Ferdinand Baaij was quite amazed by the heavy load. When the TRUMPF Managing Consultant was visiting Matyssek Metalltechnik in Stadtoldendorf near Hanover, the company was just taking delivery of a bar. This was not just any old bar, but a converted laser cutting system from the long-established company based in Ditzingen. It had been signed by the late Berthold Leibinger, the former Director of TRUMPF: "Mit Zufriedenheit besichtigt“ ("Satisfactory inspection") has been written on the housing with a black marker pen and dated October 23, 2012.
Dirk Matyssek, the Managing Partner of the machine housing specialist with the same name, acquired the bar from ebay last fall. The Managing Partner explains that it was a "spur-of-the-moment purchase" and he was the only bidder. The small print provided the incentive for the purchase – the bar is excessively large weighing a whopping seven tons. "We have a lot of room in the assembly hall," explains Dirk Matyssek, who casually admits to being a fan of Berthold Leibinger. The bar, which was once used at trade fairs by a second-hand machine dealer, will now become a meeting point for employees and customers of Matyssek Metalltechnik.
From a technological perspective there is always potential
Although it is most likely a coincidence that Ferdinand Baaij witnessed the delivery of the bar, his visit on site was not. Baaij is an advisor from the TRUMPF subsidiary Smart Factory Consulting GmbH. "We work on projects with TRUMPF customers to make them even more successful," explains Baaij. This relates to factory plans and digitization, for example. Even though the German industrial sector is well positioned from a technological perspective, Baaij explains there is still further potential in every company. Ultimately, this is down to technological developments. Baaij knows that digitalization is worthwhile. Within less than a year, an investment has usually paid for itself. The company based in Ditzingen, that has only been operating as an independent limited company for around two years, has 250 customers on its books. This includes groups of companies that generate more turnover than the TRUMPF Group, explains Baaij. Although most of its customers are medium-sized companies with 50 to 100 employees.
The late Berthold Leibinger, the former Director of TRUMPF has personally signed the converted laser cutting system.
Heavy freight: The seven ton heavy bar arriving at the Matyssek Metalltechnik assembly hall.
In future, the bar will be used as a meeting point at Matyssek Metalltechnik: Eike Rodenberg, Operations Manager at Matyssek Metalltechnik; Dirk Matyssek, CEO of Matyssek Metalltechnik, and Ferdinand Baaij, advisor from the TRUMPF subsidiary Smart Factory Consulting GmbH (from left to right).
Dirk Matyssek relies on quality and adherence to deadlines
Just like the company Matyssek Metalltechnik that employs 80 staff. Dirk Matyssek's grandfather founded the company as an agricultural machinery workshop in Stadtoldendorf, an underdeveloped region in the south of Lower Saxony, Germany. Dirk Matyssek has been the Managing Partner for 26 years. The company designs and manufactures machine housings for well-known machine tool and measuring equipment manufacturers, as well as for packaging machines and compressed air generation systems, for example.
Over the years, the products have become increasingly more complex and of a higher quality, explains Dirk Matyssek. The figures illustrate this, while in 2008 two machines processed 3000 tons of thin sheets, currently three machines only process around 1500 tons. The number of staff has also doubled over this period. Quality and adherence to deadlines are at the very top of the list of requirements of Matyssek customers, explains the company Director: "We deliver directly to production departments and must adhere to the agreed deadlines otherwise the customer will have a serious problem."
The overall challenge is that the adherence to deadlines is the top priority, while the logistics within our own Production department must be right otherwise we will lose money, explains Matyssek. The machine housings produced in the smallest lot sizes consist of up to 500 sheet metal parts plus the disks, fitting parts, seals, and screws, explains the Director. Each individual sheet metal part must be at the right place at the right time. While the bending department is focusing on optimizing the setup, the weld shop requires complete assemblies.
Three days are enough to gain an overview
This is the subject tackled by TRUMPF Smart Factory Consulting GmbH – two advisors spent three days examining the processes at Matyssek. They concluded that the capacity of the machines can be improved, thus increasing productivity. However, it is just as important that the processes are analyzed and optimized on a regular basis. Matyssek explains that this does not just apply within individual departments but between all of the departments. There is digital solution for all of these problems.
The challenge of older machines
Dirk Matyssek has witnessed this. As his company is small and reliable deliveries are important, there are machines that simply get used less frequently. This has an impact on productivity but does increase the service life of the machine. However, older machines are not always compatible with digital solutions. "I am not going to decommission one of my machines every time I want to introduce a new software," states Dirk Matyssek. Baaij reassures him that he will not have to do this, as even machines that do not have the required interface can still be integrated in the digitized process. Certain activities will have to continue to be completed manually, just like before. Incidentally, this applies to older TRUMPF machines as well as third-party systems.
TRUMPF advisors discuss as equals
Sometimes this even benefits the optimization process, as it is often not the machine causing the bottleneck, explains Baaij. In simple terms, the machine has to wait for a person to retrofit it for a new order or to receive material to be processed.
Such problems are not new to the TRUMPF advisors who have a lot of expertise in the field of sheet metal processing. Matyssek values their expertise and enjoys discussing this as equals. "We speak the same language," explains Baaij. This is why the TRUMPF subsidiary stands out from other consultancy companies. It is now down to Matyssek to award the contract over the coming months. The bar in the assembly hall in Stadtoldendorf is likely to play an important role during the discussions that will follow.
