Metalworking World 2/2013

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2/13 a business and technology magazine from sandvik coromant

the entrepreneur:

Milking it!

Turning up

the heat

Toshiba's Keihin Product Operations’ new steam turbine technology

They've got a brand new bag tech Into the deep blue sea russia A cut above the rest innovation The bionic man germany Making a new melody tech Deep hole drilling CSR The key success factor tech Hard-part turning profile

editorial

Metalworking World is a business and technology magazine from AB Sandvik Coromant, 811 81 Sandviken, Sweden. Phone: +46 (26) 26 60 00. Metalworking World is published three times a year in American and British English, Czech, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish and Thai. The magazine is free to customers of Sandvik Coromant worldwide. Published by Spoon Publishing in Stockholm, Sweden. ISSN 1652-5825.

klas forsström president sandvik coromant

Making knowledge a win-win situation Having the right tool for an operation is just half the job; the knowledge of how to use it most efficiently is what can take a business from being average to being really profitable. Sandvik Coromant has reached the position of knowledge leader in our industry, thanks to our focus on three specific areas: competence, innovation and education. In 2012 we launched Metalcutting Technology, our extensive and industry-unique e-learning programme. This Web-based introductory course to metalcutting is brandneutral, free of charge, available 24/7 and open to anyone – from new employees, customers and operators to schools and universities. Demand is high worldwide. In the United States alone, 1,600 schools have signed up to take the course in nine chapters. Sandvik Coromant has long acknowledged the importance of education. For many years we have sponsored schools, universities and research institutes, including the Beijing University of Aeronautics in China, the Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing in the United States and the University of Sheffield in the UK, and of course high schools in Sweden such as Göranssonska Skolan and Wilhelm Haglund Skolan. In future, we’ll continue our work with education in the Sandvik Coromant Academy,

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on the Web and in our nearly 30 Productivity Centers (read more on page 7) around the world. In all, some 30,000 people attend training each year at these Productivity Centers and at customer sites. Why this heavy emphasis on education? For us it’s natural, because in our offering we deliver more than the products themselves. ­­ We also deliver our competence and the knowledge of how to best use those products to cut costs and improve productivity. At the same time, we constantly learn from and develop with our customers. It is a win-win situation, and it’s part of what makes us the knowledge leader. Pleasant reading! klas forsström President Sandvik Coromant

Publisher responsible under Swedish publishing law: Jessica Alm. Editor-in-chief: Mats Söderström. Account executive: Christina Hoffmann. Editor: Henrik Emilson. Art director: Emily Ranneby. Art director assistant: Anna Boman. Technical editors: Börje Ahnlén, Martin Brunnander. Sub editor: Valerie Mindel. Coordinator: Lianne Mills. Language coordination: Sergio Tenconi. Layout, language editions: Louise Holpp. Prepress: Markus Dahlstedt. Cover photo: Gorta Yuuki. Please note that unsolicited manuscripts are not accepted. Material in this publication may only be reproduced with permission. Requests for permission should be sent to the editorial manager, Metalworking World. Editorial material and opinions expressed in Metalworking World do not necessarily reflect the views of Sandvik Coromant or the publisher. Correspondence and enquiries regarding the magazine are welcome. Contact: Metalworking World, Spoon Publishing AB, Rosenlundsgatan 40, 118 53 Stockholm, Sweden. Phone: +46 (8) 442 96 20. E-mail: [email protected]. Distribution enquiries: Catarina Andersson, Sandvik Coromant. Phone: +46 (26) 26 62 63. E-mail: [email protected] Printed in Sweden at Sandvikens Tryckeri. Printed on MultiArt Matt 115 gram and MultiArt Gloss 200 gram from Papyrus AB, certified according to ISO 14001 and registered with EMAS. Coromant Capto, CoroMill, CoroCut, CoroPlex, CoroTurn, CoroThread, CoroDrill, CoroBore, CoroGrip, AutoTAS, GC, Silent Tools and iLock are all registered trademarks of Sandvik Coromant.

Get your free copy of Metalworking World. Email your address to [email protected]. Metalworking World is issued for informational purposes. The information provided is of a general nature and should not be treated as advice or be relied upon for making decisions or for use in a specific matter. Any use of the information provided is at the user’s sole risk, and Sandvik Coromant shall not be liable for any direct, incidental, consequential or indirect damage arising out of the use of the information made available in Metalworking World.

content

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Germany. Dancing to the melody of the primary plant.

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Profile. The Bartel Grassland project.

A patented new technique puts Voith Turbo on the map.

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Japan. Steaming along with new technology.

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Quicktime:

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Russia:

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Quicktime:

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Innovation:

Profile:

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The Final Note:

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News from around the world Moving in the wind The milk maid: Anke Domaske

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Solving a big problem

Inspiration. Corporate social responsibility takes off.

Back on track

Cooling down from the top

Technology New excelling edges

The hole thing in half the time

New indexable insert concepts combine high productivity and security with good surface finish in hard-part turning.

Orbital drilling increases productivity and cuts costs.

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Gun or solid for deep holes?

Cutting for the deep sea

Prioritize the main needs when looking at demands in hole quality, depth and machine tool.

How the oil and gas industry can cope with production challenges in harsh deep-sea environments.

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metalworking world  3

Quicktime text: Kip Hanson

image: Per-Anders Pettersson

Getty images

The Blazing Star or Gayfeather (pictured) is a wild flower of the Asteraceae family and is native to North America and the Bahamas. It can grow to a height of 45 to 60 centimetres and has a violet or lavender colour when it blooms in midsummer. The flower is a perennial that survives the winter in the form of corms. The plant is attractive to butterflies, bees and birds and resistant to deer.

One bag at a time Sandvik Coromant helps restore a piece of America’s heartland sponsorship. Bartel Grassland in Illinois is home to various species of endangered birds and plants. It’s also the beneficiary of efforts by volunteer teachers, students and retirees to restore the prairie ecosystem to what prevailed in the area before settlers arrived. One volunteer is machinist Glenn Hopkins, who calls himself the “weak mind and the strong back” of the project. Nevertheless, while attending IMTS in 2010, he found a way to make the job of his fellow volunteers easier — Sandvik Coromant yellow plastic bags. The volunteers traditionally carried bulky five-gallon (19-litre) buckets in the field, using them to spread seeds for native plants such as Blazing Star and Butterfly Wheat, and for hauling away invasive weeds. While passing through the Sandvik Coromant booth at IMTS, Hopkins saw the yellow plastic bags. “The bags work much better,” says Hopkins. “The flap over the top keeps the seeds from blowing away, and the bright yellow colour makes the bags easy to spot. You can throw a couple across your shoulder and get spreading.” Hopkins went back to IMTS the next day to get more. He laughs, recalling, “I grabbed a lot of bags

that year. I must have gone through the Sandvik Coromant booth a dozen times.” In fact, the Sandvik Coromant bags worked so well that Hopkins returned to IMTS in 2012. “I explained to the guy at the booth what we’re doing at Bartel Grassland, and how the bags made the job much easier. They were so nice about it that they gave me a whole case of them.” Hopkins shares the bags with Oak Forest High School teacher Dawn Sasek, who manages a miniature version of the Bartel project at a sister site in nearby Yankee Woods. Says Dick Riner, site steward for Bartel Grassland, “Dawn and her students are a big part of both sites. We’ll have a workday at Dawn’s site, and then come over here and do the same thing.” Riner explains that German settlers started farming the land in 1840. “If we can get it back to the way it once was by 2040, it will be a miracle,” he says. Sounds as if they’re going to need more help ... and a lot more bags. n

Bartel Grassland, 237 hectares of retired farmland, lies south of Chicago, Illinois, in the US Midwest.

