A MAGAZINE FROM SECO #1.2013
Read Edge on your Ipad! Scan the code
LARGE TAILOR-MADE disc milling cutters pave the way for ABC Diesel’s new, ultra-modern marine diesel engine.
DIESEL POWER READY FOR 2016 MACHINING SOLUTION BEATS A PATH TO THE ORE ALL SYSTEMS GO WITH IMPROVED PCA TOOL
HOW IT WORKS MINIM A S T ER P L US™
Minimaster Plus ALONG WITH A FEW other improvements, the Minimaster
Plus tool system has added a new line of inserts for highfeed machining to its collection of square shoulder, ball nose and multi-flute inserts.
The inserts have internal through coolant possibilities for best possible tool life and reliable chip evacuation.
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TEXT: Åke R Malm PHOTO: Seco
WWW.SECOTOOLS.COM/MINIMASTERPLUS Product availability: NOW Order & application data: MN Update 2013-1
EDGE is a customer magazine from Seco Tools published in 25 languages worldwide. Seco Tools AB Marketing Department, 737 82 Fagersta, Sweden. Phone +46 223-400 00 Fax +46 223-718 60 Internet www.secotools.com Publisher Hans Hellgren E-mail hans.hellgren@secotools.com
Managing editor Jennifer Hilliard E-mail jennifer.hilliard@ secotools.com Editorial production and layout Appelberg Publishing Group Project manager Anders Nordner Art directors Cecilia Farkas, Johan Nohr Print Elanders Coverphoto Gettyimages, Ed Pritchard
Editorial material in this publication is the copyright of the publisher, Seco Tools AB. Articles may be reproduced free of charge providing reference is made to Edge and the Managing Editor is notified. The trademarks and brand names used in this publication are protected by law.
C O N T E N T S E D I T O R I A L #1.2013
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Seco employees spend time volunteering for a charitable organisation.
THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS WE LIVE IN A TIME where information is accessible
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APPLICATION: MILLING
Large tailor-made disc milling cutters pave the way for ABC Diesel’s new, ultra-modern diesel engine. ONWARD AND UPWARD
The new Productivity and Cost Analysis system will soon be available for tablets.
KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER BY THE BOOK
Education and training for metal cutting professionals is taken to the next level with a new book.
ON THE JOB: A SPANISH DUO
At Spanish manufacturer Alumalsa, Alfonso Moliner and Raúl Arnas work to optimise production.
FIVE TRENDS IN METAL CUTTING
Reducing waste production is just one trend outlined by ThyssenKrupp Materials in France.
through a variety of channels. That’s why we decided to make EDGE magazine available on the iPad. This is now the second issue to be produced for the tablet. The EDGE app offers our readers the same access to information about our products, technical articles and customer cases along with supplemental material that really comes to life in the digital arena. Look for EDGE on the iPad in the Apple AppStore or scan the QR code on the front page of the magazine to access the app directly. This isn’t the only new avenue in which we aim to provide you with compelling and informative stories. We are currently expanding our presence in the virtual world, putting the finishing touches on a website–edgeupdate.com–with news, facts, and information about Seco and our products. For this issue of EDGE, though, we take a tour in the real world, traveling first to Belgium to learn more about the production of diesel engines, before making a stop in Brazil to see how one company’s equipment deals with the rigours of mining. Finally, Seco’s own Patrick de Vos and Professor Jan-Eric Ståhl of Lund University in Sweden have written a book about the tooling industry. It’s just another example of Seco’s continuous endeavour to provide helpful knowledge and service to our customers. Enjoy!
INDUSTRY: MINING
Pump manufacturer IMBIL in Brazil increased manufacturing speed by 90 percent, while machining costs fell 60 percent.
hans hellgren senior vice president, sales and marketing edge@secotools.com
SUSTAINABILITY: SECO’S OWN CARBON TAX
Corporate social responsibility is more than a catchword; it’s the catalyst for a sustainable future. SUGGESTIONS? Do you have story ideas for Edge? Send them to edge@secotools.com.
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APPLICATION M IL L I N G
A Belgian company’s latest engine is the culmination of 100 years of experience in diesel technology.
At ABC Diesel, huge engines require special machining.
