News and press releases

03/07/2008 CERATIZIT at AMB – Member of the CERATIZIT Board Thierry Wolter explains CERATIZIT's international strategy Product overview for the exhibition

Wolter continues: “Furthermore, CERATIZIT counts on the segments where - thanks to our expertise – we can achieve the best customer benefit and growth opportunities.” Today, CERATIZIT is already the world-market leader for carbide products in wood and stone machining as well as Europe's largest supplier for industrial wear parts. The Luxembourgers are also gaining strength in the USA where we are catching up in the ranking.
In the coming years CERATIZIT will focus on Cutting Tools and consistently implement their multi-channel strategy. They will concentrate on niches and develop exclusive solutions for the automotive, engineering, aerospace and oilfield sectors. “We prefer to be the number 1 in selected segments than the number 3 overall”, says Board member Wolter.

“Ever since its foundation CERATIZIT has grown notably quicker than the market. This is how we want to continue, amongst others through targeted acquisitions”, continues Wolter. “In this context new companies have to adapt to the CERATIZIT group strategically, culturally and also financially.
With a turnover of approx. 600 million euros the carbide producer ranks among the TOP 5 worldwide. We are now striving for a turnover of one billion euros by 2012. In order to reach this ambitious goal we have several levers that we can activate efficiently.”

Pressing ahead with internationalization
CERATIZIT has a strong position in Central and Eastern Europe, and as global player in the field of carbide solutions was able to benefit extraordinarily from the economic growth in Eastern Europe. CERATIZIT will extend this success further.
CERATIZIT is excellently positioned in the NAFTA area, which is still the strategically most important market in the world. CERATIZIT has companies in the USA and in Mexico where they have been gaining market shares for years. After the acquisition of Newcomer Products last year CERATIZIT has become a ‘household name’ also in the American Cutting Tool sector.
Latin America is an independent market with high potential for CERATIZIT (headquarters in Luxembourg). For years the company has achieved double-digit growth rates, and after Eastern Europe and East Asia, Latin America will remain the growth region where CERATIZIT will be investing most intensively.
Member of the Board Thierry Wolter: “East Asia is at the top of our agenda, as we have companies in the three most important markets, China, Japan and India which contribute in a higher-than-average way to the group’s growth. We will certainly press ahead with our efforts in the Asian markets.”

“We consistently optimize our processes”
“Rationalization is always a topic as the cost pressure from competitors never ceases”, says Board member Wolter. “This does not however mean that we are trying to attain the cost structure of our Asian - namely our Chinese - competitors. And we will also not be moving our entire production to low-wage countries as we obviously want to maintain our high standard with regard to quality, products and services and above all our customer proximity. This however does not rule out production being transferred in single cases.
In the framework of our current project, FOCUS FUTURE, our aim is to interlock production and sales, also geographically, in such a way that the customer's requests are fulfilled as quickly and efficiently as possible. At the moment this project basically concerns the West European production sites. But the more we grow in Asia and Latin America, the more we will extend our production in these regions to maintain customer proximity.
We want to optimize all the processes which are necessary to fulfill the customer’s requests. For this purpose we have to continuously increase efficiency in all areas, i.e. research & development, acquisition, sales, production and logistics. CERATIZIT and our employees have already attained a lead over competitors.”
In a globalized world suppliers must have a high presence worldwide, but also be available at any time and in any place as well as ready to deliver. These dynamics obviously carry all kinds of challenges, but CERATIZIT understands them as a chance to win new markets and customers for our products. Accordingly, CERATIZIT will show its strong position with selected products in the company’s business segments at AMB and will focus on Automotive, Mechanical Engineering and product innovations. Here are some of the products which are used mainly in the automotive industry.

--------------------------

World innovation: save costs and cooling lubricant when machining aluminium wheels with MaxiCool
One of the special fields of the carbide expert CERATIZIT is aluminium wheel machining. The recently developed MaxiCool system now allows the complete dry machining of wheels without refitting machines. In this way CERATIZIT once again is able to support their customers in the automotive industry when it comes to the decisive topic of cost reduction.
Conventional cooling in the field of aluminium wheel machining through cooling lubricants is cost intensive. Both the recycling of the chips and the coolant causes considerable costs. While machining a wheel between four and six kilos of swarf are produced. The recycling costs are about 20 cent per kilo or approximately one euro per wheel. For tens of thousands of aluminium rims where dry machining is applied instead of wet machining attractive saving is realized very quickly. With the latest world innovation MaxiCool from CERATIZIT, aluminium rim producers can save money, optimize their profit and distinguish themselves from competitors.

Ingenious: MaxiCool cools utilizing the Joule-Thomson effect
"There were already various external air cooling systems available in the market, however, their effect was satisfactory to a limited degree. The nozzle was too far away from the tool, too much cold air was lost,” explains Michael Steiner in charge of the development of the new MaxiCool tool at the CERATIZIT development department.
With MaxiCool the CERATIZIT research department has solved this problem. The cooling unit is directly integrated into the CERATIZIT tool. The compressed air from the machine goes through the tool into the MaxiCool unit and is then cooled to minus temperatures through a physical effect known as Joule-Thomson effect. Then it immediately hits the insert and the work piece.
The cold air reduces the temperature of the swarf and enabling the tool to decrease and in a lot of cases ideally avoids the tendency of adhesion of aluminium.

