| News Archive |
| 17.02.2010 | Products for industrial arts |
| Yet to this day, this sheet-metal-processing specialist based in southern Germany presents itself as tradition-conscious in the best sense of the word: this mid-sized company remains under the management of the Schröder family – and, despite its growth with its industrial bending centres, has remained true to its individual customers in the trades. That is backed up by the numerous new and continued developments of the Schröder product line of construction and plant machines. Whether bending, cutting, flaring, rounding or pressing, whether manual, motorised or automated, whether fur use at the construction site, in the craft workshop or as a bending centre for industrial production: no later than the takeover of the FASTI plants in 2006, the Schröder Group offers to its customers a product range which is impressive in its scope and depth. Metal processing as a family passion Despite its size and international significance, the company has remained a mid-sized company with its down-to-earth personnel which emphasises close co-operation with customers. With Franz Schröder, the son of the company's founder Hans Schröder is the General Manager of the company; his wife Gerlinde Schröder manages the Schröder-FASTI Technologie GmbH in Wermelskirchen - and elsewhere, too, numerous family members hold positions as managers and employees. In the successful combination of the traditional with the modern, the Schröder Group represents the veritable characteristic ideal of the model for a German mechanical-engineering firm's success. With its innovative, computer-controlled bending centres, Schröder is a supplier to industrial operations the world over. Pieces of sheet metal which have been processed with Schröder machines can be found everywhere: from the tin can to the front of the football arena "Soccer City" in Johannesburg, South Africa, in which the major games of the upcoming FIFA World Cup will take place. Products for industrial arts Yet this company's roots lie in the durable, functional construction and shop machines for industrial arts. For instance, the manually-operated pivoting bending machine Schröder AK, known as a universal "workhorse", has been produced and applied since 1963, according to a method which has hardly changed to this day. In the modular series, a 3-meter version is also available. The Type ASK segment folding machine - unique on the market in terms of its functional concept - can be found in numerous small-scale operations and teaching shops. With these and other manual, pneumatics-aided or motorised machine series for industrial arts, Schröder has laid the foundation for its quality-based image and its good reputation for service. Also, there is constant continuing development taking place within this sector, whereby convenience and quality are constantly further increased. Many machines with special tinner tools now available Here, the sheet-metal-processing specialists contributed to the MAK V a new upper string board with enhanced bending expansion spaces. For this purpose, the new motorised nine-fold rear stop – operable via a simplified display on the POS 400 controls – was launched in late August and offers the user a high degree of flexibility along with the simplification of work processes. Combined with special tinner tools, the MAK V is the ideal compact machine for industrial-arts operations – with an unprecedentedly favourable price-performance ration for this market. For the long-standing manual pivoting bending machine Schröder AK, a pneumatic bending aid is now available to save energy during work. The tinner assembly with greater expansion space for the hollow foldover as well as enhanced stop fingers and removable overlay sheets for opposing bends are among the further innovations featured in the latest version of this classic machine. In the cutting process, the manually-operated Schröder HS is an ideal tool for material thicknesses up to 2 mm and lengths of up to 3 m. Now, in its current version, the HS now features a new working height, a manual compensator and an adjustable telescope chute for stacking cut PCBs. Both innovations minimise the number of manual steps involved in cutting – and with that, increase the degree of convenience. In the simple Schröder machine shears, the newly-engineered, front-adjustable manual rear stop featuring a digital display is evidence of Schröder's constant involvement in this segment. Also in the consistent implementation of work-safety measures for shears, Schröder has assumed the pioneering role by way of its exemplary rear-space guard. With that, when it comes to investments in equipment assemblies for industrial-arts operations, Schröder remains an important contact. The company has announced further innovations and enhancements for its construction and shop machines – as well as for the machines made by the former FASTI plant, which has operated under the name Schröder FASTI Technologie GmbH since the takeover. The Schröder family and the company's work force are well on their way to continuing their 60-year history. Meet the companies Hans Schröder Maschinenbau und Schröder Fasti Technologie at the trade fair "Dach und Holz 2010", in Hall 9, Booth 9.315/414! | |
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| 30.11.2009 | Press release for anniversary celebratio |
| The company Hans Schröder Maschinenbau GmbH, founded on 20 September 1949 as an agricultural-machine dealer and machine shop, is today an internationally-leading custom manufacturer of sheet-metal bending and cutting machines. The immense interest in the Open House demonstrated how deeply this long-standing company with its 144 full-time employees is rooted in the region. More than 3,500 visitors found their way to Wessobrunn-Forst and took advantage of this opportunity to find out more about new technologies and state-of-the-art production installations, as well as employment and training in the mechanical-engineering sector and the company's international orientation from this specialised mechanical-engineering firm. Despite the large crowd, everyone's appetite could be satisfied; fun and entertainment were also available. The winners of the Prize Quiz, whose attentiveness was rewarded with a professional tool set, a digital camera or a restaurant visit, were especially happy to be there. A large family The second highlight of this festival week