Technology fit for new jobs

Herford District. If you’re not moving, you’re losing ground — especially in the industrial world. And because customers who order products from the Lübbecke workshop are interested in more than just contributing to a good cause, establishments of this sort that employ disabled persons must also keep up with the state of technology.
The establishment has laid out 115,050 euros (non-binding recommended price stated by the Meppen-based manufacturer) to acquire a new metalworking machine. This monster, which occupies around 13 square metres and is fitted with a full complement of protective devices, goes by the name ‘HEDELIUS MC 40’. Despite the box’s ungainly form, the acting operations manager of the Oberbehme workshop, Peter Kirchhoff, took an instant liking to it.
Until now, the workshop in the Kirchlengern/Hiddenhausen intermunicipal industrial estate could only machine aluminium workpieces, but the new machine can also handle steel, even with lengths up to 1.80 metres.

The manufacturer: „The MC 40 series accomplishes the development goal of an extremely compact machining centre for the efficient production of small to mediumsized workpieces.
With a footprint of 4200 x 2900 mm, the machine offers a remarkably large processing space of 1800 x 420 x 480 mm. The powerful iTNC 530 high-performance controller from Heidenhain allows even complex NC programs to be entered quickly and without difficulty.“
This is what is occupying Peter Kirchhoff’s attention these days. And evidently the manufacturer of the new machine was not exaggerating, since the first sample pieces are already finished. ‘Customers naturally want to see what we can supply before they give us orders’, as Peter Kirchhoff yesterday explained to a group of visitors from Bünde.
The visitors, who are members of the ‘Bürger für Bürger’ (‘citizens for citizens’) aid organisation, were quite impressed when Kirchhoff showed them a cylindrical workpiece made from solid steel that had been machined with

high-precision threaded holes in both ends.
‘This is for a company in Hiddenhausen’, said Kirchhoff. ‘Naturally, we don’t just supply products to Ostwestfalen-Lippe, but also to customers everywhere in Europe. For example, lamp parts to Italy’.
Peter Kirchhoff had a very interested group of visitors yesterday with the members of the Bürger für Bürger organisation. This was their first visit to the workshop in Oberbehme, in response to an invitation from Reinhard Spanier.
Spanier explained, ‘I wanted to show them that modern disabled workshops have nothing in common with the establishments of 20 or 30 years ago.’ With a very comprehensive tour, he fully achieved his objective.

Paul Pröter/
"Neue Westfälische"

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