Issue 01/16 PEFC / 04 - 31- 0830 Publicise your Profile! Would you and your company like to be in the next edition? Then write to us! Hard-wired for success. Sauber Motorsport AG 18 Searching for open doors. JP Funkenerosive Bearbeitung 6 If you want high quality, you need high-tech production. K-L Präzision Falk Lange GmbH 12 MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC EUROPE B.V. Mechatronics Machinery / Mitsubishi-Electric-Platz 1 / 40882 Ratingen / Germany The smart magazine for users. Tel +49 (0) 2102 486-6120 / Fax +49 (0) 2102 486-7090 / [email protected] / www.mitsubishi-edm.de Profile 18 Hard-wired for success. 6 Searching for open doors. 12 If you want high quality, Sauber Motorsport AG JP Funkenerosive Bearbeitung you need high-tech production. K-L Präzision Falk Lange GmbH Legal notice Published by Mitsubishi Electric Europe B.V German Branch Contents Mechatronics Machinery 4 Editorial 34 The fascinating world of Mitsubishi Electric. Mitsubishi-Electric-Platz 1 40882 Ratingen · Germany Mitsubishi Electric 5 News Tel +49 (0) 2102 486-6120 40 Big attraction. Visitors flocked to the official opening. Fax +49 (0) 2102 486-7090 [email protected] 6 Searching for open doors. Mitsubishi Electric www.mitsubishi-edm.de JP Funkenerosive Bearbeitung Copyright 46 Service & support – holiday for your EDM. Mitsubishi Electric Europe B.V. 11 Back issues/change of address Mitsubishi Electric Editorial board Hans-Jürgen Pelzers, 12 If you want high quality, you need high-tech production. 48 Mysterious Japan – on its way into the future. Stephan Barg, K-L Präzision Falk Lange Japan Special alphadialog public relations Design and layout 18 Hard-wired for success. 52 Three in one go. High precision from the gemstone town. City Update Ltd., Düsseldorf Sauber Motorsport Wolfgang Loch No responsibility is taken for the accuracy of the technical 28 Punching above its weight. Wire-cutting stamping tools. 58 User horoscope data and information in articles. MPE Garry Contents Exciting reports from the world of wire EDM. 5 Profile01/16 Profile01/16 6 Editorial News Hans-Jürgen Pelzers Mitsubishi Electric delivers railcar air- Everything on a single site – Mitsubishi Electric conditioning systems for the Rhine-Ruhr opens its new German headquarters Express network in Germany On 4 March 2016, Mitsubishi Electric officially Mitsubishi Electric has awarded its first contract opened its new German headquarters in with Siemens AG for railcar air-conditioning sys- Ratingen with a ceremony that included many tems, which will be used in Desiro High Capacity traditional Japanese elements. Its more than Coming together is a beginning; keeping railcars on the Rhine-Ruhr express (RRX) train 16,000 m² of office space will accommodate network that connects cities and provinces in up to 750 employees. The investment also together is progress; working together Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia region. marks the launch of a new exhibition concept Mitsubishi Electric will deliver 328 air-condition- “The World of Mitsubishi Electric”. is success. ing systems (82 trainsets totalling 164 cars). Continued on page 34. Henry Ford Milliseconds with maximum means – 10 years But high performance is by no means confined of the Sauber partnership to Formula One – at the new German head- quarters in Ratingen near Düsseldorf the unusual Nowhere is more effort put into making mil- is on show in the World of Mitsubishi Electric lisecond improvements per lap than in Formula (page 34). And for anyone who didn’t have the One. The Sauber Formula One team produces chance to visit us on our Open Day, we have over 20,000 parts on Mitsubishi Electric EDM summarised the day’s highlights (page 40). machines per year in order to make this all- New low-height cassette for European ceiling Mitsubishi Electric is official advertising important millisecond difference. Meeting these Plenty of progress for 2016, but one thing re- grid partner of “ZOOM Erlebniswelt” high expectations means adopting exceptional mains unchanged: Mitsubishi Electric is a partner production methods: workpieces filled with liquid you can count on – not only when it matters. The City Multi VRF series from Mitsubishi Electric Mitsubishi Electric is official advertising partner metal, ingenious auxiliary configurations and is now compatible with suspended ceilings only of “ZOOM Erlebniswelt” in Gelsenkirchen. At much more (see page 18). 245 mm deep, thanks to its European ceiling grid “ZOOM Erlebniswelt” you can travel around the cassettes. Only 208 mm in height and 625 mm world through the Alaskan, African and Asian wide and deep, the new European grid cassette worlds of adventure on a single day. Experience fits in all commonly used system grid cassette animals, landscapes and attractions. ceilings. Comparable products on the market with a height of some 300 mm need noticeably more Hans-Jürgen Pelzers space in the ceiling recess. from the Technology Centre in Ratingen News Enjoy your read of this issue! 