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DIESEL’S DESCENDANT
APPLICATION M IL L I N G
Seco has supplied to ABC Diesel for decades.
The ABC’s of ABC Any interruption of the in 1912, ABC Diesel has 220 flow can cost us dearly.” Founded employees and produces about 150 stateJohan Van de Velde
A
LARGE FACTORY
hall located in the outskirts of Ghent, Belgium, is filled to capacity with hundreds of large and small machines, cranes, crates and thousands of engine parts. Some of these parts, straight from the mould, are still unmachined, and some are intricately machined; most of them are too heavy to machine by hand. Here, a dedicated workforce hand assembles 150 engines every year. ABC Diesel is a successful builder of medium to large diesel engines sold all over the world. The “Anglo Belgian Company” was established a century ago, in 1912 by a group of investors. One of the investors, the Carels Brothers, brought the license for the diesel engine to the new company; Georges Carels was a friend of diesel engine inventor Rudolf Diesel. Today, many of the workers
have been with ABC for decades. One of them applies delicate striping onto a tiny, single-cylinder diesel engine the size of a water cooler. This little engine left the plant a century ago, and it is now being carefully restored for a new museum being opened as part of ABC Diesel’s centenary celebration. And what better way to celebrate such a milestone than with a promising new design? In September 2012 ABC’s 6DL36 engine was introduced at the SMM trade fair in Hamburg. This engine represents the latest in diesel technology, built to meet the strict international emission requirements (IMO-3) for 2016 with ease – even without a cumbersome, power-reducing catalytic converter. Double-turbo EGR technology and specially shaped combustion chambers help make this one of the most advanced diesel engines in its class. “It represents a giant leap – not
of-the-art diesel engines per year that are sold in more than 120 countries. The six- and eight-cylinder inline engines and the V12s and V16s in the 500–4,000 kW range are used for locomotives, power stations and smaller vessels such as tugboats and fishing vessels.
only in a technological sense, but also for us at ABC Diesel,” says Production Chief Johan Van de Velde. “This engine is twice as large as anything else we’ve ever built, and it required a massive investment in new machining facilities.” To Tim Berckmoes, Managing Director at ABC Diesel, reliability throughout the supply chain is crucial.
ABC SPENT five million euros
on a huge CNC machine from Waldrich Coburg in order to mill the new engine’s parts. The tools for the job are supplied by Seco, which has been supplying ABC with tools for decades. Dirk Tack, supervisor for the new machine, says, “This big machine was a new
6DL36 Engine Type: 6 cylinder inline Launched: Sept. 2012 Power output per cylinder: 900 HP RPM: 750 Complies with: future international emission standard IMO-3 Projected development: the new engine range will be extended to a power output of over 15,000 HP. Dirk Tack, Process Engineer, appreciates Seco’s large disc milling cutters tailor-made for ABC Diesel and is responsible for the project.
challenge for us, so we needed a lot of new solutions. From day one, Seco has been working with us on many of those. Some particularly large disc milling cutters – diameter 450 millimetres – were tailor-made for us.” Tack appreciated Seco’s involvement. “There are sales reps who sell, and sales reps who think along with you,” he says. “We only want to deal with the latter, and that is exactly what they do at Seco. Honestly, in some cases we doubted if their ideas would work, like when they came up with a long flute finisher, a solid carbide [type
522] endmill which they claimed to be stable at an edge length of five times its own diameter [5xD], and more. But it was! Seco tools are the only ones that always work flawlessly right from the moment we install them.” Luc Claeys, Sales Representative with Seco, explains: “Our inserts are fairly thick, which enables a safe cutting operation, a requirement from ABC. Furthermore, we have many cutting edges per insert, which makes the milling inserts excellent value for money.” Mazak CNC machines at ABC operate unattended for two four-hour shifts every day. “Any
interruption of the flow can cost us dearly, as during those hours there is no supervisor to intervene if something breaks down,” says Van de Velde. “That is why tool reliability is extremely important for us.” Tim Berckmoes, Managing Director at ABC, adds, “Reliability is very much a characteristic of the engines we build, so we need this same reliability throughout our whole supply chain. We must have 100-percent confidence in our tool supplier, and the people from Seco have proven for many years that we can trust them time and again.”
