Despite a heavy rain warning, more than 270 visitors took the way to Altdorf near Landshut on May 11 to inform themselves at the Open House of the Steinl Group about their latest products and application innovations. The first opportunity was a symposium. The presentations focused on increasing competitiveness, without forgetting sustainability. The lecture program was supplemented by a wide-ranging in-house exhibition and a social program.
The program extended over two days. The background to the event was the 60th anniversary of LWB Steinl and 50 years of rubber and plastics processing machine engineering.
The symposium offered diverse insights into the work of the seven companies in the Steinl Group.
In his opening speech, the managing partner Peter Steinl looked back on 60 years of LWB Steinl and 50 years of pioneering work, particularly in the field of elastomer injection molding. In addition, he traced the path from LWB Steinl to the broadly diversified Steinl Group. Over the past 15 years, it has grown from mechanical engineering and the manufacture of stamped parts as its core businesses to include the areas of production automation, rubber compound confection machines, adhesive technology and bioplastics production.
Joerg Doerrstein, Managing Director of the Steinl Group company Biofibre GmbH, specified the sustainability initiatives of the Steinl Group using current examples. This included the savings potential through LWB automation solutions as well as the cycle time and energy saving potential of the LWB-specific EFE plasticizing and injection units. But also the reuse of rubber waste in rubber mixing plants and the growing use of bio-based raw materials. Last but not least, measures at and in the Altdorf plant, such as the expansion of in-house power generation through photovoltaics, the continuous conversion to LED lighting and the purchase of electric company cars.
Under the programme item "Digitization", Kai Peters from the sealing technology company Wallstabe & Schneider GmbH & Co. KG from Niederwinkling near Deggendorf and Heinz Muehlbauer from Deggendorf-based OCQ-soft GmbH & Co. KG presented an impressive practical example of increasing the production efficiency with the help of digitization tools.
Then Derek Langtry, Managing Partner of the Canadian mold making company Akromold, described how the cooperation with LWB is successfully organized over long distances.
Markus Brost from Mercedes-AMG GmbH showed how adhesives and application technology from Drei Bond GmbH, another Steinl Group company, are used in AMG engine assembly and how manual assembly work interacts with Industry 4.0 standards.
Matteo Bernini, CEO of the rubber and silicone compounder Comet S.r.l./ Coccaglio (BS) - Italy spoke about the automated operation of rubber mixing plants and the cooperation with the Italian Steinl Group company Prodicon.
Mateusz Wielopolski from Circulix GmbH & ÆVOLUTION Consulting / Bayreuth presented his concept for the implementation of sustainable product solutions in circular economy business models and the cooperation with Biofibre.
Chris Laycoe, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Airboss Flexible Products / Michigan-USA, presented his experience with the LWB multi-station concept, achieved through splitting the serial injection molding process into the injection process and the curing time to be run in parallel in separate stations, thus increasing the production flexibility and efficiency.
Elmar Stoffel, CEO of the German Eldisy GmbH in Gardelegen concluded the lecture program with the presentation of the Eldisy-specific manufacturing technology for large seals for automotive applications. For this purpose, large vertical LWB injection molding machines with a clamping force of up to 18,000 kN have recently been used, which take up less space than conventional horizontal machines and offer good operating and maintenance ergonomics.
In the newly designed application technology center and in the commissioning area of the LWB factory, there was the opportunity to see machines and system modules in operation
Specifically, these were:
After the day's program, an evening event took place at Trausnitz Castle in Landshut. Stefan Brandl, CEO of the Draexlmaier Group, was won as a guest speaker. In his lecture and in a subsequent panel discussion with Peter Steinl, Brandl gave an exciting insight into current topics in the automotive industry, such as electromobility, digitization and the growing development pressure from China.
The entire event, which ended with a paddle steamer ride the following day, was a great success despite the rainy weather. The Steinl Group team would like to thank all participants for their lively interest and positive feedback.
Christina Maniera – Marketing
E-Mail: christina.maniera@lwb.de.com
Author:
Reinhard Bauer – TECHNOKOMM
E-Mail: office@technokomm.at