Heller Machine Tools’ managing director, Matthias Meyer knows a thing or two about machine tool building. In a Q&A session, he discusses how the company’s position as an innovative and solution-oriented partner ensures that its customers receive the highest possible quality standards and services.

Heller was founded in 1894 as a small craftsman’s workshop in Nürtingen, Germany. Today, with more than 2,800 employees, the group produces state-of-the-art machine tools and entire production systems for metalcutting processes. Heller’s product range comprises 4- and 5-axis CNC machining centres, CNC mill/turning centres, flexible manufacturing systems and a modular range of services. The company began its operations in the UK in 1974 and has a state-of-the-art production facility located in Redditch.

Q) What are the types of performance demands placed on you by your customers?

The objective of every manufacturing company is to satisfy its customers and generate income. Workpieces must be produced and delivered on time to the right quality and at optimal cost. Heller has set itself the goal of supporting these companies in the competitive fulfilment of their production tasks. It does so through extensive product and process knowledge and by providing solutions consisting of the most modern machine tools and manufacturing systems, intelligent applications and comprehensive service.

In line with our message ‘Heller solutions: Knowing how it’s done’, we see ourselves as an innovative and solution-oriented partner for our customers. Our aim is that Heller customers in every industry, in every part of the world and with every solution receive services from us that meet the same high quality standards.

Q) What aspects of your latest machining centres are your customers particularly happy with?

For a company that invests in a machine tool, it is fundamentally about long-term reliability and availability combined with productivity, flexibility, stability and precision. In order for these manufacturing companies to be able to produce reliably, machines must meet precisely these characteristics.

If we then look at the machining process, we see the trend towards complete machining among our customers. Machine tools have to be able to be used flexibly and productively over their entire service life in order to perform current and future production tasks competitively. To ensure long-term productivity and flexibility, standard machining centres must be designed in such a way that, in addition to the core process of milling, other manufacturing processes such as turning, grinding or honing can be implemented, for which special machines or complex production systems would otherwise be necessary.

Maximum availability of machines around the clock will remain an essential requirement in the future. In our opinion, of course the automation of a machine tool makes a significant contribution to this. The technical possibilities range from a simple pallet changer or linear or circular pallet system via a flexible assembly robot to a shelf system for tools. The question of automation in production systems in which several machine tools are used within a process chain is really interesting.

There are a variety of solutions here. The offer ranges from simple interlinking via conveyor belts and grippers to flexible solutions with a central workpiece handling system and synchronous transfer lines. All of these automation solutions serve to increase the long-term availability and flexibility of the production solution. All of these aspects are part of the Heller complete solution that the customer can expect and, in our opinion, they value.

Q) What are your customers’ machine tools used mainly for?

Machining is our core competency. It’s something we are very good at without question, from the classic challenges of mechanical engineering to the demanding machining of cast iron and aluminium components through to difficult-to-machine materials, such as aerospace components made from titanium alloys and machining of light metals at high chip removal rates and high stability. However, one can always improve at what one is already good at: that is also why Heller is expanding the process chain in crankcase manufacturing with a technology for the coating of cylinder bore surfaces called Heller CylinderBoreCoating (CBC).

Q) What is the main focus area of your current R&D efforts?

We continue to develop and expand our range of machines and services in line with the manufacturing tasks of today and tomorrow, for which purpose we are in close contact with our customers. In addition, our Heller department New Development & Technologies deals with topics and challenges of the future. Heller is looking beyond traditional business towards developing new technologies and future business areas derived from them. To this end, the team conducts trend scouting on the topics of reducing CO₂ and fuel consumption in combustion engines, e-mobility, lightweight construction and Industry 4.0.

Q) What are your thoughts on additive manufacturing and do you plan to launch your own machines?

In principle, the coating of cylinder liners belongs to the area of additive manufacturing. If you consider this, Heller is by far the largest integrator of additive processes in the machine tool sector. In other words, through CBC we are the world market leader in additive manufacturing and can also use the experience we have gained with the CBC process for other tasks. For us, additive manufacturing is an addition to our range of products and nothing more because, as already indicated, Heller is at home in production. With additive processes it is usually impossible to manufacture in production quantities and especially not with the precision we expect.

Q) How much importance do you place on Industry 4.0 and the advent of ‘smart tools’ in general?

The Industry 4.0 approach is the (r)evolutionary summary of what we as a global machine tool manufacturer have been experiencing for some time. Thinking about futuristic cyber physical systems, the machine tool is probably the element that is already best prepared for this future. The bigger challenges lie in linking the interfaces of different systems and in the actions of people.

When it comes to Industry 4.0, Heller is concentrating on even higher machine productivity and the support of integrated engineering chains. Core aspects are supplementary machine functions, services on demand and extended service options. The framework for this is provided by new industry standards for data exchange and security as well as standardised interfaces. Heller is also accelerating the evaluation of existing machine sensors and supports the interaction of machines with services via network computers.

For several years now, Heller machines and turnkey systems have been meeting the requirements for the digitalisation and networking of information and production technologies. The main features of Industry 4.0 have already been used in numerous reference projects: workpiece individualisation in large-scale production, complete data collection of workpieces and tools with feedback to the customer's ERP system, as well as extensive networking of machines with diverse service options in remote operation.

Q) What do you feel are the most important assets of a company?

Basically, it is a combination of many individual aspects that we have to consider. As already mentioned, one main asset is our global presence, which allows us to maintain close local partnerships with our customers in markets around the world.

Heller offers its customers a very broad product and services portfolio. In the global context, this implies a high degree of complexity. To deal with this complexity, it is essential to provide the requisite assembly infrastructure as well as the right manufacturing equipment and IT systems and, last but not least, adequately qualified staff. Heller has massively invested in these areas in recent years. As far as assembly is concerned, for example, we opened a new production hall in Nürtingen at the beginning of last year.

In the UK, the flowline assembly has been optimised and our spindle manufacturing in Nürtingen has been transformed into a state-of-the-art production line. Our large machine types FP 16000 and H 14000 are assembled in Brazil and in the US respectively. Meanwhile, our patented CBC machines are also assembled in China. These examples clearly illustrate what the global footprint means to us in terms of production and assembly.

Mastering complexity always has to do with ‘Knowing how it’s done’. For more than a century, this has been the essence of the Heller brand. We derive this knowledge from our depth of added value, which additionally provides us with the ability to respond effectively to external disturbances. Our expertise is an essential contribution to our partnership with customers and suppliers.

Finally, Heller is a family business. This is true not only at the shareholder level but also applies to the group as well as staff around the globe. Many employees spent a few years at another Heller location or Heller company, providing them with an opportunity to gain extensive intercultural experience. There are many international relationships and friendships across companies and borders. This practiced ‘Heller internal partnership’ provides the basis for the partnership with customers and suppliers.

Q) What kinds of machine tool developments will we be seeing in the future?

Machines and systems must produce reliably in day-to-day work at competitive unit manufacturing costs. To ensure this, a key requirement today and in the future remains the maximum availability and productivity of machines around the clock. Automation and digitalisation are subject areas that make a significant contribution to meeting current manufacturing requirements and influence actual and future developments.

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