PRODUCT PCA
Advanced analysis A new, enhanced version of the PCA system is coming soon. TEXT: Cari Simmons PHOTO: uniquely india/fanatic studio
THE THOUSANDS OF SECO customers who have taken advan-
tage of the Productivity and Cost Analysis (PCA) system since it was first developed in the early 1990s have typically enjoyed cost savings of between 15–30 percent and productivity improvements of up to 40 percent. “PCA is a very powerful tool that, among other things, enables customers to level out production on the shop floor, easily identify bottlenecks or constraints and stay in control of their production processes,” says Ben Alexander, Service Owner Cutting Applications and PCA at Seco Tools. The PCA system was recently enhanced, enabling customers to log on to a centralised databank, view reports and integrate comments. “The new system includes an HTML presentation layer and can provide reports for multiple platforms, from desktop computers to tablets,” says Alexander. “It also has better integration with our core systems’ product and customer data, enabling us to learn from each other’s experiences.” PCA is performed by a Seco representative, and all reports are available strictly through the service. The latest version of PCA, which was released in January 2013, will offer customers greater access not only to completed PCA reports, but also to individual test reports, R&D trials and Component Engineered Tooling (CET) studies. “We are building up even more experience and knowledge in the system,” says Alexander. “With a CET report, for example, we get closer to the machine tool builders and can provide more details and consistency in reporting, no matter where we are in the world.” There are some ambitious plans for the future too: “We want to connect the application to the learning management system that is currently being built to share knowledge and experience better within the Seco group. We also want to provide partners and distributors with more access to this application. Our goal is to make our sales staff the most knowledgeable on the market when it comes to today’s cutting practices, the most aware of what is happening in the field – and well-prepared for any challenge by providing data in a nice, easy-to-use format.”
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Back to the future Ben Alexander is not the first in his family to work with Productivity and Cost Analysis (PCA) development. Back in the early 1990s, Alexander’s father was one of a small team at Seco who invented PCA in the UK. The system began with spreadsheets and macros but Ben Alexander, who started working at Seco Tools in 2004 and on PCA since 2009, has been updating it with possibilities for social media, tablets and a centralised databank. At the time it was developed, PCA offered a new way of thinking. “Seco wanted to show customers that the cost of tools was actually a very small part of the overall production costs,” says Alexander. “There were larger savings and multiple benefits to be made in such areas as increasing production capacity.” For the latest version of the software, Alexander has been working closely with individuals from many different departments within Seco. “We tried to include as many stakeholders as possible in the software development to make sure we meet everyone’s requirements, be it from CET, R&D or IT. The more experiences that go into the application the better and we hope to continue this with every update to come.”
Ben Alexander strives to meet everyone’s requirements.
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KNOWLE DG E SHA R I N G TEXT: David Wiles PHOTO: Svante Örnberg
Knowledge transfer by the book Seco Tools’ education and training for metal cutting professionals is taken to the next level with a new book from a leading expert in the field.
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NEW AND AUTHORITATIVE book that
gives a unique overview of the key theories in metal cutting and how to apply them in practice will be published by Seco Tools. “This is my life in metal cutting – a life’s work, in some ways,” says the author Jan-Eric Ståhl, Professor of production materials engineering at Lund University, Sweden. “Knowledge and understanding of metal cutting has, until now, been fragmented. My intention with this book was to bring these various strands together.” The book, Metal Cutting, Theories and Models, is an important new addition to the Seco Technical Education Programmes (STEP), which equip professionals in the metal cutting industry with education and training in efficient and effective cutting tool use. “This new book will serve as a source of supplementary information,” says Patrick De Vos, Corporate Technical Education Manager at Seco Tools. “Most of the models for describing metal cutting processes in Professor Ståhl’s book are based on experimental work; at the same time, the practical use of these processes is discussed in detail.” Nearly 100,000 people have taken part in STEP since it was launched seven years ago. “Metal cutting is not an exact science; you can do as much preparation as you want on paper, but the reality will always be different,” says De Vos. “Our training prepares participants for the fact that reality will be different.”
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“...choose the best tool material.” Professor Jan-Eric Ståhl, Lund University
Professor Jan-Eric Ståhl is currently working with oxygen-free copper to study surface integrity after machining. The goal is to find optimal machining data and optimal tool surfacing.
