Faster production of a U-joint with a new cutting line that includes a compact uncoiling unit has enabled a producer of structural column components to increase the volume of production. Instead of six operations as before, they only require one operation and a single machine to make the same product.



Thematic unit:

The precision of products belongs to the basic customers’ requirements. Continuous improvements in the field of CAD and CAM applications also demand improvements to machines and devices taking part in the production of products. In machine tools, the customers’ requirements regarding products precision are mostly directly or indirectly related to the geometric accuracy of machine tools.

Photo: Nataša Müller

Celjski sejem trade fair company is pleased with this year's 40. International Trade Fair (MOS), as it has fulfilled the expectations of exhibitors and visitors. More than 158.000 visitors came to the fair between September 12 and 19, matching the numbers from the last year. More than 1600 exhibitors presented themselves on more than 60.000 square meters of exhibiting surfaces, of those 980 direct and 630 represented exhibitors from 33 countries.

Tehcenter, d. o. o., is a medium-sized family trading and manufacturing business, founded in 1989. The manufacturing part represents 60 to 65 percent of company’s market share and manufactures all types of metal products and process equipment for ironworks, aluminium and automotive industry. The trading part markets iron and non-ferrous metal industry products, technical goods and raw materials for iron and aluminium industry. The company has moved last year, contributing to a better organisation and to an exceptionally rapid growth of business results.

Sonja Sara Lunder, photo: Blaž Košak

Sonja Sara Lunder, photo: Blaž Košak

From October 9 to 11, Portorož has hosted the 29. Toolmaking Conference with the central topic of determining the global ability of Slovenian toolmakers. Slovenian toolmakers are well aware their traditional advantages from the nineties, when Slovenia with its toolmaking potential and cost competitiveness was some sort a mini-toolmaker of Europe, have gradually vanished.

Sonja Sara Lunder, photo: Blaž Košak

The middle of the century will see a peak in the consumption of oil and natural gas. According to the consultants to the Japanese government, the secondary energies of the second half of 21st century should be hydrogen and electrical energy. The industry in Japan and USA is very interested in hydrogen technologies. The lobbying of industry has a great influence on the executive authorities and on the awareness about the urgency of introducing a so-called hydrogen economy, according to our interviewee prof. Etsuo Akiba, a consultant to the Japanese government on hydrogen energy.

Interview: prof. Etsuo Akiba

It has been two years since the first issue of IRT3000 magazine was published in Slovenia. The magazine has been accepted really well among the readers, the fact that is reflected in continuous enlargement of its volume. Namely, the volume of first issue was 120 pages, while the last issue contains more than 160 pages of professional and popular science articles, general information, reports on domestic and foreign events as well as achievements of Slovenian companies. All these positive factors have led to our decision this April on Celje FORMATOOL fair to start publishing the IRT3000 magazine in all countries in the area of former Yugoslavia.

The main and decisive initiators of this idea were Slovenian companies and representatives who felt these countries were lacking a professional magazine where they could present their events and achievements. The editorial board decided to form an entire team (editors, journalists and photographers) in Croatia, as the general content that is the most interesting for the readers in these countries will be coming from their local environments.

The big bang happened last week when the first Croatian issue of IRT3000 magazine was published. It will be distributed to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. The great need for such a magazine in these countries has been proved by the intense interest for articles in the very first magazine: professional and general content as well as contributions of companies presenting themselves with promotional articles.

I would like to take this opportunity and thank all the advertisers who supported the project, hoping it would stay like this in the future. In the first year, the magazine will be published every three months, and afterwards we will try to organise ourselves so that its publishing will be aligned (by the number of issues and volume) with the Slovenian edition, which is very well positioned in the Slovenian professional spheres in the areas covered.

Another proof that the project of Croatian edition will be growing on very fertile soil is the fact that we have received an invitation to the annual conference of Croatian association of innovators, where the IRT3000 magazine will be presented to a wider Croatian audience. The event will be held from November 7 to 11 on the Zagreb fairgrounds.

Darko Švetak
IRT3000 Editor-In-Chief

Automation and informatisation

Dr. Tomaž Perme

Overall equipment effectiveness – OEE is an important key performance indicator that enables a comprehensive insight into the utilisation of available resources. The OEE indicator takes into account all essential factors that influence the real productivity of a device or machine. For this reason it is increasingly being used for systematic and accurate measuring and analysis of effectiveness in ensuring the expected productivity.

Non-metals

Company Dr. Schneider has recently decided to install the same transport and drying technology (a centralised drying unit and a material feeding unit from WITTMANN Robot System) into its new plant in Poland as it has done before in Germany. The plant is set up so that material is transported from external hoppers and from Octabin cardboard boxes and bagged material warehouses through the first encoded station to the drying equipment.


Advanced technologies

Esad Jakupović

The uniqueness of each individual human identity enables the experts to develop biometrical systems for verifying and determining the identity as a key factor in any sort of protection nowadays.

The term biometrics (from Greek: bios – ‚life ‘, metron – ‚measuring‘) means studying the processes of unique identification of people based on one or more physical characteristics. Identification without biometrics is possible, too.