Looking back at 15 years in the die and mould industry

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Wanderlust of shops, suppliers levels playing field

Here, too, it became time for many shops to expand either their technology base, the breadth of their operations, or both, Starkey explained. “Established western mould builders had to re-think their businesses if they wanted to grow and be viable, as the 2000s were a tough decade for many. Many became bigger technology enthusiasts and embraced new approaches, and others grew awareness of the Asian market, with some further establishing alliances and locations there.”

Starkey noted that as a components supplier, his company also went global, and it expanded standards with the introduction of new mechanisms for moulds. “In addition, we added companies to our group to offer a component-based alternative to unscrewing moulds, to advance mould maintenance standards, and to standardise mould optimisation and mould monitoring.

“Embracing proven standards levelled the playing field,” he explained. While initially seen as a low-cost bargain, inexpensive tools can cause costly failures because of shoddy, custom-made components, or they can fail for lack of proper maintenance. “Entire programs can catastrophically fail due to lack of transparency between the moulder and the OEM.”

Since then, the use of standardised parts and components has spread. “Now, while nothing is easy for anyone within our industry, we are seeing an increased embracing of the standards we have developed globally, albeit in low-cost countries or high-end markets. If those same mould builders from the Trade Mission were to revisit those companies from fifteen years ago, they would find that they look more similar now due to ‘standards’ adopted.”

Old school tech reigns supreme, with twists

According to the Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering at Germany’s Aachen University, despite all the recent advances, one technology remains at the fore in die and mould building. “The foundation for successful toolmaking comes from the production technology employed. In the area of conventional production technology, cutting is and remains the most important technology in toolmaking.”

In Germany, Europe’s largest toolmaking nation, CNC technology and CAM programming have completely saturated the sector, the laboratory said. High-speed cutting and 5-axis technology are used by the majority of shops, but have yet to take their place on every floor.

Machine tool powerhouse DMG Mori pointed out that another important upgrade to machining centres was entering the market just around the time ETMM was born. The company noted that its Deckel Maho-brand DMC 85 V linear centre celebrated its world premiere in Paris in 1999. Called the world’s first mass-produced vertical linear milling centre, it was said to have wowed the market with rapid traverse, acceleration and reversal times that exceeded those of conventional machine tools by several orders of magnitude. “Furthermore, in conjunction with high-performance controllers, it was possible to achieve a high control quality with a large Kv factor [position loop gain], which enabled a low servo lag and excellent positioning accuracy even at fast travel speeds,” the supplier noted.

The linear motors are said to have also provided toolmakers with machines that had high static and dynamic rigidity, as the backlash and elasticity of the drive train had been eliminated. And, as a result of the contact-free power transfer, the linear direct drives ran without friction and without any wear, their manufacturer explained. “Equipped with such unique features, the DMC 85 V linear marked the beginning of a new era in machine-tool manufacture.”

Aachen University’s tooling lab reminded us of the importance of another cutting technology, one pronounced dead by a number of commentators a decade ago. Since then, it has been resurrected with processing advances to return as a mainstay in many shops: electrical discharge machining. “The technology has rather become a topic of conversation due to leaps of innovation.” Today, EDM has become indispensable in many dies for punching and bending as well as for injection moulds, the research centre added.

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