Bosch Rexroth Canada looks to the future with a major investment at its Welland facility

In the current tough economic conditions, Bosch Rexroth Canada is continuing to make investments centered around customer satisfaction, including implementing lean programs such as 5S, BPS (Bosch Production Systems) and continuous improvement of its processes and technology, resulting in greater value added to the products it provides to customers.

“We pride ourselves on providing strong engineering and manufacturing solutions meeting our customer’s requirements,” says Dino Paladino, General Manager, Systems, with Bosch Rexroth Canada. “Investing in state-of-the-art equipment and personnel training is key to our commitment to maintaining the level of service and satisfaction customers expect from Bosch Rexroth.”

The new CNC machine will provide the Welland facility with added flexibility and capacity to manufacture custom manifold blocks for Bosch Rexroth’s hydraulic solutions. A team of Application Engineers and Designers develop the integrated circuits and manifold designs, and then forward the information to the machining center for manufacturing.

The new machine is a Mazak HCN 6800 horizontal machining center. It features a 10,000 rpm spindle speed, which provides fast, reliable machining of the blocks. The Mazak contains six pallets, where multiple work pieces can be loaded, offering great flexibility and the opportunity to perform unmanned machining over a period of time. Other features include a wide machining area and large table capacity, 330 tool storage magazine and cyber tool management to monitor tool condition.

According to Paladino, the machine will increase Bosch Rexroth’s current capacity and, with the added flexibility, allow penetration into new market areas.

As part of the project, Bosch Rexroth also implemented new CAM software to help improve the process. The software is Delcam’s FeatureCAM, which recognizes the features of the manifold block from the original three dimensional model, identifies the tooling required to manufacture the block, then creates the required machine code.

“The FeatureCAM software will eliminate the majority of programming typically required when trying to transfer information from our design group to the machine,” Paladino says.

The investment will bring both Bosch Rexroth and its customers a number of benefits, including:
• Eliminating programming errors, as the new system allows operators to run simulation programs before cutting any material;
• Reduced lead time for customers, thanks to the sophisticated software that reduces operator programming time, and;
• More competitive pricing on products for Bosch Rexroth customers.

“We realize that our market will be significantly changed after this downturn,” Paladino says. “Bosch Rexroth Canada remains optimistic that business conditions will improve and this large equipment investment ensures we will continue to be a leading solution provider for hydraulic systems in Canada.”
www.boschrexroth.com