Gear Machines
STUDER focuses on its strengths
With its new image campaign, STUDER is focusing on its motto “The Art of Grinding.” and talking about what the company does best: The art of grinding!
The health crisis around COVID-19, the brexit, global trends towards trade restrictions and customs barriers, the structural change in the automotive industry: 2020 is and stays a challenging year. “Testing”, is the word used by Sandro Bottazzo, Managing Director of Fitz Studer AG and as CSO responsible for Sales, Customer Care and Marketing. And in a situation like this a company should focus on its own strengths, Bottazzo is convinced. “We shouldn’t worry about what we can’t do, but we should talk about our strengths.”
Where do these strengths lie? “We have unparalleled knowledge in and around grinding”, says Sandro Bottazzo. “Grinding is more than just machining.” You have to master all the parameters. If you are in control of all those, then you have mastered “The Art of Grinding.”. “Nothing says more about us than our company motto”, says Bottazzo. That’s why STUDER is refocusing on this motto. “Grinding is an art, which not everyone can master with this degree of precision and quality”, explains the CSO.
Sandro Bottazzo, CSO, in front of the painted S31.
The Art of Grinding
The new campaign also refers to the world of art. At the Motion Meeting in February 2020 STUDER presented an S31 artistically designed by Swiss artist Ata Bozaci, which will also be shown at future trade fairs and exhibitions. Ads and mailings have also been co-designed by Bozaci. “In recent years we have concentrated increasingly on product promotion and are now consciously pursuing an image campaign, despite the current difficult economic environment”, explains Bottazzo. Ata Bozaci has designed key visuals for STUDER’s three fundamental values: Quality, precision and passion.
The three key visuals at a glance.
They want to make an impression with this campaign, explains Bottazzo, and show courage. Even in these challenging times. This courage naturally also stems from the company’s successful history, spanning more than 100 years. But they don’t want to rest on past successes, emphasizes the CSO. A large number of projects and investments have already been pushed forward, with the aim of further improving machines and services, as well as company processes and communication.
Machines, services and company processes
Fritz Studer AG is continuing to invest in its Steffisburg location: Three highly automated, networked 5-axis milling centers are now in full serial production and are producing more than 400 different, complex machine components, partially unmanned. Consistent use of the latest machine, tool and process technology enables the highest precision requirements to be fulfilled efficiently and in the best quality. In Customer Care customer service is being further optimized, by incorporating a third tier between the Regional Service Manager (First Level Support) and Technical Support (Third Level Support), among other things. This so-called Solutions Support (Second Level Support) enables even faster and better service.
Internally, the PuLs® initiative is being expanded and further intensified in collaboration with the other brands of the UNITED GRINDING Group. All STUDER employees also have the opportunity to engage in open exchanges with the STUDER management in so-called Town Hall Meetings. “These meetings began in 2019 and had a fantastic reception”, emphasizes Sandro Bottazzo. “This is the beginning of a new and even more open culture of discussion.”
Quality at STUDER
“Quality means fulfilling customers’ expectations in every respect. This quality is defined by the requirements placed by a STUDER customer on our products and services”, explains Stephan Stoll, COO of Fritz Studer AG. STUDER measures quality not only on the basis of quality costs, measuring documents and checkpoints, but also places a strong focus on customer satisfaction and the number of repeat orders. “To ensure the required quality, every single employee must be aware of the overall concept of quality, and each one must ask themselves, where is my contribution to this”, says Stephan Stoll. Bottazzo adds: “We have been measuring the satisfaction and recommendation rate of our customers for years using the Net Promoter Score®. This is an important tool for receiving permanent feedback”. The results are analysed and interpreted monthly at STUDER in order to promptly define and implement improvement measures.
Precision at STUDER
“Precision means the quality that a workpiece needs to deliver at the right time, in the right place. This doesn’t just relate to fundamental parameters such as dimensional stability and the required form and position tolerances. All types of environmental influences must also be taken into account: Coolant, sensor technology, vibrations, climatic conditions, as well as the precision of bought-in parts”, explains Alexander Heiter, Head of Mechanical Production. In mechanical production work is carried out in a range of less than one micrometer, or a thousandth of a millimeter – but interestingly, the highest precision is still produced by people and not by machines. “During the scraping process highly experienced employees work components to the required flatness and angularity using scrapers. No machine can do this so precisely”, explains Heiter.
