AUTOMATING GRINDING PROCESSES

HOW SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED BUSINESSES BENEFIT.

For several years now, the traditional abrasives manufacturer Klingspor has been cooperating with the pioneer of automated grinding processes SHL AG. Together, they now want to further advance the automation of industrial grinding processes. An important element in this is the elimination of prejudices.

It is still widely believed that automation is only interesting or lucrative for large companies. But small and medium-sized companies can also benefit from it. Thomas Magnussen, Sales and Marketing Manager at SHL knows why: "Smaller industrial companies with employee numbers between 10 and 100 often face the challenge of finding suitable employees for their production processes." This involves both trained specialists and in the workforce in general. "We often encounter companies that see their future existence threatened because they simply can't find suitable personnel to keep their manufacturing processes running constantly," he continues. This is where automation can make an important contribution and save companies from going out of business.

Automated to the perfect surface

From feasibility analysis and project planning to service contracts, SHL acts as a full-service provider. "When we receive inquiries from companies, we first look at the process and make a rough project design. This also already contains a rough layout plan as well as an approximate cost and time estimate," Magnussen continues. "If the customer agrees with our proposal, it's a matter of mapping and optimizing the grinding or polishing process by machine." This is where Klingspor comes in. The abrasives manufacturer looks back on nearly 130 years of experience and offers almost all tools for automated grinding in its extensive portfolio. Ibraim Lapa, Head of Business Development at Klingspor, is convinced: "SHL will always find what it needs in the Klingspor range to offer its customers the best possible sanding results. Whether sanding belts, sheets, brushes or discs: The Klingspor range is so broad that you can draw from the full here!"

To live up to the slogan "Together for perfect surfaces," the extensive expertise of Klingspor's product experts naturally comes into play. "Our technicians and product experts are naturally involved in the automation of the grinding processes from the very beginning. In this way, processes that were previously manual can be automated and optimized at the same time," Lapa continues to emphasize.

Three times "yes" to automation

But for whom is automation a real alternative? Companies can easily answer this question for themselves: "We have identified three questions for ourselves:

Is labor or skilled labor shortage an issue for you?
Do you have series production?
Do you find repetitive, manual grinding processes in your manufacturing?
If the customer answers 'yes' to all three questions, automating their processes is definitely worth considering," explains SHL's Magnussen.