New online tool makes selection easier

Polyether ether ketone (PEEK) is a sought-after material for demanding technical applications. Ensinger uses the high-performance plastic to produce, among other things, hollow rods, tubes and rings, which come in an increasing number of variations. In order to assist customers in selecting the appropriate product, Ensinger has developed the “Tube Selector”. The new online tool speeds up the ordering process and helps users to save material.

Ensinger manufacturers hollow rods, tubes and rings from TECAPEEK with wall thicknesses of 5 to 180 mm and external diameters of up to 2200 mm. The finely graduated dimensions, along with numerous plastic modifications and different manufacturing processes, give rise to around 4,000 different combinations. This range is unique on the market – no other manufacturer has such a varied selection of items to offer in this product area.

At its international production sites, Ensinger has specialised in a variety of processing methods in order to be able to manufacture products from TECAPEEK with different dimensions. The hollow rods and tubes are produced using extrusion, compression moulding and rotational moulding techniques as well as injection moulding. The compression moulding technique permits sizes with thicker cross-sections and wall thicknesses. Rotational moulding – also referred to as the centrifugal casting method – also enables customised production of very thin-walled hollow rods, tubes and rings which are used for example in high-temperature sealing applications in the oil and gas industry.

“Tube Selector”: Save time and material using the “best match” principle

So that design engineers can go straight to the right product to meet their technical requirements, Ensinger is now providing a “Tube Selector” on its website. This convenient online tool is the first of its kind. With one click on the appropriate button on the homepage ensingerplastics.com, you can directly access the new service available. In the first step, the user specifies the material: unfilled (TECAPEEK natural), carbon fibre-reinforced (TECAPEEK CF30), glass fibre-reinforced (TECAPEEK GF30) or optimised for industrial applications involving bearings and wear and tear (TECAPEEK PVX). Alongside these materials, which are in particularly high demand, further modifications can be supplied. The Tube Selector’s two slide controls make it possible to define the internal and external diameters. Alternatively, numerical values can also be entered into the screen template. The selection provides information on the availability, minimum order quantity and production method.

The software indicates the best match in each case, i.e. which stock shape from Ensinger’s product portfolio most closely corresponds to the desired size. It is clear that machining companies can reduce scrap material if they use the Tube Selector.

Variety in the manufacturing methods too

TECAPEEK combines material advantages which also come into effect at elevated temperatures: these include outstanding material properties such as dimensional stability and wear resistance, but also high chemical resistance. The thermoplastic material is therefore regarded as an almost universally usable starting material for all components exposed to high stresses.

Things were once again getting tight at medium-sized steel merchant Kicherer in Ellwangen. Expansion of the range and increasing aspirations for ever shorter delivery times had made a more efficient warehouse indispensable. The many years’ partnership was just one of the reasons that the company decided on a flexible, high-performance bar storage and distribution system from Kasto.

“We had a great range, but needed far too long to load the lorries,” says Eberhard Frick, Managing Partner of Friedrich Kicherer GmbH, summing up the initial situation. Specifically, a system was required which was significantly faster than the existing stacking cradle system along with an expansion of the existing steel centre. Right from the initial calculations, it was clear to those concerned that not only the storage capacity but also the material flow would have to be optimised. It was therefore decided to build a new, second steel centre along with an office and multifunctional block. In order to achieve an optimum storage solution, Kicherer consulted two well-known suppliers of bar storage warehouses – one of which was Kasto.

Today, Kicherer is one of the largest, medium-sized steel merchants in Germany and employs more than 350 staff. Modern logistics and warehousing technology enable a turnover of 210,000 t of steel per year. Six Kasto automatic storage systems and 44 cranes optimise the processes. The storage experts installed the first of these in Ellwangen in 1995. Over many years of collaboration, this was supplemented by racking systems for tubes, stacking cradles for structural steel profiles, angles and boiler tubes, and a UNILINE 3.0 sheet metal store with 610 cassettes. These investments were mostly driven by the objective of expanding the range and providing faster deliveries.

Objective: Significantly faster handling

Kasto was once again awarded the latest project, a bar storage system with central loading station. The innovative and flexible solution convinced Kicherer as well as the solidarity, punctual deliveries and positive experience gained by the steel merchant on previous projects with the Achern-based company, both at a personal and technical level.

Other requirements included stable and reliable operation as well as a seamless connection to the existing IT system, as Kicherer had been relying on paperless product management since 1995. The loading time was also to be considerably reduced, as Hans-Jörg Frick explains: “At the moment, our lorry drives through seven halls for loading. If everything goes well, this takes 75 minutes. The objective is to reduce the time to less than an hour.”

Five storage and retrieval machines in three aisles

The Kasto solution is based on a UNICOMPACT storage system which, with a height of 15 m and a length of 115 m, has space for around 10,000 cassettes. Each cassette can accommodate material up to six metres in length and has a payload of up to 3.4 tonnes. Fast storage and retrieval is made possible by the five storage and retrieval machines (SRM) which are distributed over three aisles of racking. At the same time, the second SRM, as a slave in one racking aisle, undertakes predominantly storage and exchange orders between the honeycomb storage systems, sawing and secondary picking orders. The small approach dimensions of the storage and retrieval machine ensure that as much space as possible is used for storage purposes. The SRMs approach the storage locations at up to 180 m/m, thus making the bar stock speedily available at the output stations on the “goods-to-the-person” principle. Directly connected to the system are three Kastowin F bandsaw machines. In order to transport the picked materials to the loading station automatically, Kasto has installed two manipulators on separate rails. From these, the bar stock travels to one of 25 loading stations via a conveyor system. A station with a packaging machine is also provided for wrapping with stretch film.

The Kicherer and Kasto IT departments have jointly modelled all components of the new logistics systems in a unified software package. This is also a mobile version of the Kastologic Warehouse Management System. As well as storage and picking, dispatch has also been incorporated, including a dispatch inspection system. “Every bundle that has been picked is scanned again on loading, and automatically marked as loaded in the material requirements planning software,” explains Kicherer IT expert Maximilian Utz. Every single step that the material in the warehouse has to take can therefore be viewed at any time. This simplifies operation, avoids errors, and enables Kicherer to ensure its high delivery quality and speed, even with a growing product range.

The new laser-based gauge developed by Dango & Dienenthal Umformtechnik measures the internal contour of tubes and pipes contact-free and with highest precision. The system is capable of measuring the shape, e.g. ovality, over the complete internal circumference or specific surface features, such as weld seams.

The recently patented system measures the internal contour of seamless metal tubes and longitudinally welded pipes in a non-contact process based on the circular laser triangulation technique. It captures the contour along the complete tube length and generates a complete 3D image of the internal tube wall from the measured data.

In longitudinally welded pipe making, the system can be employed – before welding – to capture the dimension of the weld gap, and – after welding – to measure the weld seam.

The system comes with different measuring ranges for tube diameters between 100 and 1,000 mm. It measures the internal contour at 2,048 points gaplessly distributed around the complete internal circumference of the tube. This corresponds to an angular resolution of 0.2 degrees. The distance measurement takes place with a resolution of one per mille of the measuring range.

The new gauge works on the principle of laser triangulation: A laser, accommodated in the measuring head, projects a line onto the complete internal circumference of the tube wall. The camera, which is also installed in the measuring head, captures the line at 2,048 points distributed around the internal circumference. The software derives the internal tube contour by calculating and aggregating the individual distances from the axis.

Mounted on a carrying arm, during the measurement the measuring head moves through the tube along the central axis, capturing up to 90 profiles per second. Based on these profiles, the complete internal contour can be represented in 3D.