Passion at STUDER
“Passion has to do with persistence. You don’t instantly applaud the first result, but look to see how it could work even better. Passion is connected to the demand on quality of work. I believe this is central for STUDER. If 100 percent of all employees can agree on one thing, then that’s quality. With our corporate and lean philosophy, PuLs®, we are constantly optimizing our processes”, says Daniel Renfer, Head of PuLs® Lean Management at Fritz Studer AG. Renfer see another sign of the passion in the company in the employees’ huge loyalty towards their employer, and vice-versa. “It is quite remarkable that many employees have been with us a very long time. And passion also means that when the going gets tough, when push comes to shove, you stand together and do much more than the average”, adds Renfer. Bottazzo concludes: “We have some employees who have been working in the company for over 35, even 40 years or more. And many even did their apprenticeship at STUDER. Like Daniel Renfer, for example, and me too!”.
Geometric shapes present an overall picture
The Swiss artist Ata Bozaci designed the imagery for “The Art of Grinding.”
The suggestion of an eye comprising shapes in different blue tones, components drawn with a fine line, as if you could look through the metallic outer skin: The artist Ata Bozaci has designed the STUDER S31 with vivid imagination. “We developed the concept so that the observer perceives the machine differently from different distances. We have integrated many typical parts and products from STUDER without going over the top”, the artist describes his work.
Bozaci, whose artistic home is graffiti and street art, has developed a very individual style. In many of his works you only see geometrical shapes up close, and perceive the whole picture only from a distance. He also does a lot of work in the public domain. He designed the Swissmill-Tower in Zürich, his largest wall mural is 27 meters high and can be seen in Shenzehn, China: a baby with a smartphone.
Bozaci’s implementation of the key visuals for STUDER’s fundamental values is very striking: An eye stands for precision, a hand for quality and a heart for passion. “The key visuals were a graphic client work, intended for an ad campaign with different applications”, says the artist.
A family member of the Gleason Corporation, Gleason Works India, turns 25 on November 6th, 2021.
Gleason Works India commemorates its 25th year of operations on November 6th, 2021. To recognize this important milestone, Gleason Works India will hold a celebration for current and former employees on November 8th, 2021. Long-time employees who have been with Gleason Works India for more than 20 years will be honored for their service to the company during this special event.
Gleason Works India Pvt. Ltd. was founded on April 01, 1996, as a wholly-owned subsidiary to provide sales, service and local manufacturing capabilities within the Indian market. The start of operations was dedicated formally on November 06, 1996 by the former President of Gleason Corporation, Mr. James S. Gleason. Over the years, Gleason Work India’s product program has been extended to include a wide array of bevel and cylindrical gear tooling products, gear machine production, as well as machine remanufacturing activities.
A significant milestone was achieved in 2017 with the completion and inauguration of a modern, 65,000 square foot factory, including activities for tool manufacturing, services and machine assembly. With its own solar panel roof installation, the plant produces more than 70% of its daily energy requirements, thus helping to achieve LEED certification in 2018. The new facility puts design, manufacturing and testing under one roof, giving Gleason India a self-sufficient operation to help meet domestic and global demand for Gleason products such as the 200SVP Gear Shaving Machine and customer-specific tooling solutions.
Commenting on this milestone, John J. Perrotti, President and Chief Executive Officer of Gleason Corporation, said “Gleason Works India is today considered one of India’s most modern and productive sources for a wide array of gear manufacturing solutions. Congratulations to the Gleason Works India team for this great achievement and we look forward to further growth and success together.”
April 3, 2021 marks the 125th Anniversary of Gleason-Hurth Tooling GmbH, and a proud legacy of innovation dating back to when mechanic and tinkerer Carl Hurth founded his first workshop on Munich’s Viktualienmarkt. Today, Gleason-Hurth Tooling GmbH is an important part of global leader Gleason Corporation, producing advanced workholding and precision tools for the world’s gear manufacturing industries.
Gleason-Hurth Tooling GmbH, Munich, Germany, celebrated its 125th Anniversary on April 3, 2021, a significant milestone in its rise from a small workshop on Munich’s Viktualienmarkt, to one of the world’s leading innovators in the production of high-precision workholding and tools for the global gear manufacturing industry. Products today include some of the most advanced and productive shaving cutters, chamfering and deburring tools, master gears and setting masters, honing and grinding tools, as well as diamond-plated dressing tools for a wide range of applications.
Most recently, the company’s plant facilities on Moosacher Strasse in Munich Milbertshofen have been completely renovated with state-of-the-art equipment and extremely efficient workflow and quality processes. In addition to the ultra-modern, digitized production, the newly designed office environment offers employees all the amenities and benefits of a creative and flexible working environment.