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Have you seen the APP? If you like Metalworking World magazine, you are going to love the digital version!

GET YO FREE A UR PP! MWW ipad 2 /13 is out now

case stories: More images from around the world

Tech texts: More in-depth technical articles

Interactive features: Films Animations Links

The Metalworking World app is free and can be downloaded to your iPad at the iTunes app store.

Quicktime

3 questions to

Bertil isaksson Senior manager, customer relations, with a worldwide responsibility for Productivity Centers and training.

winds of change

Cheap airfare

The next generation of taxis or messenger cars for busy city streets might already be here.

One of Northern Europe’s largest land-based wind parks with an annual electric output of 570 GWh was just inaugurated along Sweden’s eastern coastline. Sandvik Coromant delivers tools and solutions to Vestas, the Danish company that manufactures the wind turbines for the wind park.

transport. The auto and oil and gas industries may well be in for a serious challenge. In the very near future — tomorrow actually — there will be cars running on an energy source that produces no emissions and costs only 1 euro per fill-up. Indian automotive company Tata has enlisted MDI — Motor Development International — to develop a car that runs on compressed air. The company has recently introduced prototypes of the AirPod, a three-seat car that has a 175-litre storage tank and runs some 200 kilometres on one air fill-up. The top speed is 70 km/h, which makes these cars ideal for city driving. n

the number:

billion

Estimated number of mobile devices in use in 2020 (and some 7 billion people online using the devices).

Did you know? Thorium, named after the Norse god Thor, is a radioactive element with several advantages over uranium: It’s cheaper, it’s more abundant, it has a higher burn-out rate and it’s safer. There’s no possibility of a meltdown in a thorium reactor, and waste is radioactive for “only” 300 years. n

Getty images

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Long-range alphaparticle from thorium.

with a pinch of salt

Japanese company Green House’s new LED lamp runs on saltwater — no batteries required. And thanks to a USB port built into the casing, the lantern can also be used as a charger for a smartphone.

Q: Why are you investing SEK 120 million in an Application Center and Productivity Center in Sandviken? This is really

a fantastic situation for us now. After several temporary solutions we are getting cutting-edge facilities. It is necessary to have a better and more adequate building since the Application Center and the existing Productivity Center aren’t sufficient even by today’s standards – not to mention tomorrow’s. The project, along with a pilot plant, is now up and running. Q: What is the difference between the pilot plant and the centres? In our 27 Productivity

Centers around the world, we do a lot of internal and external training – mainly related to production and manufacturing but also economy and service. The centre is also a permanent showroom for visitors. The Application Center in Sandviken is working mainly with development of new machining methods. Our knowledge in cutting tools combined with our knowledge of how to use our tools will create machining superiority. We create proven solutions that our customers can use immediately. To implement the knowledge we develop we have seven Appication Centers that create solutions for customer components. The pilot plant will produce and test prototypes.

Q: You are also investing in an Application Center in China?

China is changing, and there is tremendous need for training and understanding modern machining. With this investment in an Application Center in Langfang we can help our customers better understand modern machining. n

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Quicktime text: henrik emilson

ILLUSTRATION: peter grundy

The new air transport vehicle Aeroscraft is designed to transport heavy, oversized wind turbine components. It has an internal ballast control system that allows it to offload cargo without ballast or the need to land. The US-made airship can control lift at all stages with a vertical takeoff and landing capability and can operate without ground infrastructure.

Length: 152 metres Span: 49 metres

Total passengers: 180

Payload: 60 tonnes Cruise speed: 222 km/h

5 7 7

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Range

Minimizes environmental impact

Ballast: not required

Can access remote locations with little infrastructure

Large ground staff: not required

Ballast: not required

Quicktime

Did you know? Renewable energy sources not only contribute to a sustainable future, but they also offer employment in a wide variety of fields. Wind parks create short- and long-term jobs for meteorologists, engineers, assembly workers, operators, technicians and repairmen. n

the number:

percent, or eight hours, or one day a week, is the average time a machine operator spends looking for the right tool.

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cube for creativity:

from ideas to real objects

innovation. Having proto-

types printed out in 3D is becoming a standard in companies’ product development departments, making it easier to envision new ideas on the drawing board or in a CAD program. So far the technique has been costly, making 3D printers exclusively a tool for professionals. Now, with a price tag of just USD 1,200, the Cube 3D printer is aimed at the home market. Even if the printouts have a limited 14x14x14 cm scale, the opportunity to see one’s innovations realized in 3D should be an inspiration for any at-home entrepreneur. n

Testing of the engine at the Global Aerospace Centre for Icing and Environmental Research, a new facility specializing in ice tests.

Instead of putting ink onto a flat surface like a regular printer, a 3D printer builds up material in three dimensions to create real objects. The printer melts plastic filament and draws with it in a fine layer, than builds another layer of plastic on top, and then another.

Burning through the sky

aerospace. With an improved fuel burn (16 percent improvement gate-to-gate) and reduced carbon emission (3,000 tonnes per aircraft per year), the PurePower PW1000G engine has many advantages over conventional engines. The secret is the geared turbofan architecture enabled by the fan-drive gear system that allows all parts of this family of engines to operate at optimal speed and efficiency. n

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Quicktime text: Henrik emilson

photo: adam lach

The milky way medicine. When German microbiologist and fashion designer Anke Domaske saw how her stepfather, suffering from a blood cancer, developed a textile allergy from regular clothes, she started to look for alternatives. “We looked all over the place for chemically untreated fabrics,” she says. “But you can’t just go into a store and ask for clothes without chemicals. They don’t exist.” An interest in fashion and fabrics runs in the family, so it was natural for 28-year-old Domaske to start researching fibres and how to produce them. She found a method from the 1930s to make fabric from sour milk from which protein fibres are extracted and spun into a silklike yarn. “Back then the fibres were also treated with chemicals,” she explains, “but we came up with a way to make our fibres eco-friendly and only use natural resources without any chemicals added.” Domaske’s brand, QMilch, was born, and her stepfather, along with other people with textile allergies, can wear the Domaske-designed clothes without any problems. It takes about six litres of milk to make one shirt and... “No, the fabric doesn’t smell of milk — it’s totally odourless,” she says and laughs. “And no, you don’t have to keep your shirts in the fridge.” n

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Top: The casein is extracted from milk powder and then heated up in a sort of meat-mincing machine. The fibre comes out in strands and is spun into yarn. The amino acids in the protein are antibacterial, anti-ageing and can help regulate blood circulation and body temperature. Above: Anke Domaske.

text: Nick holdsworth   photo: Jeremy nichols

New cutter solved the problem Vyksa, Russia. Is it possible for a small carbide cutting insert to

achieve a substantial efficiency increase? For Russian Vyksa Steel Works, one of the world’s leading steelworks, the introduction of a unique solution and exclusive technology made it possible to increase overall pipe production output by several tens of millions of roubles a year. That immediately had an effect on overall economic results of manufacturing.