The CERATIZIT programme for dry machining
Currently the following grades are available for dry machining of aluminium wheels:
    CTP4115  (PVD –TiAlN lubricating layer; K10)
    CTD4110  (medium fine diamond grains; DP-K01)
Die Sorte CTP4115 verfügt über eine bewährte PVD-Beschichtung mit hohen Gleiteigenschaften. CTP4115 is a tried and tested PVD coating with good low-friction properties. Its advantages can mainly be seen when machining aluminium alloys with low silicon content (Si = 3 %) in combination with strong built-up edge.
In grade CTD4110, PCD (polycrystalline diamond) being an extremely hard cutting material is characterised by high abrasion resistance and long service life. This grade is particularly suitable for aluminium alloys with increased silicon content (Si = 12 %), for polish turning of mirror faces and the machining of high-quality wheels and components in aluminium.
The standard programme includes three MaxiCool units with various assembly sizes:
    MAC 13-100  dimensions: Ø 13 mm; total length 100 mm
    MAC 20-145  dimensions: Ø 20 mm; total length 145 mm
    MAC 20-170  dimensions: Ø 20 mm; total length 170 mm
The smallest assembly size is designed for tools with shank (25x25mm) and tools which require limited space. The two largest units are suitable for all boring bars with sufficient space. MaxiCool is only available together as an assembly with a CERATIZIT tool.

--------------------------

The new aluminium milling cutter MaxiMill HPC 12 offers a unique milling concept with high saving potential
With its segment strategy in the business unit end-users of the cutting tool division, the carbide expert CERATIZIT is particularly successful as the company counts on segment-specific and customer-specific products as well as on tailor-made solutions. In this way the global player in the field of advanced carbide solutions also proves its competence in niche markets, for instance with the unique milling concept for the automotive industry, namely the aluminium milling cutter MaxiMill HPC 12.
A new flexible tooling concept should be developed which would be suitable for the majority of applications in aluminium milling for the automotive industry. This development project brought the MaxiMill HPC12 concept into being. The idea was to develop a milling concept where the number of teeth, the form of the cutter body, the coolant, the cutting edge geometry, the rake angles and the cutting materials (CBN, PCD) could be modified.

MaxiMill HPC 12 – the properties
• Low cutting forces thanks to positive rake angles
   - Reduced deformation of the components
   - Reduced built-up edge
   - Increased tool life
• Tool body made of steel
   - Precise repeatability during insert change
   - Very high stability and longer tool life
   - Options: bimetallic version (steel ring and aluminium core).
• High speed – high performance
   - Reduced work piece heating
   - Maximum productivity
   - Optimised design of tool and insert seat
• Axial fine adjustment
   - Short setting time through easy handling
   - Fine adjustment = 0.1 mm

HPC 12 allows savings up to 30 %!
The automotive industry in particular places high demands on their tools. The processes in this field must not only be quick and stable, they also need to be highly consistent and predictable. Furthermore, in most of the cases productivity has also to be improved. In a test with an AHPC 100R12.12 milling cutter MaxiMill HPC 12 showed its abilities and its saving potential at a CERATIZIT customer's who produces gear box cases made of aluminium AS7.
Applying the HPC 12 milling cutter the CERATIZIT customer was able to reduce the machining time by 11.3 seconds (at the beginning the machining time amounted to 30.5 seconds and was reduced to 19.2 seconds thanks to MaxiMill HPC 12). A surface quality of Rmax < 6µ – was requested, and CERATIZIT even obtained 4.42µ. The test is also very significant for its extreme cutting data:
   vc=4,712 m /min 
   n=15,000 rev./min
   f=25,200 mm/min
   fz=0.14mm
These excellent results can be attained with the HPC 12 milling cutter thanks to its stability and its simple and precise fine adjustment.
“I consider the tooling system HPC 12 a real ‘door opener’ for companies of the automotive industry,” says Tinus Zuetenhorst, sales manager of CERATIZIT Nederland. “Ever since we presented this tool we have had a much stronger presence and actively invited to carry out tests. We have already been successful at three companies with the tool!“

--------------------------

This is possible with MaxiMill: maximize performance and reduce tooling costs
The recently launched face milling system MaxiMill HEC offers maximum cutting performance and milling cutter stability The MaxiMill HEC accepts CERATIZIT precision-manufactured inserts of either carbide, ceramic or CBN material, which provide up to eight useable edges. These tangentially-mounted inserts are mounted in such a way as to ensure maximum cutting performance and cutter stability, while at the same time reducing the power required to operate them at their optimum, making them suitable to a much wider range of machine tools.

Maximum productivity and cost saving for the end-users
The result is a face milling cutter that will generate high table feeds, long and consistent tool life, economic application and process security. While MaxiMill HEC can be used in virtually any C.I. face milling application it will be of real interest to those companies supplying the automotive sector where the volumes and component types will suit its particular characteristics and generate the maximum productivity and cost savings for the end-user. Typical application areas for MaxiMill HEC would be cast iron components such as contact faces of crank cases, cylinder heads, turbochargers and pump cases, etc.
“MaxiMill HEC is the result of an ongoing and extensive development programme at CERATIZIT," says Klaus Kucher, CERATIZIT UK’s Sales Manager. “HEC is a welcome extension to the existing MaxiMill range and will provide many of our automotive customers with the opportunity to maximise their machine capacity while reducing tooling costs.”

MaxiMill HEC achieves high cutting parameters
With the LNHX 1106PNER inserts available in grades CTC3215 (carbide), CTN3105 Si3N4 (ceramic) and segmented CBN, the cutting data achieved is impressive. For example, machining GG25 material at a hardness of HB 180-220 is achieved at 200 m/min, 0.25 mm/tooth feed rate with up to 5 mm depth of cut and 79 mm width of cut. Similarly, GGG 70 material at a hardness of HB 240-300 can be cut at 180 m/min at a feed of 0.2 mm/tooth.