Several factors spoke in favour of a retrofit package, which was tantamount to subjecting the FTZ 40 to a thorough overhaul. The outdated machine still revealed excellent and substantial engineering qualities.

As far as Komatsu was concerned, the production technology integrated into the FTZ 40 was worth preserving. Both the machining accuracy and stock removal rate were highly efficient. Nevertheless down times, wear and outmoded control and safety technology had led to increasing problems occurring. «This having an impact on the arterial lifeline of our enterprise» as Ralf Petzold emphasised. Material flow and production layout had undergone various processes of optimisation over the years so that the company was reluctant to make any changes in that respect. The machine bed was also capable of being reused. The alternative would have been to purchase a new machine. What spoke against this option was the high re-placement value. The essence of the old machine was worth preserving so that a fundamental decision was made to opt for a retrofit. Provided one has found the right partner to work with, a retrofit project can be economically attractive. After carrying out an intensive market search and competitive analysis, the company decided to call on the service organization of Starrag Group to tackle the job. «Rating of the evaluation matrix and personal impressions finally tipped the scales in favour of Starrag Group», admitted Ralf Petzold. In Starrag Group the company had identified its own philosophy: A solid enterprise that would vouch for what it promised.

That’s not all: the Starrag Group Service Unit has access to the full range of components traded in by the new machine business enterprise. This comprehensive retrofit range adapted to meet customers’ individual needs accounts for a vast share of the aggregate turnover generated by the company. Ralf Petzold concludes: «This pooled cooperation alliance was successful all along and we are now well equipped for the future». The results speak for themselves: Proceeding from an ultra steep start-up ramp, the retrofitted machine attains a 98% level of availability. Performance even exceeds that when the machine was first delivered to the works and accuracy values are fully compatible with those of a new machine.

The immediate impression gained when approaching the machine in its new enclosure is that a major aspect of the upgrading process lay in updating technical safety standards. Achieving a high level of safety was vital in order to protect the operating personnel from hazardous situations without imposing restrictions on work. This included a new mobile portal lifting platform. A special feature of this concept is a fall arrester designed to facilitate safe access to even higher work pieces from the cockpit. Illumination of the work area is another distinct improvement from the angle of visual control and thus too, overall safety. A further important issue relating to the retrofit lay in modernising the system technology. The previous tool manipulator had become prone to failure and was replaced by a high-tech industrial robot integrating a whole number of advantages: Apart from essentially more straightforward features of design, the new robot system is capable of reacting more quickly, responding as it does with all necessary degrees of freedom not hampered by set axes and traversing limitations. This results in shorter toolchanging times. One of the fundamental aspects in overhauling the outdated machine lay in testing and replacing essential components. Starrag Group is ideally equipped in that respect, having access to in-plant production and design components, including all original drawings, and thus capable of exemplifying more or less every in-house task needed to be accomplished. This ensures high standards of quality combined with reduced turnaround times. The principal components, including drive units such as the motor, gear mechanism and milling head, were overhauled and subjected to a fatigue testing process using Starrag Group in-house test rigs. Whenever new components are required, Starrag Group can help itself, so to speak, within the Starrag Group and come up with complete solutions derived from other machine-tool segments. The meanwhile obsolete electronic system was likewise replaced by modern units of equipment. All these measures contribute essentially to enhancing operational reliability, thus ensuring process sustainability on this industrial system.
 

«You never can tell what you’re going to find when opening a machine», remarks the Works Manager, Ralf Petzold, and adds: «Then you have a list of contingencies to sort out of what needs to be done first». This is critical issue since the customer and service provider sometimes tend to set different priorities.

At this point, the Works Manager pays tribute to the extremely constructive cooperation with the Starrag Group Service Unit. The know-how possessed by Starrag Group and the staff of the Komatsu maintenance group with its vast store of experience accumulated over a period of many years has always succeeded in bringing about amicable solutions. Demands imposed on quality and precision were particularly fastidious. This led to highly complicated repairs being carried out by the Starrag Group Service Unit such as thermal metallization of bearing seats followed by spindling and restoration of the hydrostatic system on the Y- and Z axes. Despite extensive project planning measures and a detailed catalogue of specifications elaborated by Starrag Group with highly committed project managers in accordance with the specific needs of the customer, wear at certain points is unexpected. In the project planning phase it goes without saying that Starrag Group conforms to customer requirements while also drawing attention to the potential offered when retrofitting a machine in the effort to achieve optimum performance characteristics. Hand-inhand with the customer, the scope of performance is then defined and the duration of the project assessed. After all, the transitional phase needs to be bridged over by outside enterprises. As far as Komatsu was concerned, the logistic challenge was certainly worth the effort.