"WE APPRECIATE THE RELIABILITY OF THE MACHINES."

Claßen Group | ACURA 65 EL
Application: Contract manufacturing | Company headquarters: Scharrel, Germany | Employees: 250

A little over 20 years ago, master mechanical engineer Thomas Claaßen took the plunge into self-employment. Today, the Claaßen Group from Scharrel in the Oldenburg Münsterland region employs 250 people in four companies. A clear philosophy and continuous investment, including in automated machining centres from HEDELIUS, have made this development possible.

The Oldenburger Münsterland is a rural region. Meadows and fields characterise the landscape. In the very north of this idyllic region lies the municipality of Saterland and the district of Scharrel. This is where the Claaßen Group has its headquarters. "In this region, it is not surprising that the origins of the Claaßen Group lie in the agricultural range," explains Jörg Maeder, Operations Manager at Claaßen, who has been with the company for almost 14 years. "Thomas Claaßen began building hoof trimming crushes for cattle as a sideline until 1999, when he took the full step into self-employment." Maeder has not been with the founder since the beginning, but knows the company's history from stories. The young company initially manufactured in Ramsloh, before moving to its current location in Scharrel three years later. At the same time, Thomas Claaßen, who until then had been a sole trader, founded Maschinen- und Metallbau Claaßen GmbH.

"A decent vertical range of manufacture."

The company's focus also changed, moving away from maintenance stands and towards components for general machine and vehicle construction. Initially, it was mainly components as single parts or series, later increasingly also ready-to-install units. In order to do justice to these changes, the portfolio was constantly adjusted, market developments were closely monitored and customer dialogue was actively sought. Today, the Claaßen Group employs over 250 people in the ranges of steel plate and laser processing, small and large part machining, welding, component assembly and logistics. "A decent vertical range of manufacture is our strength. Customers want as much as possible from a single source," says Operations Manager Maeder. "In some cases, we are already involved in the product creation process. Customers appreciate our expertise." They are spread all over Germany, from large companies to small businesses and private individuals. "We have grown with many of our customers, so they are all important to us. It is not our philosophy to only take a customer seriously once a certain volume has been reached," emphasises Jörg Maeder.

Powerful and reliable machinery.

This philosophy brings challenges with it. After all, customers are as different as their requirements for the parts to be manufactured are different. But one thing is certain - the demands are increasing, especially in terms of speed, accuracy and flexibility. "Our production is very well thought out. Nevertheless, we have to open ourselves up to new challenges every morning, for example because a customer urgently needs a part," says the Operations Manager. "This is only possible if everything fits together. That's why the employees are also closely involved. We talk openly with people, we have short decision-making paths and flat hierarchies." To ensure that everything fits together in the machinery, the entire group, with its four companies, invests heavily in new machines. The machinery should remain efficient and reliable in order to continue to meet the challenges of the market in the future.

3-axis and 5-axis machining centres.

 This development can be seen particularly well in the chipping department. In 2000, shortly after the company was founded, a CB 50 from HEDELIUS Maschinenfabrik GmbH was purchased. A simple 3-axis machining centre to meet the increasing customer demand for more vertical integration. At that time, the price-performance ratio was right and the proximity to Meppen was an advantage. This is why the decision was made in favour of this machine. The first CB 50 is no longer part of the machine park today, but 25 other milling machines are, eleven of which are from HEDELIUS. "It's a shame that we got rid of the CB 50. But we had to replace it regularly and purchased the C50 1800 from HEDELIUS, among others," explains Jörg Maeder. Other HEDELIUS machines in Claaßen's production include the C80 and BC80 3-axis milling machines and two BC 100s, as well as the RS 80K and RS 60K 5-axis machines with rotating/swivelling table, a TILTENTA 8-3200 and a TILTENTA 7-3200 with swivelling main spindle. Most recently, two ACURA 65 EL 5-axis machining centres with rotating/swivelling table and connected automation were added to the machine park.

Challenging editing.

This diverse range of machinery is also necessary. After all, the workpieces can be as big as a biscuit and weigh just a few grams or span several metres and weigh up to ten tonnes. Small and large 3-axis parts are just as much in demand as complex and long 5-axis workpieces. Single parts have to be manufactured as well as batch sizes of up to 1000 units, with lead times ranging from a few seconds to 16 hours. The material is usually structural steel, but also stainless steels, special steels or aluminium. "Batch size one is an insane challenge for the set-up process. But the machine only earns money when the spindle is turning. That's why we try to release everything in parallel to machining time," explains Jörg Maeder.

Long-term collaboration.

Work area partitions were therefore ordered for the HEDELIUS machining centres right from the start. This allows production to take place in one work area while set-up is carried out in the second. For large parts, the partition can simply be distanced. Zero-point clamping systems were retrofitted to the older machining centres, the two BC 100s from HEDELIUS are equipped with a loading robot and the ACURA 65 EL 5-axis machining centres were purchased as a package with EROWA pallet automation and standby tool magazine. The decision in favour of the two ACURA 65 EL from HEDELIUS was made not least due to the many years of experience, cooperation and reliability of the Meppen-based family company. "HEDELIUS is very professional, we have been working together very well for a long time and the offer was also right," reports the operations manager.

Open to new technologies.

 Claaßen is always open to new technologies and developments. "Mr Claaßen is very forward-thinking, so automation in chipping has long been on our radar, but automation in milling is in a different league. Nevertheless, we realised it in 2018 with the two ACURA machines," says Maeder. Claaßen has managed this very well. The 5-axis machining centres are tooling as a linear system using pallet automation. This system is ideal for smaller 5-axis workpieces. Pallets are pre-equipped and stored in the magazine, significantly increasing spindle run times. The advantages are also open to the plant manager. "Automation has secured our production processes, throughput is even higher than with unmanned production, and tooling times and set-up costs have been greatly reduced." From a technical point of view, the two rotating/swivelling table machining centres also impressed with their side loading, which ensures accessibility. The compact installation dimensions and the standby tool magazines, with which both machines were equipped, were also convincing. The ACURA 65 EL already has 65 tool recesses, but the large tool magazine with an additional 180 spaces was important in order to be able to process the wide range of parts in a reasonable manner and at the same time minimise tool set-up times.

Good experience.

Claaßen is completely satisfied with the automated ACURA 65 EL and the company HEDELIUS. This is also one reason why the partnership between the two North German companies has lasted almost as long as the Claaßen Group itself. A satisfied Jörg Maeder says: "The machining centres are very robust and can really take a beating. We appreciate the reliability of the machines and can easily handle the complexity of our production with them." The positive experience with the North German machine manufacturer is also reflected in the service. "The technical support on the telephone is good and the response times are short. The service technicians are very well trained and don't have to open their laptops to contact the head office." So the signs are good that the partnership will continue in the future.