auto component industry. What are the other industries EMAG caters to?

Our focus is in the automotive sector, which is challenging and has big quantities to handle. Mastering that sector is pulling others industries in. We do utilise our technologies in other areas like the off-road and construction industry, but high tech is also needed in aviation or the medical equipment sector. The production know how in the mass production of cars is also useable for white good, electronic components and lot of other products of our daily life. Thus we have in our machine portfolio for jet engines blisk, scalpels or even hip joints, but also electrical connectors for switches, parts for washing machines or even bicycles parts. Actually lot of products need production technology to get it produced for a good price and finally to avoid wasting of resources, thus nobody can ignore it and each progress in technology development should be used.

 

With the opening of defense manufacturing sector, do you see a rise in prospects for machine tools industry?

It is obvious that beside the quantity especially the technology is a competitive factor in defence. And it is also clear that cars and truck can be used in different ways but have similar parts, air planes use the same principle like fighter jets and even hand guns are high tech products and thus the defence sector is also a production sector with a strong competition and an annual growth and it has a need for machine tools.

 

How do you view the market for machine tools (metal cutting and/or metal forming machines) in India? Which end-user industries are driving the demand for machine tools and its accessories?

What I observe at the moment is an increasing outsourcing demand in the direction of India. I see that the uncertainty in the mobility concept of the future requires that the big players need to develop additional future concepts, which requires big investment in various directions. Thus bringing the outsourcing back on track. Now the usual big players have either their own big demand in their markets or have become more expensive and thus India has popped up on the manufacturing landscape again, also by the good marketing of the Modi government. Unfortunately the price pressure is big and the quantity, out of risk concern is to often split a lot. The answer to get a part of the global production into India runs over automation and technology. This will be driven in the beginning by some first front runners focusing on export and ready to invest, but in the long run will be beneficial for India and the market to save resources and give people a better quality of products and standard of living.

 

Is Indian machine tools industry ready for adoption of new technologies (such as automation, robotics, 3D printing, artificial intelligence, Industry 4.0, etc)?

I have been in India since 2002, even at that time manually operated lathes were widely spread, but like everywhere in the world knowledge and information is easily available and thus I saw that the local machine tools builders came with modern machines and have fast learnt to master it. Now I face already strong competition for some components where quality and rigidity is not that important. But more important for India I see in the fact that India is expert in IT business and the next big step in the machine tool business will be driven by IT, which is widely discussed under the buzz word Ind 4.0, which is in my view targeting to increase the efficiency of production by optimising the utilisation of resources – let it be machines, raw material or information. Automation and robots will link the machines mechanically, AI and industry 4.0 will make them work together to save resources and free us from unhuman work hopefully in line with the environment. And that additional resources we can utilise in infrastructure, education, even cleaning or to use a good old phrase, to make India shine.