The machine tool manufacturer Witzig & Frank — based in Offenburg, Germany, and a member of the international Fair Friend Group — has won an order worth 15 million euros for seven of its Turmat rotary-transfer machines.
These have been bought by the Chinese company Gree Electric Appliances Inc, which is the world’s largest manufacturer of air conditioners.
Based in the city of Zhuhai in Guangdong province, Gree is an example of the rise of Chinese industry. Formed in 1991, the company currently produces about 18 million units annually and employs 23,000 people; it has production facilities in China, Pakistan, Vietnam and Brazil.
Each of the Turmat rotary-transfer machines has 10 stations, at which two parts are processed or loaded/unloaded simultaneously; with seven machines, that equates to one finished part every 1.2sec. The raw parts are fed to the machines with the help of automated guided transport systems and loaded in the correct position via camera-supported robots. The finished parts are removed by means of conveyor belts.
Each 10-station machine has more than 60 NC axes and weighs some 40 tonnes. The time-frame for the project is very tight, with the building of the first machine starting last month and all of them due to be delivered by September. The picture shows Gree engineers visiting the Offenburg plant before placing the order.