pesmedia.com Production Engineering Solutions June 2024 21 TOOLING & WORKHOLDING seriously, evidenced by its ‘connACT – Together for Sustainability’ mantra that underpins the company’s approach and drive towards Net Zero. Melissa Albeck takes up the story. “Our vision is to be the leading company for sustainability across the entire carbide industry,” she declares. “It’s important to us as a business; it’s important to us as individuals; and it’s important to the young people that are coming onboard to work with us. The world’s resources are limited, and we all have to work together to ensure they’re available for future generations. “Our sustainability strategy is not a goal, it’s a mission and it’s to be carbon neutral by 2025. This is why the acquisition of Stadler in 2019 is so important as we strive to develop more circular processes and recycle scrap materials wherever we can. We all need to significantly reduce our use of virgin raw materials.” For tooling manufacturers like Ceratizit, the importance of reclaiming scrap carbide both internally and externally from customers can’t be understated. It’s why, during a panel discussion that took place at Reutte, director of R&D, Dr Uwe Schleinkofer called scrap: “the new gold in our business.” Ceratizit’s environmental aspirations are ambitious: carbon neutral and a 35% reduction in emissions (including Scope 3) by 2025; a 60% reduction in emissions by 2030; Net Zero by 2040. But that’s not the whole story. Ceratizit claims it is the first in the industry to declare a Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) calculation on all its products. Similar in principle to the energy classification information used on electrical goods, the PCF rating ranges from A to F, and defines the specific carbon footprint in kg CO2e per kg product. “Our customers want to know that the products they’re buying are sustainable because they have their own environmental targets to meet,” Ms Albeck explains. “We’ve calculated our overall corporate carbon footprint, but we’ve also broken that down on a product-by-product basis so our customers know exactly what they’re getting. “We’re constantly striving to reduce the carbon footprint of all our processes and products – by using recycled carbide grades for example – and we think it’s important to set a standard for the industry. We believe that all manufacturers should provide this information. It’s all about transparency.” Interactive marketplaces At the open house, to showcase the sheer breadth of technology on offer, Ceratizit used a series of themed ‘marketplaces’ to showcase different technology segments. These comprised: Sustainability, Innovation, and Additive Manufacturing plus two machining demos focusing on milling and turning which took place in Ceratizit’s well-equipped Innovation Centre at the Reutte facility. The turning demo, presented by senior product manager Andreas Schätzl and carried out on a DMG Mori CTX Gamma 1250TC, combined a number of technologies from Ceratizit’s portfolio on a P25 steel billet. This included High Dynamic Turning (HDT) with FreeTurn tools, which enables multiple operations such as roughing, finishing, contour turning, facing and longitudinal turning to be carried out with just one tool. Inserts with up to three ISO geometries can be used on a single tool holder. The demo also incorporated: tooling from Ceratizit’s EcoCut series for universal turning and drilling operations, including extremely wear resistant ISO-P inserts for optimum performance when machining ISO-P steels; MaxiMill Slot SX tools, for grooving, parting-off and slotting; and PVD coated PCBN turning inserts for hard turning on materials with up to 67HRC hardness. The milling demo was conducted on a Mazak MTV 815/80 vertical machining centre on a 1.2312 steel billet. This was a dry cut process incorporating profile milling with an extended MaxiMill flute cutter, slot and shoulder milling using a MaxiMill – 211-15 shell mill, and helical and inner contour milling with a MaxiMill – 211-11KN shell end mill shank. All about innovation Three innovations presented by Jan Nickel, R&D manager, cutting tools and development engineer, Danijel Babic, as part of the ‘Innovations’ marketplace were the MultiLock Exchangeable Head System, the MaxiMill 211-DC additively manufactured milling cutter and advancements in software specifically for Ceratizit’s FreeTurn process. With exchangeable head systems, the connection between milling head and holder is of vital importance in terms of stability, tool life and saving money on tooling costs. With its precision sintered interface, the MultiLock exchangeable head system from Ceratizit covers all bases. MultiLock systems also feature another advantage – the patented ‘Captive Pocket’ which guarantees high levels of stability and performance. The precision sintered, form-fitting interface provides optimal power transmission for process-secure machining and longer tool service life. Importantly, the form-fit connection ensures maximum rigidity on the holder so that an axial and radial run-out accuracy of 0.02mm is achieved. Another innovation presented in Reutte was the MaxiMill-211-DC indexable insert milling system with optimum coolant supply. The standout feature of this system is that the body base is additively manufactured: “Cutters produced by conventional manufacturing methods are limited because only straight drill bores can be used for the coolant channels,” Jan Nickel explains. “With additive manufacturing, we’re able to incorporate far more complex cooling channels and improve the coolant supply at the cutting edge which makes the cutters much more productive and efficient, particularly on heat resistant materials such as titanium.” The third innovation is on the software side with the development of CERASmart ToolPaths – fast and simple toolpaths for High Dynamic Turning with FreeTurn tools. Essentially, this is a software application to generate NC codes customised for HDT machining strategies using dialogue-based programming. Infrastructure investment: Kreckelmoos Ceratizit’s new 45,000m² (total floor area) three storey production facility in Kreckelmoos, Reutte has been designed from the ground up with sustainability, energy efficiency and keeping carbon footprint to an absolute minimum in mind. The building comprises production halls, storage and logistics areas, offices and meeting rooms for over 300 employees. Kreckelmoos is very much a manufacturing facility. While the third Following Thierry Wolter’s recent retirement, board member Melissa Albeck’s role has changed. She now has responsibility for cutting tool sales, R&D, marketing and communications 90,000 products in stock: Ceratizit’s Logistics Centre in Kempten The new production facility in Kreckelmoos, Reutte
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