Portal machines for new business segments

A consistent willingness to invest and constant growth characterise MJM Metallverarbeitung Mangner GmbH, which was established in 1997. The family-run company started out with a used machine, today MJM has several production halls with more than 100 highly qualified specialists, providing an integrated range of services, from sheet metal working to mechanical manufacturing. Customers amongst others are companies from the fields of mechanical engineering, the railway industry as well as the pharmaceutical industry. MJM has always placed its trust into machine tools from DMG MORI. The production comprises a total of more than 30 models from the supplier, from lathes to 5-axis universal machining centres and a travelling column machine up to portal machines. With the most recent investment, among them two DMU 340 P and two DMU 210 P, MJM as supplier in mould making has entered a completely new business segment.

MJM has the required know-how as well as respective manufacturing technologies, but the owner Jürgen Mangner clearly positions the family business as supplier for mould making: “Instead of competing with them, we work as service provider for these industry leaders.” This business segment has developed from a mechanical production, which has always been a very important part of production at MJM. Almost annual investments in new production halls and machines have meant that an increasing number of workpieces could be produced in-house – so insourcing instead of outsourcing.

Complete machine park for optimal capacity utilisation

To be able to process the varied orders as economically as possible, MJM relies on a versatile machine park dominated by DMG MORI models. This comprises numerous lathes of the CTX series, 5-axis eVo machines. MJM machines larger workpieces on the 5-axis machining centres of the monoBLOCK series. Furthermore, the travelling column machine DMF 260 is available for long components. DMU portal machines round off the machining range in the production hall, which was newly built in 2014, at the upper end. The two DMU 340 P provide travel paths of 3,400 x 3,400 x 1,600 mm and a table load of 16 tons.

Jürgen Mangner quickly realised that the DMU 340 P is overdimensioned for a part of the production: “In order to use these portal machines economically, we need to utilise their full capacity with respectively large workpieces.” At the start, relatively small components were machined on the two DMU 340 P. “So we decided on two further, smaller portal machines.” However, space for the two new DMU 210 P – they were installed at the start of the year – had to be created first, so that MJM has extended the hall, which was already 60 m long, to a total length of 102 m.

The DMU 340 P and the DMU 210 P meet more machining requirements than simply the enormous component size. “Those who want to make a name for themselves in mould making must supply the highest quality”, says Jürgen Mangner. With the portal machines from DMG MORI, MJM is able to meet the high demands customers make on precision. “Furthermore, 5-axis simultaneous machining with angle head is a good example for efficiency.” After all, the aim is to reduce the cycle times of customers with unchanged machining results. In order to optimise the load of the machines, workpieces with long machining times also run through the night and at weekends.

Technical competence and customer orientation

While the portal machines as well as the remaining machine park from DMG MORI form a required technological basis for high-quality components, it is the know-how of employees, which makes it possible to fully utilise the potential of the machine tools. “For this reason, we only work with highly qualified skilled workers, who are highly motivated by the complex tasks”, says Jürgen Mangner. Furthermore, production is organised in such a way that an employee supervises two or even three machines. Junior staff also has a high profile at MJM: “The proportion of trainees is currently at 10 percent.”

With the newly established business segment as supplier in mould making, MJM has extended its service range so extensively that an increasing number of orders are executed from one source. Instead of just delivering individual components, whole assemblies are also mounted. The high degree of vertical integration in the company makes this possible today with no problems. According to Jürgen Mangner, market requirements can only be responded to like this: “With an integrated, customer-oriented philosophy and the required awareness of quality we will be able to continue to differentiate ourselves in future from reasonable suppliers abroad.”