Interview with Stefan Nitsche, Division Manager Main Products of HAINBUCH GmbH, a leading manufacturer of clamping, change-over, measuring and automation solutions for milling, turning and grinding operations on machine tools.

IndustryArena: Mr. Nitsche, you state hat HAINBUCH develops over 1,000 special solutions in the field of clamping technology together with its customers every year. That is an impressive number. What is the secret of your success?

Stefan Nitsche: We develop products that optimize our customers' processes. Our solutions are unbeatably easy to use and guarantee maximum process reliability. We also attach great importance to quality and durability. We love the challenges that special solutions entail and work until we have found the perfect solution. There is hardly a workpiece for which we cannot offer a simple, sensible and efficient solution.

Can you give us an example of a particularly sophisticated customer-specific solution that HAINBUCH has successfully implemented?

A good example is the micro mandrel, which can clamp diameters of just 5.59 - 15 mm and still provide extremely rigid clamping thanks to the pull-down effect. Many of our customers use it to clamp very small and delicate gears. In the automotive industry, for example, we are known worldwide for how impressively our clamping mandrels clamp transmission gears. It was therefore only natural that we should also find a solution for smaller components for our customers.

Your company relies heavily on automation and has developed the new AC line for the automated changing of clamping devices. Can you tell us more about it and how the idea came about?

We are firmly convinced that automation must be thought of in terms of clamping devices. Reliable clamping technology is the basis of any automation. We offer a starter version in which the clamping head can be changed with or without a stop, and we can increase this up to changing entire clamping devices such as power chucks, mandrels or jaw chucks. It is always important that the clamping technology runs with 100% process reliability. Thanks to our many years of experience, we know where chips and dirt occur and which components need to be checked for correct positioning. And we can even supply complete cells for turning and milling processes.

What specific measures does your company take to implement its commitment to environmental protection in day-to-day operations?

We collect 2.5 tons of unmixed recyclable paper every year via our waste recycling system. In our production, for example, corundum waste is fed back into the material cycle, and we also use energy-efficient LED lighting. Of course, we also use our own clamping technology in operation. Our high concentricity avoids rejects and our extremely high clamping forces and stability enable us to achieve a high metal removal rate. This allows us to produce our workpieces faster and more energy-efficiently.

How does HAINBUCH ensure consistently high quality and service at its international locations, especially in view of the different market requirements?

Our quality is man-made. It is important to us that we all constantly improve ourselves and also exchange knowledge with each other. In this way, everyone benefits from the wealth of experience within the company. Our product and process experts also regularly train employees at our subsidiaries and partner dealers. Even for special projects, whether in Germany or worldwide, there is close cooperation between the customer, design and production to ensure the best possible result.

What are HAINBUCH's long-term goals and visions, and which new markets or technologies would you like to invest in?

Automation is right at the top of our agenda. We are only at the beginning of this development in our industry. Our products are designed with the future in mind right from the start and make automation possible. Reliable clamping, in-process and post-process measuring, our quick-change technology and our expertise in automation are the key areas that we will continue to focus on in the long term.

In conclusion, can you describe in one sentence what makes HAINBUCH so special and why a new customer should choose you?

We love what we do and want to make our customers, we are talking about fans, a little bit better every day - from set-up to clamping and measuring through to automation.

Mr. Nitsche, thank you very much for the interesting interview.

For more information about HAINBUCH GmbH click here.