European machine tool re-innovation competitiveness

From lathes and planers to cutting tools and grinding tools, machine tools have pushed Europe to the forefront of manufacturing in the past few years. It is still an integral part of many industries, including aerospace, automotive, power and medical products.

However, traditional machines are high-energy consumer products, which not only cannot support production for a long time, but also require high operating costs. Most of the users are small and medium-sized enterprises. With the increasingly fierce competition and environmental protection requirements, a research team is providing European companies with the knowledge they need to make the European machine tool industry more competitive.

A basic concept of the European funding project DEMAT is “materialization”. A team of 16 people and 7 countries will show machine tool builders how to produce super-light, adaptive and recyclable machine structures. Equipment materials will be reduced by more than 70%, but there is no loss in the accuracy and efficacy of the machine. The aim is to save 1.5 million tons of steel and reduce 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions per day.

Dr Juanio Zulaika, project coordinator and mechanical engineer from DEMAT's in Spain, said: "We have built a milling machine that is 40% lighter than a normal milling machine but has the same equipment capabilities. We are still working hard to ensure Its productivity and quality can last for a long time."

The project won a lot of praise and won the Best Industrial Award for the 2012 Industrial Technology Conference in Aarhus, Denmark, with important economic and social significance, and increased the competitiveness of new European products and processing procedures.

The team used a new damping strategy to reduce mechanical shock and improve some of the machine's operation.

The DEMAT research team is very confident about the value of the project – reducing the impact of 50% machine tool life, shortening the market lead time by 60%; completing the catalogue in three months and completing the custom system in nine months.

Dr Zulaika believes that both are essential to the long-term future of sustainable manufacturing. His next research project focuses on adapting previous machine tools to meet the requirements of dynamic and diverse manufacturing.

The project will increase the agility of European companies in the industry and help transform the European machine tool industry into a knowledge-based, competitive, sustainable and value-added industry.

DEMAT has received funding of 3.5 million euros from the European Union and the project is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2013. (Excerpt from: "Revolutionising European machine tools", translation: Ma Yanping)