was the official 60th-anniversary celebration in the Wessobrunn multi-purpose hall, with 350 invited guests. Franz Schröder, the General Manager of this family-operated company, outlined the company's history, which has been highlighted as yet by the internationalisation and the acquisition of the Fausti plant. Franz Schröder proudly referred to the tradition and values behind this family-operated company – his wife and his sons along with other family members work actively in the company. Also he views the work forces at Hans Schröder Maschinenbau GmbH in Wessobrunn, Schröder-Fasti Technologie GmbH in Wermelskirchen (North Rhine-Westphalia) as well as Schröder-Fasti Scandinavia A/S in Odder (Denmark) as one large family. In this context, his speech was peppered with digs aimed at "fat-cat" politicians. Franz Schröder emphasised that the company – even in the current crisis and without large-scale state-sponsored aid – did not have to order any operations-induced terminations, unlike many large companies. "That was a nice celebration. I was particularly glad to see the high level of interest displayed by families and young people in the technology and training our company has to offer. As a regionally-rooted employer, that is the basis of our national and international successes" – this is how Franz Schröder summarises the events of the several-day-long anniversary celebration. "The enormous response and support will be a constant incentive for the next 60 years." | |
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| 10.11.2009 | Blechexpo-Router 2009 |
| For 60 years now, the company Hans Schröder Maschinenbau GmbH supplies sheet-metal-processing machines to customers worldwide. The comprehensive portfolio encompasses manual as well as motorised pivoting bending machines, plate shears, rounding and flaring machines as well as presses. Top-quality machines – engineered and produced at two ranch offices in Germany – guarantee optimum process reliability in industrial arts and industry. The focus of the trade-fair agenda at this year's BLECHEXPO 2009 is the new Evolution generation, launched in 2009 with great success. Finite elements calculate machine geometries; state-of-the art actuation technologies blaze new trails in the pivoting bending process. Based on this machine generation, the customer can via a modular system flexibly increase the degree of automation in the machines – up to the complete bending centre. This is how the useful length, the bending output and the tool height are selected and supplemented by automation options such as rotating upper string board, tool changer, manipulator or charging and discharging station, according to the prevailing requirement. In this process, the latest version of the POS 3000 controls (featuring 3-D simulation, collision detector, cycle-time calculation, tool-equipment program and CAM connection) ensure the highest level of flexibility, efficiency and precision in small- and large-scale serial production. At the BLECHEXPO 2009 (Hall 1, Booth 1300) trade-fair visitors can see for themselves the quality of and the diverse application options for Schröder machines in the industrial arts and industry. More information is available online at: www.schroeder-maschinenbau.de. | |
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| 30.06.2009 | Individualised production of doors |
| In European companies within the foods and pharmaceuticals sectors, the doors and gates made by Cool It Isoliersysteme GmbH are considered the perfect closure mechanism for cooling and storage areas. This company based in Melle (Lower Saxony, Germany) owes its good reputation as a premium manufacturer to its innovative door and gate systems for these sensitive areas – and to its capacity to produce these components on an individual basis, in accordance with each order. "For us, the ability to produce custom doors and gates in a consistently high quality and always in compliance with customer deadlines is a decisive competitive advantage. Therefore, already at a very early stage, we have categorised the consistent IT-aided production controls and the processing centres as key technologies for the future development of our production," as Frank Maiwald (Technical Director at Cool-It) explains. However: After we took a closer look at solutions from many other manufacturers, we determined them to be too rigid and inflexible for small batch sizes and pilot series. Then, in early 2008, new perspectives emerged: Employees at Hans Schröder Maschinenbau GmbH (whose pivoting bending machines have been in use at Cool It for a long time now) presented their own ideas for a pivoting bending machine featuring an automatic tool changer. By way of a modular configuration of this solution, the sheet-metal-bending experts from the Upper Bavarian town of Wessobrunn also seek to allow small-scale and medium-scale producers to get their start in applying the technology of computer-controlled processing centres. A pivoting bending machine (a product in the Servo Power Bend Series) made by this innovative mechanical-engineering firm should serve as the basic module at Cool It; this machine can bend steel sheets with widths of up to 3,200 mm and a material thickness of up to 3.0 mm and/or 2.0 mm V2A steel in both directions – in a single work process! The Schröder POS 3000 controls regulate the retrieval of the programs for the bending profiles. Here, with its own software experts, the company Schröder Maschinenbau has in the course of several years engineered a quite high-performance and well-tested control device, which has also prevailed in practical application. Bending programs can be generated on the machine itself, on external computers or by their acceptance from the customers' CAD/CAM programs. A notable advantage of the software is the modern and concise 3-D visualisation of the workpiece and the machine. With the exact real-time simulation of the programmed work processes – and due to plausibility verifications to facilitate collision avoidance – processing errors and damage to machines are effectively avoided. Yet the decision-makers at Cool It have set their sights even higher: "In order to also utilise the possibilities in the production of doors in the very-small-scale production batches which are typical to our production, we have further enhanced the tool changer (in co-operation with Schröder). Due to this unusually close and trust-based co-operation