As part of the reorganization of the entire production, Krones Nittenau has been heavily investing in its small parts manufacturing since 2021. Clamping systems from Gressel are used in the implementation of a highly automated manufacturing concept. Krones Nittenau also heavily invested in small parts manufacturing starting in 2021 where components between 5 and 1,250 millimeters (approx between 0,2 and 0,05 in) in size are produced These investments are associated with extensive automation and digitization measures aimed at ensuring the timely supply of high-quality parts in the future this occurs in small parts manufacturing in several steps which consists of several steps," outlines department head Vitali Schmidt of the scenario the milling area at Krones Nittenau was operated in a traditional manner: "We pre-assembled on pallets and lifted them in by crane," Schmidt explains performance hours had been recorded and the number of hours increased with a separate setup station and optimized processes They were looking for a process with less setup at the machine and where employees were not tied up by the setup a concept was developed with ten 5-axis machining centers G550 from Grob a fleet of driverless transport systems (FTS) "Agilox" for handling workpieces and tools as well as a whole series of clamping systems from Gressel Krones Nittenau primarily wanted to achieve two objectives with the transition the machine runtime is to be significantly increased an increase from 3,500 to 5,500 hours is planned," specifies the department head resulting in almost 40 percent more output and a substantial cost reduction to remain competitive internationally." The second point arises from employee turnover and a shortage of skilled workers Krones will also operate in three shifts in the new setup "We might already run night shifts without personnel next year," Schmidt announces there will still be an employee on-site to re-clamp the parts but a system operator will no longer be necessary we aim to reduce costs per hour—in addition to increasing the machine's output." Orders are now started from a delivery point for sawn parts A control system then checks whether all the required tools are in the machine from another machine that is not currently using the tool An Agilox then transfers this tool to the first machine as well as other tools from the central presetting The remaining requirement had been automatically dispatched here beforehand Once an FTS has picked up the preset tools and brought them to machine 1 another Agilox fleet handles the workpieces it is placed in a buffer storage with nine slots and simultaneously integrated into the internal system," Schmidt explains "The system then enables parts to be completed from the buffer based on different priorities according to delivery deadlines." After processing the system restarts and brings the pallet with the next part How many parts are inspected in which cycle can be flexibly set All parts feasible in terms of travel paths and clamping possibilities are manufactured in this way Batch sizes on the machines range from 1 to 50 due to the throughput time," emphasizes the department head "Since the number of different parts being processed is very high By clicking on „Subscribe to Newsletter“ I agree to the processing and use of my data according to the consent form (please expand for details) and accept the Terms of Use. For more information, please see our Privacy Policy Naturally, we always handle your personal data responsibly. Any personal data we receive from you is processed in accordance with applicable data protection legislation. For detailed information please see our privacy policy I hereby consent to Vogel Communications Group GmbH & Co. KG, Max-Planck-Str. 7/9, 97082 Würzburg, Germany, including any affiliated companies according to §§ 15 et seq. AktG (hereafter: Vogel Communications Group) using my e-mail address to send editorial newsletters. A list of all affiliated companies can be found here Newsletter content may include all products and services of any companies mentioned above including for example specialist journals and books events and fairs as well as event-related products and services print and digital media offers and services such as additional (editorial) newsletters specialist webportals and e-learning offers In case my personal telephone number has also been collected it may be used for offers of aforementioned products for services of the companies mentioned above In case I access protected data on Internet portals of Vogel Communications Group including any affiliated companies according to §§ 15 et seq I need to provide further data in order to register for the access to such content In return for this free access to editorial content my data may be used in accordance with this consent for the purposes stated here "The clamping tools we have deployed reflect this great variability," emphasizes Sokha Hem and D2 double clamp towers." The collaboration especially the development of the clamping tasks was extremely constructive and cooperative The first effect Krones Nittenau achieves with the systems is the intended setup efficiency which comes with features like quick jaw and spindle changes or rapid clamping range adjustment "Added to this is the high stability of the clamping tools A decisive factor for Krones is also the standardization that comes with the clamping tools Nittenau has now defined the Gressel systems as the standard for milling which means that the zero-point clamping system will be used on all machines the clamping tools are intended to be used for production in the main plant in Neutraubling in the future "We want to be able to process parts manufactured there at the push of a button with us that only works if the clamping tools are the same." Standardization is also crucial for international operations where it influences the spare parts business By rolling out identical manufacturing tools internationally Schmidt thus returns to the basic premise: "The entire concept is geared towards automation This means the focus is on the seamless interaction of the individual Gressel's systems are a firm foundation for this." Copyright © 2025 Vogel Communications Group This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page.