Last year, the Retecon Group of Companies celebrated a 50-year milestone. It all started with the establishment of Retecon machine tools in 1970. The company subsequently became one of South Africa's most successful supply companies for machine tools, metal processing equipment and related equipment. Retecon (Pty) Ltd began operating as a machine tool importer, providing equipment for the South African engineering industry, but will then expand and include measurement and other related equipment into its product portfolio.

Retecon Group has represented Trumpf, United Grinding-Studer-Jung-Mikrosa, GF AgieCharmiles, Kasto, DMG MORI, Ficep, Heller, Kapp-Niles, Hexagon Metrology Group, Schuler, DEA-TESA, Renishaw, Leica, Mahr and EFD.

The various products that the company sells and services cover all disciplines of metal processing: cutting, forming, forming and removing. These include vertical and horizontal machining centers, turning centers, large boring machines, profile cutting and drilling production lines, grinders, laser cutting systems, bending machines, stamping and forming machinery, automatic sawing equipment, roll forming and pipe bending machinery , Production line pipes, presses, measuring equipment, etc.

Measurement and inspection equipment includes portable measurement arms, turned parts measurement, probing systems, laser measurement equipment, surface and shape measurement, contact systems, fixtures, software, reverse engineering software, photogrammetry, and white light scanner systems.

Retecon can provide complete processing equipment, manage and supply turnkey project equipment for processing various types of complex auto parts, such as import/export manifolds, crankshafts, camshafts, connecting rods, cylinder block processing, complete Forging lines, gears and gearboxes make cells, harden plants, just to name a few but not limited to these areas.

The core of Retecon's customer portfolio consists of companies large and small in the aerospace, automotive, tools and molds, transportation, mining, power generation, structural steel and service centers, defense, construction, and general engineering industries.

Retecon has established many long-term partnerships with internationally recognized machine manufacturers. DMG MORI is one of them. The other is the German company Trumpf, whose history can be traced back to 1981.

DMG MORI At EMO Milano 2021 to be held in October 2021, DMG MORI's exhibition focuses on automation, equipment as a service and the debut of their NZ machine platform.

The NZ platform includes DUE, TRE, and QUATTRO for production turning, and can be equipped with up to four turrets and four B-axes. There are two sizes to choose from, the short version is designed for workpieces up to 690 mm long, while the long version can be expanded to 1 290 mm. The chuck processing diameter can reach 120 mm, and the bar processing can reach 65 mm. The NZ series is very compact. Including the three-meter-long bar feeder, NZ only needs 17.8 square meters of floor space.

DMG MORI NZ DUE, TRE, QUATTRO series released on EMO 2021

Some of the highlights of the NZ platform are individual equipment options, so each user can install a manufacturing solution tailored to their precise requirements. Due to the modular machine, the NZ platform includes NZ DUE, NZ TRE and NZ QUATTRO, which means that 2, 3 or 4 turret processing stations can be placed in the work area. Each of these units can operate autonomously and has a Y-axis with 80 mm travel and a B-axis with a rotation range of -10° to 100°.

DMG MORI's equipment-as-a-service PAYZR business model is advertised as the Netflix of machinery manufacturing, and the compact M1 vertical machining center was launched earlier this year. For example, customers only need to pay basic monthly fees to get machines and a full range of worry-free service and maintenance packages. In addition, in the pay-per-use model, the fee is only calculated based on the actual use of the machine-fully calculated based on the spindle minutes. The second machine has now been added to the PAYZR product portfolio, the CLX 450 TC launched this year. With the B-axis coefficient and equipped with the compactMASTER turning-milling composite spindle, the turning-milling composite machining center reduces the set-up and non-production time in the production of rich variants in small and medium batch production.

The NZ platform includes DUE, TRE, QUATTRO for production turning, and can be equipped with up to four turrets and four B-axes

In the company's recently released results for the first three quarters of 2021, DMG MORI's orders increased by 62% to 1,928.6 million euros (previous year: 1,187.8 million euros). Sales revenue increased by 11% to 1,450.9 million euros (previous year: 1,305.3 million euros). Earnings and financial conditions also continued to improve. EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) increased to 83.7 million euros (plus 57%; 53.4 million euros the previous year). The EBIT margin increased to 5.8% (previous year: 4.1%). As of September 30, 2021, free cash flow reached a record 149 million euros (increased by 326%; last year: 65.8 million euros).

Trumpf, headquartered in Ditzingen, Germany, recently announced very positive results. At the end of the 2020/21 fiscal year on June 30, 2021, the group's sales revenue increased slightly by 0.5% to 3.5 billion euros (2019/20 fiscal year: 3.48 billion euros). The order value increased significantly by 19.7%, reaching the company's record level, reaching 3.9 billion euros (2019/20 fiscal year: 3.3 billion euros).

With sales of 577 million euros, Germany remains the largest single market for TRUMPF, followed by China, the largest single market in Asia.

Compared with the 2019/20 fiscal year (309 million euros), the group's operating profit before interest and tax was 370 million euros, an increase of 19.5%. Despite the low level of sales revenue in the first half of the year, TRUMPF was able to stabilize its earnings by improving productivity, changing product mix, and continuously cutting non-personnel costs. In the second half of the year, due to the increase in sales revenue, profitability increased substantially. Also due to investment restrictions, the company's EBIT margin was 10.5% (previous year: 8.9%).

“Due to the crisis management of our system, TRUMPF successfully survived the pandemic. Due to strong demand growth, we entered the new fiscal year with an unexpectedly high order volume. Nevertheless, the chips in the global supply chain in the next few months There is still a lot of uncertainty about how shortages, inflation and increasing energy costs and their impact on transportation costs and transportation capacity will affect our business," said Nicola Leibinger-Kammüller, Chairman of the TRUMPF Group Management Board.