with Schröder as a machine supplier, we were able to perfectly adapt the specifications of the sheet-metal-bending workstation to our requirements," as Frank Maiwald recalls. In late 2008, the manufacturer Schröder then installed the modified Servo Power Bend pivoting bending machine at Cool It – equipped with a fully-automated high-speed tool changer for the upper-string-board tools in the pivoting bending machine. Due to two asynchronously-operating change portals, each with two grip units, up to four tools can be removed from the changer magazine. The portals are powered by wear-free, high-precision linear motors and, with a speed of 7 m/sec, guarantee the fastest-possible tool changing. According to Frank Maiwald, the results speak for themselves: “Thanks to the tool changer, we can now cover the entire portfolio without additional tooling and auxiliary-process intervals. In the medium term, that makes our production even more flexible, because we no longer have to plan to accommodate certain equipment assemblies or batch sizes. In the process, we save the time required for manual changing, shorten the cycle intervals – and with that, increase process reliability”. A further adaptation took place on the control-software level. Here, the Schröder software engineers created a direct interface to the Cool It ERP system. The effect of this measure: the individual orders and the order frequency are now transferred via paperless transmission (via software) to the pivoting bending machine; already in the work-preparation stage the sheet-metal processing function is perfectly synchronised with all of the previous and subsequent processing steps. Then, in the POS 3000 controls, the associated bending programs are retrieved and executed by the machine – this means that manual procedures are no longer necessary to the production controls. The obsolescence of tooling and equipment intervals, along with the centrally-synchronised production, facilitate further minimisation of cycle intervals; the incidence of operation errors is minimised, and the overall productivity level for door production increases. Currently, the installation and the production processes are undergoing further enhancement. The changes in work and planning processes should further increase the positive effects on productivity. "Yet at least likewise important to us is the improvement in reproducibility and quality associated with automation. Our customers and the companies performing the installation will directly benefit from these innovations in the course of installing our doors and gates," as the Cool It manager sums up the advantages of this innovation. | |
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| 08.10.2008 | Press Release EuroBLECH 2008 |
| The innovative Schröder IB Power Speed Center is based on the universal fold-ing machines of Schröder’s IntelliBend-Series with their rotating upper beam and Up’n Down technology for highly efficient bending in both directions in a single operation. By adding additional modules, the standalone machines can be expanded into fully automated folding centers for sheet widths of up to 5,000 mm and material thicknesses of up to 6.0 mm. The automated loading and unloading procedure can be executed via robots or gantry systems. A manipu-lator makes sure that the parts are fed and moved with maximum accuracy dur-ing processing. To be ready for the high automation requirements of varying lot sizes, the IB Power Speed Center has a fully automatic high-speed tool changer that moves with a speed of 7 meters per second. Controller with 3D visualization and simulation ensures quality The programs needed for the individual bending profiles are provided by the Schröder POS 3000 Controller. Programs can be created at the station itself, on external computers or via CAD/CAM programs. Data transfers, updates and service can be handled via remote access and remote maintenance. The state-of-the-art software helps machine operators perform programming and control operations with clear 3D visualizations of the machine and the work pieces. By simulating the programmed work steps and performing plausibility checks down to the last detail, operators can not only prevent processing errors and damages, but drastically reduce the need for expensive test runs and null-series. Special corrective sensor technology ensures maximum precision and repeat accuracy. The IB Power Speed Center lets you meet the highest quality requirements in applications as diverse as the manufacture of control and switching systems, building cladding, industrial kitchen equipment, steel doors and airplane parts with a high degree of efficiency and flexibility. First reference customers realized productivity jumps of 70 to 80 percent with the new folding center. In addition, the modular structure of the Schröder folding center features high investment protection and the ability to automate and increase the production step-by-step as demand rises. EVOLUTION signals steady advances Existing machine types also benefit from the many innovations emerging from Schröder’s development department. The EVOLUTION name suffix identifies the new, heavily improved model series. For example, the FP60 EVOLUTION folding machine for sheets up to 3,040 mm wide and 6.0 mm thick is now being offered with a tool pusher for the fully automatic rotating beam. The tools are moved hydraulically and without manual interference within the flange in order to provide the space needed for upturn folds. With this system, complex bending profiles can be produced in a single, uninterrupted process and thus a lot faster. Kickdown without complex hydraulics Other innovation in the EVOLUTION series, depending on the machine type, include a standard increase of clamping beam stroke from 650 mm to 800 mm for more flexibility and a new "kickdown” system. The newly developed Schröder kickdown system does not require any expensive special hydraulic systems. Instead, it manages to build up the necessary pressure with the hy-draulics that are already in the machine. The result: "leaner” machine concepts with significantly lower operating and maintenance costs. Visitors of the EuroBLECH 2008 can check out the quality and multiple applica-tions of Schröder machines for themselves in live demonstrations and personal meetings. For more information, go to www.schroeder-maschinenbau.de. | |
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