Vyksa Steel Works upgraded the efficiency of theinserts in the pipe arc-welding process.

nnn In 1987 Vyksa Steel Works together with Japanese company Nippon Steel Corporation started up the new workshop No 5 to produce electric welding pipes. However, the Vyksa pipe manufacturer faced a serious problem: the necessity of frequent replacement of cutters to slice away the scarf from inside arc-welded steel oil pipes. Scarf is a softened and fused metal that in the course of deformation is squeezed out from a welding zone, forming a kind of platens on external and internal surfaces of a pipe. For scarf removal all pipe welding mills have flash trimmers (boring bits) with cutters.

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The problem was that these cutters appeared to be short-lived. You had to change them three to four times per shift, which caused stops and loss of time, production and profits. Specialists of Vyksa Steel Works had designed a holder with a mechanical fastening of a replaceable cutter that allowed increasing wear-resistant properties of the tool. This new cutter proved to be reliable, and it was used for about 20 years in total. However, due to electric welding pipes workshop modernization and installation of the new Kusakabe metalcutting machine (known in factory slang as the “flying cutting machine”), the cutter was found to be Alexandr Mikhajlovich Arkhipenko

metalworking world

insufficient in wear resistance, which had to be increased again in order to synchronize the new machine tool with an available rolling mill. To solve this problem

Vyksa Steel Works turned to suppliers of the cutting tools. “However, nobody was interested in our order because they just did not see it as profitable enough,” says Alexandr Mikhajlovich Arkhipenko, the factory technical quality manager. Manufacturers didn’t hasten to design moulding die for cutters and then produce cutters in small parts of 150–200 pieces, because they considered it non-remunerative.

That’s how it was until Sandvik Coromant, the world’s leading supplier of tools and solutions to the metalworking industry, began to tackle the issue. In 2009 a team of engineers – using Arkhipenko’s blueprint for a new cutting insert – spent almost a year designing a new grade. During this time the Sandvik Coromant team thoroughly studied Vyksa Steel Works’ technological process, the tool holder and insert design. The team selected alloys and made preparations for manufacturing of the new special tool as well. The aim was to provide a solution that would last for a full eight-hour working shift without replacement. Based on the results of numerous tests, a special

grade CT15M was selected as the best choice providing high wear resistance at high speeds and temperatures in a cutting zone and durability of a cutting edge. It proved to be fully capable of cutting away welding scarf for more than

eight hours without critical deterioration in performance. By summer 2010 the tests at Vyksa Steel Works for the Sandvik Coromant tool pilot batch made of CT15M grade with coating were successfully completed. The introduction of the new cutter for manufacturing of pipes in diameters of 146 and 168 millimetres made it possible not only to ensure eight hours of operation without stops on replacement of the cutting tools but also gave the possibility of changing the cutter synchronously with mills used in the “flying cutting machine”, which meant savings of an additional half hour of rolling mill operating time. Furthermore, the new cutter reduced metal pipe wastage that resulted from cutting a window in a pipe when changing a cutter in a flash trimmer. n

“The aim was to provide a solution that would last for a full Arc-welded steel oil pipes. eight-hour working shift without replacement.”

The Vyksa Steel Works is a part of one of the largest metallurgical groups, called the United Metallurgical Company. VSW employs more than 12,000 people. The factory is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of longitudinal electro welded pipes in various diameters for oil and gas extraction and transport as well as railway wheels. Since its founding the factory has undergone rapid developments in product range. It supplied ammunition for the Turkish military campaign in the 19th century, made household utensils and made heavy military technology at the time of World War II. Unlike much Russian industry in the post-Soviet period, VSW has continued to be productive and today it is a leading international supplier of steel pipes for the oil and gas industry and railway wheels. One of the latest large orders the

factory has secured was to supply more than 460,000 tonnes of 1,220-millimetre-diameter highpressure gas pipes according to standard DNV-OS-F101 for the 1,224-kilometre Nord Stream line under the Baltic Sea between Russia and Germany. VSW fought off tough competition to win a tender to supply pipes. Russian natural gas began flowing through Nord Stream pipes to European customers in early November 2011.

technical insight Strong relationship.

One more aspect of Vyksa Steel Works’ cooperation with Sandvik Coromant is the railway wheel casting workshop, where some 850,000 wheels of more than 140 standard sizes are produced each year for sale to Russia, the United States, Canada, the Czech Republic, Poland, India and other countries. Roman Golyshkov, the technical office head of the railway

wheel casting workshop, says that the Sandvik Coromant cutting inserts are used because they have high working reliability and wear resistance, which allows the shop to win considerable cost savings from its cutting tool purchases compared with other suppliers. Sandvik Coromant is now working on design solutions for cutting tools for finishing the steel

railway wheels for the new generation of Russian high-speed Sapsan and Lastochka (Swallow) trains. The Sandvik Coromant resident salesman, who lives in Vyksa, is engaged in constructing the proper cutting tool. Sapsan trains have been operating on a Moscow–St Petersburg route since December 2009 and on a Moscow–Nizhny Novgorod route since July 2010. The

Lastochka train is planned to start up on a Moscow– Sochi route. In 2010 the United Metallurgical Company, Russian Railways and Siemens AG, the developer of the Sapsan and Lastochka trains, signed the memorandum of cooperation in the field of localization of wheels for Russian Railways trains.

Rows of railway wheels.

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technology text: christer richt

image: borgs

Challenge: To combine high productivity and security with good surface finish in hard-part turning.

solution: New indexable insert concepts with unique cutting edges.

Excellent new edges considerable productivity improvements in turning operations involving the hardest of materials can now be achieved. These are improvements that do not entail replacing machinery or introducing new methods – simply changing indexable inserts. The feed rate dominates the time taken to machine a component. Hence, by being able to raise this – in many cases to twice the conventional feed or more – many production hours can be saved and machines can be utilized more fully. But the really important part of this development is that the required surface finish and accuracy are maintained at the higher feeds. What are these unconventional indexable inserts that revolutionize cutting times? The feed-rate relationship with surface finish is always the key parameter when the focus is on minimizing cutting times. For conventional round-nose inserts, the feed is strictly limited to the relationship: size of nose radius to surface finish. The Wiper-type insert changed all this. The cutting edge of Wiper inserts from Sandvik Coromant is made up of a carefully designed, blended combination of different radii. There are several different types of Wiper inserts today, with dedicated application ranges for materials such as hardened steels. For hard-part turning, the WH-type geometry gives a high surface finish at a high feed, with

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relatively low requirements for stability. The WG-type geometry gives an even better surface finish at an even higher feed but needs more stability during machining. A subsequent innovation from Sandvik Coromant – the Xcel insert – alters the feed/finish relationship in a more pronounced way. It generates high surface finish at even higher feed rates, often double that of Wiper inserts, when machining stability is good, which has to be the case

The entering angle of Xcel inserts is 10 degrees. In hardpart turning this is not a limitation, as the working allowances are small. Xcel gives a uniform thin chip with its capability for very high feed rates, which ideally lie within the range of 0.3 to 0.5 mm/rev. The maximum recommended depth of cut with an Xcel insert is 0.25 mm. Slight provisions for clearance have to be made when machining up to shoulders because of the insert shape, unless an undercut has been made. Ideal components are largediameter shafts, sleeves and

gear wheels where longitudinal turning and facing are needed and stability is good. Materials are typically through-hardened or case-hardened steels, and cuts may be continuous or intermittent, as with gear teeth or shaft features. Performance is optimized with use of the modern CBN insert grades. Quality capability is generally Rz 1 or Ra 0.25 microns with dimensional tolerances maintained within 0.01 mm. As regards semifinishing/roughing capability, the Xcel insert will achieve unequalled machining rates.

