Retrofitting beats procurement

THE advantage of modernising a system lies in raising productivity at significantly lower cost than a new acquisition would involve. The essentially stable substance of the machine is retained, while in the case of large systems (such as assembly lines in the automobile industry), the high costs of investing in a new foundation or machine base are avoided.

A customer considering whether to replace a machine because, for example, it no longer produces the necessary quantities, has two possibilities: they can either procure a new machine, which will be expensive and take a long time to arrive, or they can choose a VDA-compliant retrofitted machine.

The machine tool manufacturer MAG, which is responsible for the traditional brands Boehringer, Ex-Cell-O, Cross Hüller and Lamb, is raising its profile as an expert in retrofitting by purposely expanding its services in this area. The company has also boosted its service personnel while recruiting new sales staff to the team.

“Retrofitting is all the rage just now,” reveals Jochen Wiedmann, Director Operations at MAG in G?ppingen. “As a manufacturer of machine tools, we are aiming to benefit from rapid expansion of the market with the know-how and specialist expertise we possess.” To stimulate its service business, MAG has also expanded its existing service team and drafted in sales staff, who will make more visits to client premises.

Retrofitting centre

MAG has operated a retrofitting centre at its G?ppingen site for more than 20 years. Here the company restores ageing systems and machining facilities to state-of-the-art condition, overhauls machines and carries out full retrofits. In many cases, retrofitting an existing system makes more sense than procuring a new machine: giving such systems and machining facilities a technology update by replacing obsolete components and installing modern enhancements makes them fit for another 10 or 12 years.

The retrofit experts at MAG can advise clients directly on the choice that’s right for them. “Thanks to their extensive experience, our specialist design engineers can accurately weigh up the possibilities, even for machines from other manufacturers,” promises Axel Moch, Sales Director Service at MAG in G?ppingen. “The investment factor is always a consideration. If an available budget does not extend to the acquisition of a new machine, we will look for the best retrofitting solution.”

As regards machines from other manufacturers, documentation and drawings must be available; this is all the more important in the case of special machines. “Even if the documentation for a machine made by another producer is missing, though, our designers still have the experience needed to evaluate it and perform an overhaul or retrofit,” says Jochen Wiedmann, who has been with Boehringer for 16 years.

For MAG, strict adherence to schedules and cost projections is a matter of course. Moreover, such an experienced retrofit team will not make dubious promises simply to win customers. “Obviously we are judged on how quickly we can get machines back to production readiness”, admits Axel Moch, “but the quality of our work and the ability to complete a job on time at a fixed price is even more important”.

Since all quoted deadlines are realistic, customers do not receive unpleasant surprises such as production losses or even lengthy downtimes. “With us, manufacturing enterprises are always on the safe side,” continues retrofit specialist Jochen Wiedmann. “We can exchange a replacement assembly like an entire spindle unit inside a week, without interrupting the production cycle – the customer can bank on that.” The advantage in such a case is the in-house manufacture of components by CORCOM at Rottenburg, near Tübingen.