Bar Feeder Manufacturer Takes Advantage Of Crisis
As the world financial crisis continues to slow down different segments of the machine tool industry, the Swiss manufacturer LNS (Orvin, Switzerland) plans to grow and expand considerably. "The goal is to double the size of our company within five years," explains Thomas H. Boehmer, CEO of the LNS Group.
The international enterprise is a world leader in bar feeding, chip disposal, coolant management systems (CCM) and other peripherals to the machine tool industry. The company generated a turnover of 170 million Swiss Francs (?113 million) in 2007. LNS employs 700 people equally partitioned between Asia, Europe and North America.
"A crisis is always also an opportunity", states Boehmer. "We want to expand into new markets, offer new services and products and strongly increase our R&D investments." One of the big targets is further expansion in Asia, where LNS currently operates from two production facilities in China and Taiwan with a network of sales and service agents.
The launch of a new subsidiary in Turkey in 2009 is a further step in the expansion. In Ankara, 15 employees are responsible for manufacturing bar feeders for the Turkish market, which is one of the fifteen largest machine tool markets in the world.
"With this subsidiary, we have access to the existing sales and service network including representatives in Istanbul and Izmir of the company acquired. Turkey has a strong manufacturing base with an increasing need for automation," says Florian Wenger, CEO of the European Business Unit.
In chip disposal and coolant management, the company currently holds a 40 percent market share in the U.S. and in the United Kingdom and is developing a versatile chip conveyor and a new high-pressure coolant system.
Originally developed in the U.S., this equipment was adjusted to fit the needs of the European markets. The temperature at the cutting tool is often over 500 deg C and heat is one of the major causes of tool failure. For this reason the high pressure coolant system delivers the coolant between the cutting tool and the workpiece to improve not only the lubrication, but also the tool life and surface finish.
The Swiss company also recently introduced the modular, flexible and price-competitive Sprint 542 bar feeder that can be adjusted to a customer's needs. It features a touch screen human-machine-interface that makes it easy to supervise and troubleshoot the machine and to enter values very quickly. A machine tool/bar feed high-level communication system enable manufacturers to maintain, update and operate these machines from a central operations office.
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