in hard-part turning. Even at lower feed rates, where the minimum should be seen as 0.3 mm/rev, this insert will generate excellent surface finish. The Xcel and Wiper inserts should also be seen to complement each other, with clear optimization possibilities for the operations they are most suited for. In addition to finishing, Xcel is a high-productivity solution for semi-finishing, bordering on light roughing. Hard-part turning has its own demands: Cutting forces and pressure on the cutting edge are more severe than with materials in a green condition. The hard material is abrasive and generates more heat and is thus more wearing. The tool material that best stands up to these demands is cubic boron nitride (CBN), which is second in hardness to diamond. The range of CBN grades from Sandvik Coromant has been designed to deliver high performance in defined application areas. The combination of high-performance cutting-tool materials and cutting geometries leads to consistently reliable, high-productivity solutions. With a conventional round-nose insert, wear is concentrated especially at the depth-of-cut level on the cutting

In addition to finishing, semifinishing is also an application for Xcel.

edge. With the Xcel insert, tool wear is spread evenly along the edge, thereby improving the durability of the insert. The improvement with Xcel is also due to the lower temperature generated because of the shorter in-cut time. Consequently, more parts can be machined with Xcel even at highly elevated feeds. n

case study: One manufacturing company that Sandvik Coromant worked with was planning to replace grinding machines with lathes for hard-part turning. In this particular application, the best solution was to use Xcel for semi-finishing, followed by the Wiper WG-type insert for the finishing operation. A trial was carried out on the company’s machines. The outcome, based on the satisfactory quality results and attractive machining times, was that the company changed all component drawings to introduce added clearance against shoulders to take full advantage of the capability of the Xcel insert. The recommended feed rate is 0.4 mm/ rev for semi-finishing with Xcel, generating a surface finish of Ra 0.5 micron. For the Wiper WG insert, the feed rate is 0.33 mm/rev generating a finish of Ra 0.42 micron.

Summary The Xcel insert from Sandvik Coromant is a unique, patented insert concept particularly suited to the demands of higher feed rates in hard-part turning involving semi-finishing and finishing. Xcel and Wiper inserts in modern CBN insert grades provide the edges for optimization of most operations and components, combining short process time, security and high component-quality capability.

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text: kip hanson

photo: Per-Anders Pettersson

BACK in the saddle Innovation. The ill-fated day when Mike Schultz lost his leg

in a snocross competition changed his life forever. What he didn’t know was that he would be able to turn the tragedy into an opportunity.

Taking off After the accident Mike Schultz designed his Moto Knee and could soon start riding his snowmobile again. In January 2013 “Monster” Mike claimed his third gold medal at the Adaptive Snocross race in the Winter X Games in the US.

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nnn When US snowmobile racer “Monster” One Good Knee Mike Schultz lost his leg, he knew life would In June of 2011, Michelle Salt hit a be different. What he didn’t know was how guard rail on her motorcycle. She different. lost her right leg above the knee, and Schultz began his snocross career in 1998 nearly lost her life. “I was in intensive when he was a junior in high school, a time care for a week,” says Salt. “When I when most of us are still learning to drive the woke up, my leg was gone.” family car. He quickly progressed to semi-pro, Physicians told her she wouldn’t and by 2003 he was racing full-time on the pro snowboard again, but that didn’t circuit. “I worked my way up,” says Schultz. matter to Salt. “One of the first “Going into the 2008 season, I was in my things I thought of was how to get back on the board. So when I heard prime, one of the top five guys in the world on about this guy making prosthetic a snowmobile. I was living my dream.” knees for athletes, I gave him a call. Schultz had a big break that year, signing on I’m actually the first female to use the with Warnert Racing, a premier snocross team Moto Knee.” based in St Cloud, Minnesota. But during the Salt now bombs the hills with the second national round in Ironwood, Michigan, best of them. “It’s pretty amazing,” disaster struck. “It was the first qualifying race she says. “I went from being unable of the weekend,” explains Schultz. “I had a to even stand up on a snowboard to horrible start and was pushing hard for the qualifying for the Canadian paratransfer spot so I could make the finals. Coming snowboard team in less than a year.” If all goes well, explains Salt, she’s down the hill, the sled got a little squirrelly and headed to the 2014 Paralympic games bucked me off. I’d crashed like that a hundred in Sochi, Russia. times before and walked away.” Another Moto Knee wearer is But this time was different. “Instinctively, adaptive athlete Geoff Turner, who I put my leg out to brace my fall,” he recalls. suffered a traumatic amputation in “When I hit the ground, my knee hyper-extend1990 after a motorcycle accident. ed. It just blew apart.” Things quickly went from knee. That was the catalyst for me.” Turner’s physicians told him not to bad to worse. A nearby snowstorm grounded all Using a sketch pad and cardboard cut-outs, expect too much. “They just looked helicopter flights that day, so Schultz had to ride Schultz began designing something completely at me grimly and shook their by ambulance to the nearest trauma centre. “It new. “I had some drafting classes in high heads." Since then, Turner has proved his doctors wrong by was five hours before I got to a trauma surgeon,” school, which is about the extent of my running (and winning) he says. “They tried to save it, but three days engineering education. But I think mechaniseveral marathons and after the accident I’d gone through 47 units of cally, and I’ve always been a problem-solver, half-marathons. He blood and my kidneys were shutting down. The so I just listed what I needed the knee to do, the recently qualified for doctors woke me up to tell me they were function of it. It had to absorb shock. It had to the US bobsled team amputating my leg.” bend at least 135 degrees. And it had to be and is looking at the Schultz spent 13 days in hospital. “I reboundadjustable for different sporting activities.” triathlon in the 2016 ed pretty quickly because of my physical Schultz wanted to use a FOX mountain Paralympics. condition,” he says. “They sent me home on bike shock as the guts of his new prosthesis. Michelle Salt Christmas Day. Five weeks later I had my first “It uses compressed air as the spring mechaprosthetic leg. To be able to walk again was an nism, so you can dial in the right compression amazing feeling.” Despite this, Schultz thought his racing days were and rebound,” he explains. “I took the measurements of that shock and over. “I didn’t want to race if I couldn’t compete at the level I did figured out the range of motion. From there I started sketching the knee before. I kind of wrote it off. Then I heard about the Adaptive X-Games frame, how it was all going to fit. The toughest part was coming up with a Supercross.” linkage system to give you a progressive feel to the spring rate, but using only a two-inch stroke shock. That was the thing I scratched my head most about.” Within a The problem, says Schultz, was finding the right leg. “I knew of one month, Schultz had a good working drawing, sport-capable prosthesis, meaning it had a coil-over shock, but it was which he brought to a nearby shop. “FOX has designed for downhill skiing. The spring rates are too stiff, and the a shop here in Baxter, Minnesota,” he says. range of motion isn’t anywhere near the 135 degrees needed for “They gave me a quick rundown on how to use snowmobiling.” That’s when Schultz began thinking about alternatives. the mill and the lathe and turned me loose. I “It was funny,” he says. “Everyone’s always known me as the guy who machined the first one. tinkered in the shop. I had lots of friends from the racing community, “I remember the feeling when I pulled the and they started joking around right away about me building my own

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metalworking world

JoAnn Mitchell High flyer “Seeing the look on people’s faces when they’re able to do something they otherwise couldn’t have done is just amazing,” says snocross champ Mike Schultz.

senior project leader, Sandvik Coromant US

on the cutting edge Q: Why does Sandvik Coro-

mant sponsor the American show Edge Factor, a show Mike Schultz is involved in about modern manufacturing and innovation?

