Guhring ‘Powers-up’ Productivity for EV Manufacturer

As a machine tool builder that manufactures high-end 4 and 5-axis machines for the global market, Heller UK is frequently involved in turnkey projects for prestigious OEMs. On one of its more recent projects, the Redditch company enlisted the support of the cutting tool experts at Guhring.

There has been a wide spectrum of tools used on this project for a leading manufacturer of Electric Vehicles (EVs), including the Guhring tool holders and the tool vending technology. As part of the package of toolholders to accompany the cutting tools, the EV manufacturer has selected a vast range of standard shrink chucks, hydraulic chucks and synchro-tapping chucks.

The cutting tools incorporated in this project included a huge range of standard products from the extensive portfolio of drills, taps and reamers. All products were carefully selected and tested to minimise cycle times while achieving tight tolerances on diameter, position and roundness. Whilst the standard range of Guhring products accounted for a significant element of the system integration project, it was the bespoke PCD combination tools that demonstrated Guhring UK’s expertise as a one-stop solution provider and valued partner for Turn Key projects.

With the PCD combination tools manufactured at Guhring UK’s Birmingham manufacturing facility as well as at Guhring’s German manufacturing plant, the bespoke tooling solutions were developed to achieve ‘one shot’ plunging. The bespoke tooling aimed to reduce cycle times and adhere to the high surface finishes required – and maintain this over the life of the tool.

Discussing the project for the leading manufacturer of EVs, Guhring UK’s National Sales Manager Chris Bush says: “With a new project like this for the electric vehicle industry, it is a project and industry that is at the very forefront of technology. The end user typically specifies a machine builder and cutting tool supplier – in this instance, it was Heller for the high-end machine tools and Guhring for the industry-leading cutting tool innovations.”

Looking at how the process delivers a solution for the customer, Chris continues: “In Germany, we have a large project engineering team with over 200 employees. So,

when we receive a CAD model of the customers’ component and the machine capabilities, we can develop the cutting tools and machining strategy from that and create an optimised solution in conjunction with Heller.”

“This requires several meetings to discuss the machining strategies and how we develop the tooling to create a seamless solution from machine tool to cutting tool. At Guhring, we supply everything from toolholder to the cutting-edge and that also entails all the speeds, feeds and cutting strategies in conjunction with the machine builder. Once we supply all the cutting data and tooling sheets, we will then visit Heller and do all the initial run-offs to ensure all the cutting data is optimised and the machining strategy is working well. From here, we then follow the process through to end-user production.”

Alluding to the overall project, Chris adds: “It has been a great partnership between Guhring and Heller and the current EV project is the biggest project we have collaborated on in the UK. We have worked on several smaller projects in the past and the combined skill sets of both the Guhring and Heller engineers make a great partnership with impressive results for the end-user.”

Discussing the project from a Heller perspective, Tad Forys from Heller Machine Tools UK says: “From the Heller side, we delivered 22 machines in this project. That includes eleven 5-axis machines and eleven 4-axis machines – all of those machines were built in the UK. With this project, we have gone from a customer drawing to a fully automated production line. From the initial enquiry with the customer, our engineers here in the UK conducted comprehensive cycle time studies. Following on from that, we developed custom hydraulic fixtures to hold the parts; and we have used these fixtures because it is a high-volume electric vehicle application.”

“At Heller, we pride ourselves on being a collaborative company and this recent project that we collaborated on with Guhring has been a perfect demonstration of that. When we talk about collaboration, it isn’t just about working together – it’s about aligning our values and expertise. The first two machines for the production line are here at Heller, so we can do the initial production ‘prove off’ before the machines land on the customers’ shop floor. Guhring has been with us for every step of the

journey, clocking in tools, optimising speeds and feeds to make sure we have the most efficient process for the customer before the machines are delivered.”

“From a Heller perspective, this project has been an outstanding success. Our end user is very happy. Everything has been delivered on time to a particularly demanding customer – and this has been made possible by a close working partnership with Guhring who have helped us every step of the way,” adds Tad.

Discussing the tooling solution further, Guhring’s Chris Bush adds: “Even though we are supplying the tools and tool holding for this project, we are also supplying the tool management vending solution. As this is a significant project with a large number of tools, we are supplying the vending machine with some add-on units. The proprietary software that Guhring programs and supplies with this can also be linked to the customer’s ERP system. This provides complete synergy and automation for the end user from tool ordering with complete transparency of costing and cost centres by the operation, the individual machine and even by the operator. This system provides unparalleled transparency, so everyone can see the costs and where the costs are going.”

“From a Guhring point of view, this project has been a great success and working together with Heller has been a true partnership, and a fantastic example of delivering a proven process to the customer on time,” concludes Chris Bush.