Highly customisable, STEP training can either take place at customers’ facilities or at any Seco Tools’ technical centres around the world, and is a programme that is unique among tool suppliers. “Seco Tools has more than 60 years of experience with metal cutting, and we want to share this experience with our customers,” says De Vos. “An important part of our marketing strategy has long been to not only supply our customers with tools and inserts, but also to educate, train and inform them about the best ways to use these tools. That is why we educate our customers in how to select the best tool, how to use the tool, and how to react when something is not working according to expectations. We do this in a really structured way, and that is what STEP is all about.” PROFESSOR STÅHL’S BOOK and
the new STEP programme that it accompanies – they share the same title – cater to professionals who want to take their knowledge to the next level. “Over the years we have seen more and more
questions from customers who are ready for the next step, to move up to a more academic level,” says De Vos. “They want to gain more indepth knowledge about the metal cutting process so that they can become even more productive and cost efficient.” Professor Ståhl has collaborated with Seco Tools for several years, educating the company’s employees on metal cutting and in research and development. He says his new book is more theoretical than practical. “It covers mechanical forces, temperatures and tribological loads, and deals with how these phenomena interact,” says Ståhl. “It looks at how we can take care of these loads in the best way to make the best geometry and choose the best tool material.” Using the example of a superalloy in a steam or gas turbine, Professor Ståhl says there would be unique loads that must be handled by adjusting the best tool geometry and the appropriate tool material properties. “These are, of course, unique for every material group and machining case, but then of course we couldn’t make tools for every single application; we need to group them into application areas,” he says. “But the fundamental theory that provides understanding on how to do this work is described in my book.”
The book: Metal Cutting, Theories and Models AUTHOR: Jan-Eric Ståhl, Professor of production materials
engineering at Lund University AMBITION: To give a coherent description of metal cutting processes
based on a strong physical foundation TARGET READERSHIP: Advanced users of cutting tools, teachers of metal cutting courses, Master and PhD students, plus anyone who wants to learn more about the foundations of metal cutting LAUNCH: Late 2012.
ON THE JO B
PHOTO: Diego Vivanco
DYNAMIC DUO
ALFONSO MOLINER Age: 44 Occupation: Technical Mechanical Engineer Background: “I started as a programmer 13 years ago, gradually became involved in tool designing and am now in charge of the development and fine tuning of milling projects.” Family: Wife and a 17-day-old baby Outside interests: Dancing, singing and group hiking in the Pyrenees
At an aluminium parts manufacturer in Spain, Alfonso Moliner and Raúl Arnas work together to optimise production.
ALUMALSA HAS more than 500 employees, and we work almost exclusively for the automotive industry, primarily producing turbos, brake cylinders and heat exchangers. We are currently pressure die casting a daily average of 50 tonnes of aluminium; we have weathered the economic crisis through export and the development of new projects. To optimise existing mechanised processes, we work as a team. We identify the tools which will enable us to do the work, and look for the right suppliers. Then we verify that the systems which we implement give the desired performance. As a team we agree on which tools we should test, and this is when Seco comes in, providing valuable wisdom in identifying the tools to carry out not only the specific purpose at hand but also similar production tasks. We now have more control over the machinRAÚL ARNAS ing processes; the tools Age: 32 Occupation: Tool Maker and calibration systems Background: “I completed vocational trainare modern, allowing us ing in metal mechanics, and have been at to produce stable, higher Alumalsa for two years. I manage tool control, quality parts, which will stocking and administration, and also work on ultimately guarantee the research and development, innovating with company’s future. Alfonso.” Seeing all the invesFamily: Wife and two children, aged 4 and 1 tigating and testing pay Outside interests: Water polo, spending off when a process has time with the family improved substantially is greatly satisfying. The fulfilment also comes from having in our hands the best technology in the market, and knowing that thanks to these tools we are a leading company in our field.
Team support Alumalsa’s No.1 supplier, Seco is currently assisting Alfonso and Raúl with their efforts to improve performance through the customisation of Seco’s PCD tools. Great strides have been made in machining as a result of Seco’s technical support and knowledge of the PCD range.