As Sandvik Coromant is the global leader in metalcutting technology and innovation, it's part of our responsibility to help our customers be successful in their endeavours as well as to help people outside the industry understand the value of metalcutting in modern life. Q: Who are you trying to reach

through Edge Factor?

parts out of the mill, bolted it all together The new design The knee had to absorb and stuck it on my leg,” he says. “I got considerable shock and on a dirt bike that same day, grinning ear also bend 135 degrees. to ear. It was an amazing feeling. I could Shock absorber stand up on the bike, balanced, just like A mountain bike shock is I had two good legs. The first time I the base of the prosthesis. pinned the throttle, I was the happiest guy in the world. Right there I knew Adjustable system The Moto Knee can be I’d be able to do some pretty cool stuff used for many sports. with this.” Cool stuff, to be sure. Less than five months after the accident, Schultz and his new knee raced motocross at Michigan’s Extremity Games, qualifying him for the 2009 ESPN Summer X Games Supercross. “Participating in an event like that was a real eye-opener,” says Schultz. “It opened me up to relationships with other amputees, where I could learn stuff from them, and them from me. From that point on, it’s been a whole new world.” Since then, Schultz has made five revisions to the original design, and now markets his product under the brand name Moto Knee. He’s also started a new company, Biodapt Inc, with the goal of being the leading edge in high-activity prosthetic equipment. “Since January 2011, I’ve sold more than 40 units,” Schultz says. “We have people using them for snowboarding, water skiing, horseback riding, you name it.” Schultz says his business venture is the most rewarding job anybody could ever have. “It’s truly about helping people,” he says. n

Because so many people in the US will be retiring soon, we are interested in encouraging new people to join the industry. We can offer good, well-paying and exciting careers in technical areas. Having people with the right skills to use the technology is vital, and Edge Factor demonstrates many of the skills needed to bridge that gap. Q: Could a show like Edge

Factor be an eye opener?

Yes, because Edge Factor shows the excitement of building solutions to help people. The show demonstrates the possibilities in modern manufacturing, the innovation needed in real customer situations in real shops making products all of us find valuable. For many people, this is the first time they have seen modern machining and can see the creative technology involved.

Want to learn more about the Edge Factor show?

www.edgefactor.com

metalworking world  19

Full steam ahead!

text: Carol Akiyama   photo: gorta yuuki

A rapidly growing demand for energy meant that Toshiba’s Keihin Product Operations needed to expand its steam turbine production. The company formed an alliance with Sandvik Coromant to meet the challenge. Tokyo Bay, Japan.

nnn When Toshiyuki Harada first stepped off the platform at Umi Shibaura railway station 32 years ago, he was struck by the Tokyo Bay area’s vibrant energy. “In 1981, Japan’s steam turbine technology was rapidly developing,” says Harada, who is now the general manager of Keihin Product Operations, a unit of Toshiba Corp’s Power Systems Co. “I was assigned to the steam turbine design section. We developed the first USC (ultra super critical) steam turbines for commercial use. My first project was to create the first USC unit for Chubu Electric Co. It was an exciting time then, as it is now.” Harada describes Keihin Process Innovation (K-PI), the system he implemented in 2009 to increase productivity and cut lead times throughout the factory. “The K-PI system was created to emphasize the traditional Japanese pride of high craftsmanship and revamp the production process with innovation — from development and design to procurement and manufacturing — in order to make us globally competitive,” he says. In this world of global production, time lost is a serious problem that cannot be overlooked. “Now we are able to coordinate the production of our turbine blades in Mexico and assemble them with our domestic subcontractor, producing rotors without wasting time,” Harada says. “With large-scale parts it is especially difficult to achieve just-in-time production, but if we can

optimize production and even deliver earlier than planned, our customers will be satisfied and our profitability will increase. In the past, we did not track the production process carefully, and parts were finished out of sequence. Since implementing our new K-PI policy, we have cut production time in half and have never once been late with a delivery.” In 2008, Toshiba decided to expand its energy production business. The move involved large-scale equipment investment at Keihin, including a multi-task machine, an NC lathe and a mill-turn centre. Kazuto Sasaki, a specialist in the production engineering group of the turbine design and assembling department, says the investment was driven by rapidly growing demand for energy. “In recent years we had to expand our output by 150 percent, buy new equipment and re-evaluate our production process. Initially, I had wanted to visit various tooling manufacturers to compare products, but my production workshop

Keihin Product Operations is situated on the edge of Tokyo Bay. At night the cranes from the numerous factories are lit up, and these have become a feature of tourist cruises. Keihin’s train station is the closest station to the ocean in Japan. The Umi Shibaura station on the Japan Railways' Tsurumi Line is also unique because it is a private station, and only personnel with a Keihin ID or registered guests can get off there.

metalworking world  21

Operator Yasuhiro Uchimura checking the Coromant Capto tool.

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insisted on Sandvik Coromant. So I had no choice but to seriously examine these products first.” Why did Keihin decide to go with Sandvik Coromant? The

first main reason was that the easy tool-change system would help normalize its production process. “With the one-touch change system of Coromant Capto, we can train operators in a short time and know that no matter who makes the tool changes, they will be done accurately and quickly, and individual ability will make little difference,” Sasaki explains. Keihin has installed Coromant Capto C6 with quick tool-change capability on its new NC lathe. Tomoyuki Takahashi of the equipment manufacturing section says cutting tools in the past were held by two bolts, and it was difficult to put the tools in the right place. “When it came to changing tools, the task of adjusting the height took an experienced operator five minutes and a new person 10 minutes,” Takahashi says. “With Coromant Capto, the work now takes less than one minute, and anyone is capable of changing the tools.” The second reason why Keihin chose Sandvik Coromant tools is because of its diverse machining requirements. Large parts such as big valves and shafts are produced on the same lines as small inside parts. “To match the right tools to machine each part requires much time,” Sasaki says. “So the wide assortment of Coromant Capto cutting heads is extremely useful in selecting tools for machining parts of various sizes.” When it comes to long overhang applications, Silent Tools eliminates much of the vibration. “In turning operations of parts that require an overhang of more than seven times the bar diameter, there is no question that we would have to use Sandvik Coromant products,” Sasaki says.

[1] [2]

[3]

[1] Operator Chihiro Yoshida. [2] Eiji Sato, left, chief specialist in the production engineering group of machining and welding department, and Yoshito Nishida, in charge of manufacturing engineering group of the production engineering department. [3] The production cycle times have been reduced by half.

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Kazuto Sasaki, specialist in the production engineering group of the turbine design and assembling department.

company name:

Keihin Product Operations, Power Systems Co, Toshiba Corp Main business: Steam turbines, components for thermal power plants, power generators, hydro power plants and nuclear power plants as well as equipment for new energy systems. Established: 1925 Area: 594,634 square metres Number of employees: 2,300 Overseas production plants:

Eastablished a plant for hydro power components in China in 2005; established a subsidiary, Toshiba JSW, in Chennai, India, in 2008 to create a plant for producing steam and thermal turbines and thermal power generators. It becomes operational in 2013 and is expected to do USD 1 billion in annual sales by 2015.

Aya Miyamoto assembling the Coromant Capto tool.

Yukihiro Ishikawa, the deputy manager of the control equipment manufacturing section, explains what this has meant for production on a larger scale. “Using Coromant Capto we can increase the cutting data to reduce our production cycle time of the control valve shaft by half,” Ishikawa says.