Company officials credit much of Gleason-Hurth Tooling GmbH’s continued success to its workforce of skilled and dedicated employees. The company continues to train its own apprentices to hand down critical skills and methodologies to the next generation of coworkers. Indeed, a large part of the company’s workforce today completed their apprenticeships at the Gleason-Hurth Tooling GmbH plant. The facility also serves as a training center for the global Gleason Academy with an extensive program of training, seminars and webinars.
Today, Gleason-Hurth Tooling GmbH is poised for significant future growth, and well positioned to meet fast-growing demand for innovative new drive concepts for electric vehicles, and other emerging products using increasingly complex, high quality gears.
Historical Background
In 1896, mechanic and tinkerer Carl Hurth founds his first workshop in a backyard at Frauenstraße 19 on Munich’s Viktualienmarkt. The development of his own gear hobbing machine in 1904 marks the beginning of his specialization in gear manufacturing. The business expands to such an extent that in 1911 the Carl Hurth Maschinen- und Zahnradfabrik is built at Holzstrasse 19 in the Glockenbach district of Munich.
In the 1920s, the son of the company founder, Hans Hurth, takes up the manufacture of motorcycle gearboxes. The company now employs 800 people. In 1935, cylindrical gear shaving is added to the manufacturing program. In the following decades more than 100,000 shaving cutters are produced and shipped globally.
From 1958 on, machine tool building activities continue in Moosacher Strasse in Munich Milbertshofen. Six years later the plunge shaving process is developed, which – to this day – is one of the most widely used processes for gear finishing. Supported by the rapid economic growth of the time, employment in Munich increases to over 3,000 people in 1969. In 1983, the two Munich plants in Moosacher Strasse are merged to bundle activities related to gear technology. Hurth achieves world fame with transmissions for tractors, marine applications and rail traffic, including those for Munich’s subway and commuter trains. With the introduction of “Power Honing” in 1993, Hurth again heralds a trend-setting development in hard finishing of cylindrical gears.
In 1995, the Machines and Tools division is acquired by Gleason Corporation. Gleason leverages the long-standing relationships of both companies to drive the group’s expansion in the global marketplace. The company now operates as Gleason-Hurth Machinery and Tools. Within the Gleason group, the Munich site becomes the competence center for fine finishing of cylindrical gears. The product range of gear manufacturing machines includes chamfering, shaving, honing and threaded wheel grinding machines as well as corresponding automation, workholding and tools. With the reorganization of Gleason’s European Competence Centers in 2015, machine building is relocated to the Gleason-Pfauter facility in Ludwigsburg. The Munich site now concentrates on workholding systems and gear manufacturing tools and operates as Gleason-Hurth Tooling GmbH.
While the company will celebrate its 125th anniversary on April 3, 2021, the planned open house and company celebration will be postponed to 2022 due to the pandemic. Check Gleason’s social media channels and website for more information on the planned events.
With tradeshows and in-person visits at a minimum, access to new technologies can be limited. Until the world returns to business as usual, Gleason offers a solution: the “emotions” virtual show, an up-close, virtual experience that puts the latest technologies at the global gear industry’s fingertips.
Gleason Corporation is launching its first-ever virtual event, called “emotions” on May 4th to showcase the latest gear technology innovations for cylindrical and bevel gear design and manufacture. From May 4th through May 12th, Gleason will give visitors access to four showrooms featuring demonstrations of gear design, manufacturing, inspection and tooling solutions, including Closed Loop manufacturing, in-process inspection and detailed gear noise analysis. Exhibits will address solutions for the next generation of e-drive and power transmission products.
Each showroom will open with a special event topic, presented by industry experts:
May 04: Gear and Transmission Design
Product Liability and Developments in International Standards
Dr. Ulrich Kissling, KISSsoft AG, a Gleason Company
May 05: e-Drive Gears
Challenges and Solutions in Gear Design, Manufacturing and Measurement
Dr. Antoine Türich, Gleason Corporation
May 06: Industrial Gears
Race to CO2 Neutrality / Gear Manufacturing for Eco-Performance
Dr. Tim Gudszend, Gleason-Pfauter Maschinenfabrik GmbH
May 07, 2021: Bevel Gears
Diff² Double Differential for e-Drives
Prof. Dr. Hermann J. Stadtfeld, The Gleason Works
After each opening event participants can browse through the respective show rooms to experience the featured technologies, with or without a guided tour. Gleason’s technology experts and product managers are going to be available through the duration of the virtual event to answer any question.
To register for “emotions”, participate in the opening events, and get the first glimpse at what’s next in gear technology, visit: Welcome to emotions
Registration link extended:
https://www.gleason.com/en/facts-and-news/events/856/emotions-virtual-show
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