OU T L OOK GLOBAL TRENDS
TRENDS
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IN METAL CUTTING LAURENT DEBRAIX is the director of the Bourges regional office of ThyssenKrupp Materials France, a specialist in distribution and processing services for steel and nonferrous metal. He shares his take on what’s happening in the industry today. TEXT Anna McQueen ILLUSTRATION Johan Nohr & Istockphoto
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Safety and recycling “By reducing waste production, companies can limit their environmental impact and make significant savings. It’s also important to make safety and productivity part of the same battle. Managers must ensure safe working conditions whilst maintaining economic performance.”
Shorter production and delivery time “The current economic context means that producers, distributors and end users are all being driven by the same goals – to do things quickly and well. The Supply Chain Management concept is becoming increasingly popular in France for all kinds of companies seeking to reduce production cycle times to respond to the requirements of their end users.”
Increased technical support “As skills and needs become more diverse, technical skills and expertise in materials are being lost. Few companies now have their own labs, so our customers rely on us for advice. Distributors are turning into partners.”
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Rationalising standard metals
“Steel producers are increasingly rationalising production to save money, focusing on producing large quantities of standard products. Of course they produce specific products on request, but only in large quantities. Metal distributors are now playing a more significant role because they provide the link between producers and end users/ manufacturers.”
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Aeronautics: A growth sector “This industry is rapidly evolving, driving manufacturers to develop new, high-performance materials requiring strict quality controls and in-depth specifications. Aircraft manufacturers and their sub-contractors need a wide range of materials at the lowest possible price.” edge [1 ·2013]
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INDU ST RY M ININ G
PPUMPIN U A Brazilian pump manufacturer needed special tools to expand into the mining sector.
TEXT: Arnaldo Comin PHOTO: Luciano Munhoz and Eco Images
Iron in Br azi l
Value of 2 011 expo rts: USD 41.8 billion Amount o f 2011 ship ments: 330 million tonnes Share in c ountry’s fo reign sales: 16 % Reserves : 26 billion tonnes (7.8% of th e world’s 2 70 billion tonn es)
NG IRON The Carajas mountains in Brazil contain the largest and purest iron ore deposit in the world.
INDU ST RY M ININ G IMBIL’s pumps for the mining sector are made of highly resistant nickel-hard alloy that is four times harder than conventional cast-iron components.
B
RAZIL IS MADE UP of vast rain forests, a 9,000-kilometre long coastline, the biggest global food business after the US and the most developed industrial sector in Latin America. But it is also made of iron. A lot of iron. The country is the second largest iron ore producer, behind Australia, and it is home to one of the “big three” giants of the world mining market, Vale S.A. Despite of a slight decrease of sales influenced by lower Chinese demand, Brazil is expected to export 320 million tons of iron ore in 2012; the exported amount last year was worth 41 billion US dollars. The primary resource for steel, iron ore represents the most important item in the country’s foreign exchange balance sheet, and it supports thousands of industrial suppliers in the mining chain. IMBIL, a pumping equipment manufacturer located in Itapira, an agro-industrial city 160 km away from São Paulo, is one of those suppliers. Founded in 1982 as family-run business with 950 employees, the company earns most of its income from ethanol and sugar producers, but it also sells pumping solutions for irrigation, petrochemical, pulp and paper, textile and sanitation firms. IN OCTOBER 2010, IMBIL started to develop a special
product line for mining operations, since the average mineral extraction plant requires nearly 100 pumping systems. However, the extremely hard and abrasive conditions created by iron ore and bauxite presented a challenge, requiring a special, highly resistant nickel-hard alloy that is four times harder than conventional cast-iron components. The main obstacle was not reaching the right alloy specifications, but finding a way to machine the material. “Even using the best tools in the market, that were hard metal or ceramic, we did not succeed,
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“We simply would not make it without Seco’s PCBN solution” Adalberto Larsen, IMBIL’s Production Engineering Supervisor
and the process turned out to be too distressing,” says Adalberto Larsen, IMBIL’s Production Engineering Supervisor. One of the main problems was the high turnover of inserts used during the machining process. Seco, a long-term supplier for the pumping equipment manufacturer, helped IMBIL reach a solution through IMBIL’s partnership with Seco’s local office. Altair Sberga, Sales Exclusive Representative for Seco, recalls, “We saw an opportunity to develop a tailor-made solution that would fit with their productivity needs.” During the course of one year, specialists in Brazil and Sweden designed and tested several alternatives for a customised PCBN insert tool suitable for IMBIL’s needs. The results exceeded expectations. “We simply would not make it without Seco’s PCBN solution,” says Larsen. For IMBIL, the most important achievement was the increase in productivity. Manufacturing speed increased 90 percent, while machining costs fell 60 percent. The customised and standard PCBN tools eliminated two steps in the machining process. Before, edge [1·2013]
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INDU ST RY M ININ G
With a PCBN solution, IMBIL could reduce the production stages to just one furnace and turning application sequence.