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From 2007, Kentaro Tsuboi had been Sandvik’s Keihin sales representative, and he was the person responsible for creating the strong alliance between the two companies. “In the past five years, we have been able to equip them with a high level of machining technology, which has increased productivity,” he says. “I hope this relationship will continue to deepen.” n

technical insight

A major reason why Keihin turned to Sandvik

Coromant was that it was working increasingly with difficult-to-machine materials. In 2008, as part of a nationally authorized project, Toshiba began developing the 700 C Advanced Ultra Super Critical (A-USC) steam turbine technology. “Keihin has been involved in the overall development of this project from the start and has led the research,” says Toshiyuki Harada, the general manager of Keihin Product Operations. With ordinary thermal power plants, the heat level is 600 C. Raising the temperature and increasing the steam level can increase the thermal efficiency rate by 6 percentage points from the current level of 42 percent. Carbon dioxide emissions are expected to be reduced by 15 percent. Developing this system is challenging because it requires turbines made from a hard, heat-resistant nickelbased alloy. Sandvik Coromant has been assisting the development of the A-USC technology by contributing knowledge about machining the materials to build the turbine. “While we had good relations with Sandvik Coromant in the past because of our work with A-USC, we began visiting the Productivity Center in 2009 to conduct tests on machining hard materials,” says Eiji Sato, chief specialist in the production engineering group of machining and welding department. “The results from using high-pressure coolant and the testing of turn milling methods using the latest tools were very good,” he says. “Recently, by using ceramic grades instead of carbide, we were able to cut down a four-hour machining of a turbine blade to just 30 minutes. This is equal to a metal-removal-rate increase of 20 times. “With difficult-to-machine materials, unless you do actual machining tests, the results are often different from expectations,” he continues. “When we conduct tests ourselves, if the anticipated result does not

Sandvik Coromant has assisted the development of the Advanced Ultra Super Critical steam turbine technology.

occur, we have to start over again, which can result in a loss of one to two weeks. At the Productivity Center there are machines with a high torque, which means we can conduct a wide range of tests.” Shinichi Takamiya, the general manager of the product and application department of Sandvik Coromant, confirms Keihin’s frequent presence. “We have clients from all over the country coming to the centre,” he says, “but last year Keihin clearly made the most visits.” These tests are always accompanied by Akio Fukuzawa from Sandvik Coromant’s technical department. “Sandvik Coromant has a proven track record with advanced knowledge in machining heat-resistant alloys,” Takamiya says. “I am confident of finding solutions for my clients.” Sandvik Coromant’s contribution went beyond Japan. “We had to conduct tests on metal-removal rates and the surface quality of the components,” says Yoshito Nishida, who is in charge of the manufacturing engineering group. “With the wide range of tool options at the Productivity Center, we were able to achieve good results.” To gather even more information on machining heat-resistant alloys, Nishida visited the headquarters of Sandvik Coromant in Sandviken in 2012. “I was able to learn a great deal,” he says. “It was exciting to actually visit the forefront of tool development. I hope to use the test results to develop parts for the A-USC.”

After numerous tests, Keihin found three major reasons to choose Sandvik Coromant: [1] Quick and easy tool change [2] Wide assortment of cutting heads [3] Performance of Silent Tools.

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technology text: Elaine McClarence

image: borgs

Challenge: How to meet the demands of the aerospace industry to machine complex materials?

solution: Opt for orbital drilling to increase productivity and cut costs.

The hole thing the increased use of advanced carbon fibre reinforced

plastic (CFRP) composite materials for aircraft in combination with metal stacks, such as CFRP-titanium and CFRP-aluminium, presents particular challenges for the hole-making operation. Drilling through these materials imposes difficulties in terms of hole tolerance, chip extraction, heat accumulation and lubrication problems as well as burr formation, abrasive tool wear, delamination and splintering in CFRP. Orbital drilling is increasingly being used to overcome the many problems associated with composite materials to improve productivity and lower manufacturing costs. Sandvik Coromant is working closely with Swedish company Novator AB, a world leader in orbital drilling solutions for the aerospace industry, to develop specific tooling solutions. Novator has created the machine concept while Sandvik Coromant has developed end mills to provide a complete solution for a customer’s application. For the aerospace industry, Novator offers a range of portable orbital drilling units together with accessories. The benefit of orbital drilling is that complex drilling and finishing operations can be performed with one tool. In essence, orbital drilling is a machining method where the cutting

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tool moves simultaneously in the axial and horizontal directions to machine an opening larger than the tool diameter, enabling multiple hole sizes with one tool. Solid carbide milling tools designed to fit the needs of orbital drilling perform the cutting operation. Adaptations to the tool geometry combined with different coatings create the optimal tool for each application. Using a smaller tool diameter than the desired hole results in a cooler machining process, thanks to an air gap. With low thrust forces, hole quality is higher. Either dry machining or minimum quantity lubrication, which is important for CFRP-titanium stacks, can be employed. Since dry drilling eliminates the need for liquid coolant, it is environmentally friendly, safer for operators and less costly, as no clean-up is required. The orbital drilling method results in small chips that are easy to evacuate, reducing the risk of scratching surfaces. The need for specific tools for additional tasks is greatly reduced because the hole is machined in one cycle. The result is delamination-free entry and exit of holes, longer tool life, increased process security and higher productivity. develops and tests end-mill solutions for specific customer projects. In developing the end-mills, it is important to minimize the radial forces to

Sandvik Coromant

CFRP is used for fuselage panels, frames, wings, wing box, window frames, clips and doors.

in half the time avoid bending the tool, and the method produces a hole with the correct dimension, no burr or a very small one, and small chips that are easy to evacuate. Cost per hole is dramatically reduced since the lifetime of each tool is much longer and the need for different types of tools is reduced. The cutting edge has only partial and intermittent contact with the surface, which combined with the air cooling avoids overheating, thus prolonging the lifetime of the tool. As one tool can be used to produce a finished hole, and to machine variable hole sizes, tool inventory is reduced dramatically. The total production lead times are often drastically reduced since the assembly can be performed in one operation. Some of the latest aircraft use more than 50 percent CFRP, so there is a need for a cost-effective and secure process that meets the needs of such difficult materials. n

{ 3 mm }

With orbital drilling the need for specific tools for additional tasks is reduced since the method can be used to produce the hole in one cycle.

{ 30 mm }

The orbital drilling process is used for holes with a diameter of 3 to 30 mm, with the main area of use in the 10 to 25 mm range.

Summary As the aerospace industry increases its use of advanced composite materials, challenges arise in carrying out machining operations. Sandvik is cooperating with leading orbital drilling manufacturer Novator to develop specific tooling solutions for drilling holes, one of the most difficult operations to carry out accurately and cost-effectively in composites and composite metal stacks.

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text: Tomas Lundin   photo: christoph papsch

the Melody Maker

Homburg, Germany. For production manager Rainer Lauffer,

responsible for tool technology, tool planning and tool management CRIN at German automotive subcontractor Bosch’s plant in Homburg, customers’ constantly changing specifications for contact surfaces of rail injectors pose a real challenge, placing great demands on flexibility and process reliability. But a new milling solution from Sandvik Coromant has increased efficiency in the process by more than 35 percent.

“The Homburg plant is the main manufacturer of injectors for common rail diesel engines, so everyone is dancing to the melody of the primary plant.”

