Stauff Group, the global manufacturer and supplier of precision fluid power products for mechanical, industrial and plant engineering, has signed a five-year strategic partnership with UK-based Unison Ltd, the leading name in all-electric tube bending machinery.

Unison has supplied Stauff’s global facilities with Unison Breeze all-electric tube manipulation machines for more than ten years and the strategic partnership takes the relationship between the two businesses to a new level.

Based around a specially created global machine tool strategy, the strategic partnership will enable all Stauff Group companies worldwide to benefit from dedicated in-country support, assistance with product development and technical capability.

It will also provide Stauff with enhanced machine tool warranties, an outstanding global service with guaranteed response times, planned preventive maintenance (PPM) and on-site training for users of Unison machines.

Steve Chambers, Unison Ltd’s global account manager for Stauff, said: “We were delighted to be invited to put together a strategic partnership agreement for consideration by Stauff, and for our proposals to be accepted.

“Stauff is a major customer of ours and it has been a pleasure to support their tube manipulation requirements with tailored solutions over the years.”

Ambitious green agenda
Ken Cleal, head of production at Stauff UK and Stauff global production manager for tube and tube manipulation, said: “We are pleased to have signed this significant agreement with Unison. Not only does it provide us with ongoing certainty regarding tube bending machine tool supply, service and support, but it also helps fulfill our ambitious green agenda.

“With dedicated Unison support and spares in each country in which we operate, our global carbon footprint will significantly reduce. Additionally, by using Unison’s all-electric, energy efficient tube bending machines, we also remain committed to embracing clean manufacturing technologies.

“We have always received the highest standards of service and support from Unison Ltd and look forward to further strengthening our relationship with them as we move forward.”

Stauff currently has thirteen Unison machines in daily use across its UK-based and overseas operations. These include 50 and 100mm (maximum tube diameter) multi-stack Breeze machines, 16 and 35mm left- and right-hand pipe bending machines, 50mm ‘pinball style’ pipe bending machines and Unison EV Bend 1000 16 mm OD manual CNC benders.

Applications include components and systems for construction, agriculture, arboriculture, oil and gas extraction and processing, food and chemical processing, mining, marine and the rail industry.

All Unison Breeze tube bending machines offer rapid set-up, fast tooling changes, exceptional power, rigid mechanical design, and all-electric control for right-first-time repeat sub-contract work, or immediately after producing a single trial part.

These are attributes that Unison believes make its Breeze models the ultimate tube manipulation machines for businesses specialising in small batch production runs. Unison’s recently upgraded Unibend software has equipped its Breeze machines with cycle time speed improvements in the region of 25% compared to earlier versions.

Available as a retrofit option for Unison Breeze machines that are equipped with the company’s latest Unibend control system, the software also incorporates new teach routine and simulation features.