TRUMPF’s largest single market, Germany, is still the largest single market with sales of 559 million euros, followed by China, the largest single market in Asia. After experiencing weak growth last year, sales in China increased by 50.7% to 525 million euros. Trumpf's third largest market is the United States, with sales of 485 million euros. Due to the EUV business with its client ASML, the Netherlands has become the largest single market in Europe at 460 million euros, ranking fourth.

Ditzingen-based TRUMPF recently announced very positive results. At the end of the 2020/21 fiscal year, on June 30, 2021, group sales revenue increased slightly by 0.5% to 3.5 billion euros (2019/20 fiscal year: 3.48 billion euros)

Increase in the number of employees During the reporting period, the number of employees at TRUMPF increased again. In particular, the two growth areas of EUV and electronics have created new job opportunities. The company has 14,767 employees worldwide (previous year: 14,325). In Germany, there are 7,602 employees, 4,400 of whom work at the group headquarters in Ditzingen.

Due to the economic uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic, investment in the last fiscal year has shrunk. The company has invested a total of 145 million euros in land and buildings, technical facilities, and operating and office equipment. This is a decrease of 25.2% compared to the previous year (194 million euros).

The company has 14,767 employees worldwide (previous year: 14,325). In Germany, there are 7,602 employees, 4,400 of whom work at the group headquarters in Ditzingen

Starting in July 2020, as part of a strategic partnership for ultra-wideband positioning technology, TRUMPF sold its majority stake in BeSpoon SAS to semiconductor manufacturer STMicroelectronics. In March 2021, Trumpf acquired Spanish software supplier Lantek.

Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence As a leading metrology and manufacturing solution expert, Hexagon's Manufacturing Intelligence department provides expertise in sensing, thinking, and action in the collection, analysis, and active use of measurement data. Their knowledge and experience provide customers with tools and confidence to increase production speed and productivity while improving product quality.

Although every industry has its own unique challenges and motivations, productivity is the key to overall manufacturing success. Manufacturers must find the right balance between speed, efficiency, cost, and quality to ensure that they maintain the appropriate level of productivity. Hexagon's Manufacturing Intelligence department combines technology and ideas to achieve this kind of closed-loop manufacturing—developing solutions to challenging customer problems.

Design and engineering: Embed quality in product design and engineering to ensure component manufacturability and downstream production efficiency

Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence provides software solutions to support the design and engineering stages of the manufacturing process, enabling designers, engineers, and analysts to embed quality in product design to ensure downstream manufacturability and productivity. Their simulation software allows users to quickly explore many different scenarios to find the best design without having to make expensive and time-consuming physical prototypes.

Hexagon's computer-aided engineering (CAE) software series includes simulation of material, product and process performance. Through finite element analysis (FEA), computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and multi-body dynamics (MBD), as well as cost estimation and design optimization solutions, they help designers, engineers, and analysts share product quality responsibilities and collaborate with colleagues Make improvements throughout the manufacturing process. Their technology is trusted by users all over the world when designing, optimizing and verifying products that people use every day.

Production: Ensure that the design intent is maintained throughout the production cycle to increase productivity and continuously deliver high-quality components. Production is the stage in the manufacturing process where the design becomes a reality. Whether it is machining, molding, casting, molding, joining or 3D printing, or a combination of multiple processes, the production workshop is the place where parts are formed. In the manufacturing process stage, productivity is really important. Efficiency and throughput are critical to staying competitive, and costs must be controlled and downtime must be avoided. Production is where the quality of a product is determined in stone, metal, wood or composite materials-no matter what material you use-and the pursuit of manufacturing "right the first time" is increasingly becoming a top priority.

For a long time, the role of metrology in the manufacturing process is related to quality assurance-the dimensional measurement of parts according to specifications for post-production inspections

Manufacturing high-quality products requires production software designed for the task at hand. The Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence production software portfolio includes dedicated software packages for generating, managing and optimizing tool paths in a range of industries and material applications. Their software solutions meet the requirements of the tooling, production engineering, sheet metal, metal manufacturing, stone and woodworking industries. Despite these different applications, the common focus of their production software solutions is to improve manufacturing efficiency and increase operational value.

Metrology: Capture real quality data for measurement, positioning, and inspection, and use the actionable information obtained through the analysis results to improve the manufacturing process to measure the dimensions of parts according to specifications. The results either indicate that the part can continue to be used, or it does not meet the standard, needs to be reworked at most, or is completely scrapped in the worst case. Measurement is a necessary evil-quality is an obstacle to productivity.

Quality data provides manufacturers with more opportunities than simply inspecting components

However, quality data provides manufacturers with more opportunities than simply inspecting components. The function of the quality department should not be to find fault. By fully analyzing quality data, the quality department can influence upstream and downstream decisions. It can help other stakeholders in the manufacturing process to ensure quality throughout the entire product life cycle. It can be an architect of quality design, quality production and quality results.

Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence's metrology hardware captures quality data for measurement, positioning, and inspection. It is a key bridge connecting the real world and the virtual world, bringing real world data into the digital realm. Their technology is helping manufacturers create mechanisms for more effective use of this data-using it to provide information for the design and engineering process, and to provide feedback for the production process. Their measurement-assisted production technology is first-rate, and Hexagon continues to apply innovations toward more real-time feedback loops.

For more details, please contact Retecon Tel: 011 976 8600 or visit www.retecon.co.za