Machining Diamond with Diamond
Tyrolit has been in business since 1919 and has its headquarters in Schwaz, Austria. Worldwide, the family-owned company employs more than 4,400 people at 31 production sites in eleven countries.
As one of the leading manufacturers of bonded grinding and dressing tools for a wide range of manufacturing industries and system solutions for the construction industry, Tyrolit has 80,000 different and often customized products for individual requirements in its portfolio. At its plant in Schwaz, the company manufactures a multitude of different diamond grinding tools, which are used in many industries including the automotive industry among others. To ensure the high quality of the tools, Tyrolit has relied on state-of-theart machine tool technology from DMG MORI in its production facilities for many years. Five lathes, turn-mill centers and machining centers are in operation in Schwaz alone. The highlight is a DMC 80 FD duoBLOCK installed in 2020, in which grinding is also integrated. A rotary pallet storage system with seven positions automates production.
100 employees for new and further developments
A high level of innovation has long been a top priority. “Only in this way can we can meet the increasing demands of our customers over the long term,” explains Florian Zitt, responsible for process engineering at Tyrolit. Over 100 people in the company, who cooperate closely with research institutes and universities, are responsible for further technological development. The figures clearly speak for themselves: 30 percent of sales are generated from products that have been on the market for less than three years.
Development partners in process integration
The innovative mindset is also reflected in the company’s own production. “Because it means we can manufacture most products economically,” says Florian Zitt. In view of the limited space available, manufacturing solutions are called for that integrate as many machining steps as possible in one work area. “In DMG MORI, we have found a partnerwith which we can consistently continue to develop these possibilities.” He is referring here to the integration of grinding in a DMC 80 FD duoBLOCK. Both companies cooperated in the development of this solution, which has been operating successfully since 2020. “The combination of three machining processes in one work area saves a lot of space, because we were able to replace three machines with the machining center,” says Florian Zitt, describing the conditions on the shop floor. On the other hand, throughput times have been drastically reduced because repeated setups, operations and idle times are a thing of the past. “The fact that we no longer have to reclamp components manually also has a significant impact on accuracy,” says Florian Zitt, referring to the μm-precise production of the grinding wheels, which are of course machined with diamond grinding tools from the company’s own portfolio. “The extreme durability of these products makes a significant contribution to economical and also sustainable production.”
Motivation thanks to responsible jobs
Florian Zitt sees another advantage in the advanced technology integration: “In the past, milling, turning and grinding were very different disciplines. Today, these disciplines are combining to create an even more responsible job.” This makes a decisive contribution to motivation. “Today, I would no longer speak of machine operators, but of machine managers, because we are dealing here with absolute high-tech.” Young people in particular are attracted to working with modern technologies, which benefits Tyrolit in its training. “Our goal is, of course, to retain the apprentices for the long term,” says Florian Zitt.
Automated production in virtually unattended shifts
The integration of grinding on the DMC 80 FD duoBLOCK was one of two new developments for Tyrolit. The other is automated production. The machining center is equipped with a rotary pallet storage system for seven pallets, so autonomous production of individual parts is possible to a large extent.
The use of electrically-actuated fixtures is for boosting the degree of automation even further in the future. Florian Zitt is sure that flexible automation solutions will continue to be a procurement criterion in the future: “They will enable us to increase our capacity for the production of small batches, including during unattended shifts.” The batch sizes at the Schwaz site are on average three pieces.
Digitization in tool management
In addition to technology integration and automation solutions, Tyrolit will also continue to forge ahead with digitization. Digital tool management, for example, has already been implemented. “Each tool is scanned before measurement and automatically requested when the service life of the tools on the machines decreases,” Florian Zitt describes the process. Tool life is checked automatically on the machine. “This enables us to achieve reliable production processes because we replace the tools in good time.”
Customer-oriented product development
With its innovative manufacturing solutions, Tyrolit is also in a position to produce innovative grinding wheels. Requests from customers are making these increasingly complex because, for example, the coolant supply must be realized in the most efficient way. “The Centuria SM-G grinding wheels have a patented coolant supply, for example, applied directly to the diamond layer via numerousbores”, Florian Zitt tells us about the design. Lightweight versions are also becoming an increasingly important topic: “The bodies of our Polaris Plus LW wheels are designed with cavities. Our range also includes carbon fiber tools.” Tyrolit intends to maintain its sustained growth with such developments. “The medium-term sales target for the entire group is one billion euros,” Florian Zitt advises. “That also means we will continue to invest in future-oriented manufacturing solutions such as those offered by DMG MORI.”
Tyrolit Group
Swarovskistraße 33
6130 Schwaz, Austria
www.tyrolit.group