Bosch manufactures a wide range of products, from spark plugs to power tools and kitchen appliances. You can learn more about the company in the iPad version of Metalworking World.

Bosch press gallery

German industrialist

Robert Bosch founded Robert Bosch GmbH in 1886 in Stuttgart. Today Bosch is the world’s largest subcontractor to the auto industry, with more than 302,000 employees and sales of 51.5 billion euros in 2011. Every year 4.2 billion euros is invested in research and development. In addition to parts for the auto industry, Bosch manufactures everything from electric tools and white goods to turnkey solar power stations.

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Injectors for diesel motors are a bestseller for the worldleading automotive subcontractor Bosch. More than 3 million units per year are sold to truck manufacturers such as MAN, Deutz, IVECO, Cummins and others. “The problem is that each manufacturer has its own philosophy and methods for mounting the injectors in the engine,” explains Rainer Lauffer at Bosch’s factory in Homburg in southwest Germany. Lauffer is the person who decides which tools Bosch uses in its injector factories around the world that produce common rail engines for commercial vehicles. With nearly 40 customers, it is critical for Bosch to be able to quickly adapt the contact surface of injectors to customer specifications. “We are contact surface fanatics,” says Lauffer. “It is incredibly important to us.” For many years all injector manufacturing took place at Bosch, but when production was partly outsourced to subcontractors, the turning process disappeared and a long partnership between Sandvik Coromant and the Bosch factory in Homburg ended. A new phase began in October 2009 when Harald Rohn, the Sandvik Coromant customer manager in south-western Germany, contacted Lauffer to suggest a new method for machining contact surfaces. Instead of using cemented carbide tools, which wear out quickly and are expensive, Rohn suggested using CoroMill 490 and 390 milling systems with a new light cutting geometry. “Sandvik Coromant was in the right place at the right time,” recalls Lauffer, who agreed to carry out a long series of tests in 2010 before deciding to change over to the new technology. “The result was that we saved both time and money,” he says. “On average we have cut takt

time by five to 10 seconds, and in addition we have drastically reduced our tooling costs, leading altogether to an efficiency improvement of 35.6 percent for this specific process. Since the introduction of the new system we have saved a six-figure euro amount that way.” The Sandvik Coromant solution is now the standard used in Bosch’s injector plants for commercial vehicles around the world, including in Wuxi in China, Charleston in the US state of South Carolina and Curitiba in Brazil. “The Homburg plant is the main manufacturer of injectors for common rail diesel engines, so everyone is dancing to the melody of the primary plant,” Lauffer says. “The tools I decide to work with here have to be used by the subsidiaries overseas. This gives us the advantage of benchmarking even over large distances. But only for two years. Then they can start to produce their own solutions and compete with our concept.” In other words, Sandvik Coromant has two years to show the benefits of its solution. “We have opened the door to a giant market,” says Rohn. “Now we have to go further and create new opportunities.” South-western Germany is the home of many world-leading car manufacturers and manufacturing companies. But the technical solution itself is not the sole critical factor, says Lauffer. It is at least as important to have service and continual optimization. “No matter how good a technical solution of a medium-sized German company is, it wouldn’t work without global technical support,” he explains. “Therefore we need a partner like Sandvik Coromant, an international company with specialists in place worldwide. Globally, there are only a handful of companies like that.” n

In its Homburg plant, Bosch manufactures injectors for common rail diesel engines using the Sandvik Coromant CoroMill 490 and 390. More than 6,000 people work at the factory. Sandvik Coromant tools are used to mill the contact surfaces for an extremely precise mounting of the injectors. Every customer has its own solutions and individual specifications. The Sandvik Coromant CoroMill 490 and 390 can be used in individual manufacturing centres as well as in large-scale series manufacturing.

“Bosch must ally itself with companies like Sandvik Coromant, which can have its own specialists quickly on site anywhere in the world,” says Bosch’s Rainer Lauffer. Here he confers with Harald Rohn, right. Rainer Lauffer, tooling manager, Bosch, Homburg

technology text: turkka kulmala

image: borgs

Challenge: How to decide between a gun drill and a regular solid-carbide drill for deep holes?

solution: Prioritize the main needs, looking at the demands in terms of hole quality, depth and machine tool.

CoroDrill 428 CoroDrill 861

Gun or solid for deep holes? In the 1/2013 issue of Metalworking

World, we provided an introduction to the various deep hole machining technologies. This article aims to provide insight into gun drilling and its new challenger: advanced solid carbide twist drills. Most deep-drilling operations involve hole length/depth ratios of up to 30 x Ø; for many of these cases advanced solid-carbide drills now offer a viable option. The main benefit of a solid-carbide deep hole drill such as the CoroDrill 861 is the combination of high performance, good production economy and relatively simple demands on the machine tool, the setup and the coolant system. This makes it applicable for both mass-production environments and one-off jobs. The available range of

geometries and grades allows a wide range of workpiece materials. A particular benefit of CoroDrill 861 is its ACM (advanced chip management) flute geometry: The shape and helix angle of the chip flutes are optimized for effective chip formation and removal without a peck cycle. So where do we use a gun drill? A modern gun drill, such as the CoroDrill 428, is essentially a dedicated tool for mass production and extremely deep holes, up to 100 x Ø, and small diameters down to 1 millimetre (0.04 inch). It offers high productivity and close tolerances but requires coolant pressure capacity of around 80 bar (1,160 psi) and more demands on the machine tool and holders. Workpiece materials are usually restricted to steel, cast iron and aluminium. n Want to know more? www.drillingknowledge.com or check out Metalworking World 1/2013, page 14.

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Available for cross holes and narrow hole tolerances.

For conventional drilling, cross holes and angled faces.

Summary New advanced solid-carbide drills offer equal or superior performance and production economy with greater flexibility. The CoroDrill 861 for deep-hole applications reduces investments related to the machine tool and setup times, reducing the hole cost of these demanding applications and demonstrating that it is the solution for the future.

Text: Johan Rapp   papercuts: fideli sundqvist/agent molly&co.

Making business fly

christer jansson

Inspiration. When corporate social responsibility, or CSR, first

appeared in business lingo, few people understood its significance. Today, however, most companies see it as a key success factor.

nnn a few years ago, during a trip to remote and impoverished villages in Argentina, Blake Mycoskie got the idea to start a shoe business. For every pair of shoes he sold, he donated a pair to a poor child. By 2012 his Los Angeles-based company, TOMS, was flourishing and had donated 2 million pairs of shoes. Mycoskie’s business model sheds light on a concept that builds on the fundamental truth that companies are more than profit-makers for their shareholders. They also have environmental and social obligations and can proactively make the world a better place. This concept, known as corporate social responsibility, or CSR, is taking an increasingly important role in companies’ business plans, not only in terms of their own brands, but also in terms of attracting investors and recruiting talent. In short, CSR is a key success factor. “In recent years business journalists, who traditionally focus on company growth and economic performance, have been increasingly interested in how companies deal with CSR and sustainability,” says Carina Silberg, senior CSR consultant at Swedish communications expert Hallvarsson

3 questions to

anna vikström Persson

In 2012, for the first time, Sandvik upgraded CSR issues to the Group level. Executive Vice President and Head of Human Resources Anna Vikström Persson was put in charge.