7 Profile01/16 Profile01/16 8 Founded in 1999 Die-sinking/wire-cutting jobshop JP Funkenerosive Bearbeitung Searching for open doors. When jobs have to be accomplished quickly and flexibly, Jürgen Pirgl is always at the ready. His trusty sidekick is his Mitsubishi Electric machine of the MV Series on which he can always rely. “When one door closes, another unit joined the firm’s machine park ing and then go to work. And in the one opens,” or so the German at Christmas last year. The saying evening after work, I’d finish off say ing goes. Anyone opening the also applies admittedly in another the job,” the jobshop owner recalls. door to JP Funkenerosion and respect. Because Pirgl is always on After about a year and a half, in entering the production shop can- the lookout for new business chal- which he was busy almost around not overlook the pride and joy of lenges – and for new doors to open. the clock, Pirgl took the plunge in the one-man business in Erligheim: setting up his own business. a new MV2400R. The wire-cutting About 17 years ago, Pirgl started machine from Mitsubishi Electric out electric discharge machining He then bought his first wire-cut- takes centre stage by the large as a side line in a rented workshop. ting machine a year later, although windows of the company building, “I’d clamp workpieces on a die- this wasn’t planned at all. “My The automatic wire threader rethreads the resplendent in the bright light. The sinking machine in the early morn- original idea was to concentrate on wire trouble-free even after breakage in a 0.5 mm kerf. JP Funkenerosive Bearbeitung The constant search for new challenges. 8 Profile01/16 Profile01/16 9 Electric model. “The truck pulled up expecting his parts to be machined Sudden urgent outside the firm at 8 o’clock in the at short notice by the following day. jobs I still handle at morning, and the new wire-cutting And without compromising on qual- the drop of a hat. machine was ready to operate after ity of course. So I’m always at the the lunch break,” says Pirgl describ- ready as far as new jobs are con- ing the trouble-free delivery and in- cerned,” says Pirgl. stallation of the machine. “The time taken to get used to the new ma- Competitive pricing chine was minimal, as I was already As a subcontractor, the cost-effec- Electric MV2400R. “I urgently familiar with the user interfaces tive price per part is the decisive needed a high-performance machine of the Mitsubishi machines. So I factor for survival on the market. particularly for larger workpieces. was able to get straight down to Pirgl therefore needs a machine A pleasant side-effect of any new work.” So the seamless resumption that operates economically. In view investment is that it gives me a of normal business was at no time of this, the low wire consumption burst of new enthusiasm for my at risk. “For a successful jobshop, of the new MV Series has already daily work,” Pirgl explains. The speed and flexibility are absolutely had a positive impact in the brief new machine was bought in part essential. You can never rule out a time since commissioning. “I reckon exchange for an older Mitsubishi customer ringing up on a Friday and a single wire spool now lasts about A perfect fit – two components with gearing “For a successful jobshop, speed and flexibility are absolutely essential.” – Jürgen Pirgl die sinking. But because custom- tor racing were concerned. “These of them are still located in the im- ers kept on inquiring about special customers were often very de- mediate surroundings. Wire-cutting gearing, I seized the opportunity manding, because they expected accounts for about 70 per cent of and bought a used Mitsubishi SX their components to be machined the order volume. The jobs usually machine. This meant I could then practically overnight,” says Pirgl. involve parts made of aluminium, handle these jobs as well,” Pirgl Although these customers are no copper, brass, steel or titanium, explains. longer his regulars, the business 0.5 to 300 mm thick, up to a size of owner managed to gather a lot of 700 mm. Pirgl is extremely flexible Over the years, he’s made steady valuable experience during this and not so selective when it comes progress and the company has suc- period from which he still benefits to taking on new orders. For his cessfully established itself on the today. “Sudden urgent jobs I still motto is: “If my machine can do it, market. The bulk of his work was handle at the drop of a hat. And my I offer it”. originally from customers from the customers are very appreciative of local area of Heilbronn and Stuttgart this,” he adds with a smile.