Q: Why is it important for Sandvik to develop CSR? “CSR is an important area for Sandvik in order to stay even more competitive. I think all of us can feel the importance of the contribution to society, business and the environment around us.” Q: Why now? Doesn’t Sandvik have a history of taking environmental and social responsibility? “Yes, we are doing and have been doing many good things within CSR across the Group and have made significant contributions. One area of improvement for us is to communicate what we actually do, both internally and externally, and closely follow up in the Group Executive Management.” Q: What are your CSR plans? “We are in the process of recruiting a dedicated Head of CSR who will work out a plan together with the business, making sure we succeed in this area.”

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& Halvarsson. It is no longer sufficient to produce an annual environmental report and policy statements. “Journalists want continual news with fresh, specific information that is related to clear-cut goals,” she says. Companies need to be transparent and forthright with all aspects of their operations, even with regard to their suppliers. If workers die because of a lack of emergency exits when a textile factory is ablaze in Bangladesh, or if a telecom company allows its suppliers to pay below minimum wages in China, it will taint their brands. Attempts to evade the blame will make matters worse, PR and branding consultants say. CSR can be described as a corporate initiative to assess and

take responsibility for a company’s effect on the environment and its impact on social welfare. It is a voluntary action that respects and goes beyond environmental laws and health and safety regulations to demonstrate a high degree of social responsibility. The concept emerged at the beginning of the 1970s as globalization and environmental awareness picked up speed. Recent reports of faster-than-expected global warming and other environmental threats caused by human activity have fuelled the trend. The US magazine Newsweek performs an annual ranking of the 500 biggest companies in the world and how green they are. The comparison includes environmental footprints, management policies, programmes, initiatives, controversies and reporting practices. In 2012, the list was topped by Brazilian bank Santander Brasil. The runner-up was the Indian IT company Wipro. The first 50 spots on the list were heavily dominated by IT and financial companies. Is this a sign that it is more difficult for manufacturing companies and other sectors to be environmentally and socially responsible? “No,” says Joel Makower, author of several books on CSR and chairman of the environmental consultancy group GreenBiz. Makower points to IBM as an example. In addition to its IT operations, IBM manufactures microprocessors and a wide range of other hardware and is big in research. “IBM is fourth on the list, which shows that traditionally dirty industries and leading-edge service-sector businesses can coexist with the same high level of corporate responsibility,” he says. “In many ways, IBM has set the bar for what is achievable.”

A benefit of the increased attention on CSR is that

sustainability and environmental challenges are becoming sources of inspiration for innovators. Günther Seliger, the author of Sustainability in Manufacturing and a professor

5

Five steps to successful CSR: What steps should a company take to develop its CSR? What are the most important factors to consider? [1] Map out how your company affects its environment, employees, suppliers and other stakeholders. [2] Order your priorities. A company cannot do everything. What are the most important issues for your company? How can you make the biggest difference? [3] Create stretch goals — ambitious, even audacious goals, not just to do “less bad” but to significantly reduce or eliminate impacts over the long term. Make goals that challenge your organization. [4] Communicate your goals, achievements and shortcomings regularly to stakeholders. [5] Be sure to put your heart into your CSR activities. Sources: Carina Silberg, senior CSR consultant at Hallvarsson & Halvarsson, and Joel Makower, author and consultant in sustainability.

at the Technical University of Berlin, says industries are increasingly focusing their innovative efforts on how to recycle their products and make them with renewable materials. “Steel manufacturing accounts for a substantial part of global emissions,” says Seliger. “That is one reason why efforts are being made to replace steel with bamboo in modern building construction.” But often, he says, old business models stand in the way of sustainable solutions. “We need to change our paradigm of success, from selling volumes of products to selling functionality with as few resources as possible,” he says. Corporations that take CSR and sustainability seriously

are deemed the future winners. “Companies that truly understand their impacts, have a comprehensive plan in place to address them and are talking about their progress – and lack thereof – honestly

and openly will be well positioned to achieve the benefits of sustainability: cost reductions, improved quality, reduced risk, innovation, and attracting and retaining talent and goodwill among customers and stakeholders,” Makower says. Add to this the importance of ambitious and audacious CSR goals. Unilever’s Sustainable Living Plan, for example, aims at doubling business turnover while halving its environmental impact across the value chain by 2020. Mycoskie of TOMS has taken CSR a step further. TOMS has now broadened its donation practices to include the sale of sunglasses. For each pair sold, a person in a poor country gets eye treatment, such as prescription glasses or eye surgery. The belief that business and good deeds can go hand in hand is spelled out on the company’s website: “At TOMS, we believe we can improve people’s lives through business.” n

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technology text: turkka kulmala

illustration: kjell thorsson

Challenge: How can the oil and gas industry cope with production challenges in harsh deep-sea environments?

solution: More advanced materials and design, including state-of-the-art tooling and know-how.

Cutting for the deep sea oil and gas will remain a major source of energy for years to come, but as the production from

existing fields drops – by more than two-thirds by 2035 – it will be necessary to cope with harsher production environments in deep-water areas. This sets higher quality requirements for the equipment and presses for design changes and increasing use of advanced materials, which in turn necessitates state-of-the-art machining processes. Sandvik Coromant will serve the industry with advanced tooling and know-how.

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Control unit collar

This long tubular stainless steel component houses the advanced electronic equipment of the drilling system. For the machining process, Sandvik Coromant offers new deep-hole drilling and counterboring solutions to provide safe chip evacuation, a secure process and close tolerances.

Valves

Tubing hanger

Oil and gas system valves come in many different sizes and materials. Typical challenges include interrupted cut, a long overhang, chip evacuation and fixturing. Sandvik Coromant provides high consistency and productivity with innovative solutions such as CoroMill milling cutters with anti-vibration adaptors and the CoroTurn SL system for roughing and finishing.

A tubing hanger supports the top end of a tubing string. The machining challenges include a long overhang, uneven stock, interrupted cutting and vibration. Sandvik Coromant provides a secure and productive process with milling, boring and turning solutions using Silent Tools anti-vibration technology.

Spool body

The purpose of a spool body is to control the flow from the wellbore. These stainless steel and Inconel components pose fixturing and productivity problems in turning operations with a long overhang. Again, the Silent Tools boring bar is a key solution.

Summary Oil and gas production in deep-sea environments will pose extreme demands on the equipment and consequently also on metalcutting tools. Sandvik Coromant will provide secure and productive machining solutions for these demanding components from stainless steel and heat-resistant super alloys.

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the final note

text: henrik emilson

image: getty images

Paint the town

How many white roofs can you spot?

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New York City, NY, USA. How

can a little white paint on a roof help lower CO2 emissions? It’s easy: The paint reflects solar radiation and can make the surface of the roof 43 percent cooler than a typical black roof. This means that people living or working in the building can turn their air conditioners down during hot summer days, thus saving energy and reducing emissions. In New York City, groups such as the White Roof Project and Cool Roofs have been painting the city’s roofs white for the past couple of years. The volunteer project aims to cover a million square feet a year. Although sceptics say the reflected sunrays from white roofs can actually increase global warming when bounced back into the atmosphere, supporters estimate that painting urban roof surfaces white in areas where air conditioning is in heavy use could offset the carbon emissions of all 600 million of the world’s cars indefinitely.

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Print n:o C-5000:568 IND/01 © AB Sandvik Coromant 2013:2

Your vital machine part A new machine is a major investment – it should be earning for you right from the start. Our dedicated teams will help you ensure that it is tooled up, optimized and running effectively from day one to minimize your payback time.

Take advantage of the most vital machine part and see how much you could save with our return on investment calculator. Scan the QR code or visit www.sandvik.coromant.com/mi