the nickel-hard alloy had to be processed twice in the blast furnace and pass twice through a turning application to reach the quality expected by IMBIL’s engineers. With a PCBN solution, the company could reduce the production stages to just one furnace and turning application sequence. “Seco’s tools allowed us to reduce the delivery deadline for our clients, and the company took a decisive role to make this project successful,” says Vladislav Siqueira, IMBIL’s founder and Executive Director. IMBIL’s bet on the mining industry is paying off: This segment has become the second biggest in revenues for the company since its production began full operation in November 2011. The future of mining industry in Brazil continues to look bright. The country is expected to enjoy the world’s highest level of private investment in extraction of phosphate and potassium for fertilizers until 2016. Brazil is also considered to be a major source for rare earths, expensive and essential elements necessary for high-technology products such as smartphones and electric vehicles. So as the mining industry’s expectations become reality, it looks to be a great future for IMBIL, too.
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IMBIL (Indústria e Manutenção de Bombas ITA Ltda.) LOCATION: Itapira, São Paulo State, Brazil EMPLOYEES: 950 PRODUCTS: Pumping equipment for
applications in agro-industrial, irrigation, petrochemical, pulp and paper, textile and sanitation facilities MAIN MARKETS: Ethanol, sugar cane and mining operations RELATIONSHIP WITH SECO: Seco is a long-term tool supplier for most of IMBIL’s product lines. Solutions include Crownloc and Performax drills, Double Octomill and Square 6 mills, several milling solutions for cast-iron, steel, stainless steel and nickel-hard alloys, MDT turning and EPB fastening tools.
INSIG HT STA I NL ESS STEELS
Make stainless painless Patrick de Vos, Seco’s Corporate Technical Education Manager, explains why stainless steels deserve their own tool and cutting data selection process.
Adhesion
Abr
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ne s i ve
STAINLESS STEELS are commonly used in severe environments and applications that require corrosion resistance or the ability to maintain mechanical strength at elevated temperatures. But too often, they are lumped together with ‘regular’ steels in terms of their machinability. What are stainless steels? Steels are said to be stainless when they are highly resistant to corrosion. This quality is achieved by dissolving sufficient chromium in the iron (a concentration of at least 10.5%) to produce a coherent, adherent and regenerating chromium oxide protective film on the surface. Most stainless steels are based on the Fe-Cr-C and Fe-CrNi-C systems, but other alloying elements are also important. A huge variety of alloys are available. On the basis of the predominant phase making up the microstructure, stainless steels can be classified into five main categories: austenitic, ferritic, duS t ra
ss
% 40% 0% 20
Hardness
in h
a rd
eni
ng
0% 0% 10 6 0% 8
Low thermal conductivity
Austenitic SS 42CrMo4
plex, martensitic and PH (precipitation hardening) stainless steels. If we compare austenitic stainless steels to 42CrMo4 (alloy steel that is often used as a reference material for machinability indexing), we notice interesting differences: Stainless steels show higher adhesion (and ductility) tendency than steel. This means that the materials used to cut stainless steels must be tougher and their coatings must be of the “anti-adhesion” type. The micro-geometry of the cutting edge is important, as it can compensate for the stainless steel’s high ductility and assure good chip formation. Compared to ‘regular’ steel, cutting speeds should be increased to compensate for high adhesion tendency, and special attention should be given to micro-chipping (due to build-up at the edge), notch wear and flaking of the coating. Stainless steels also show higher strain hardening tendency, a material property whose natural consequences are increased notch wear and chipping of the cutting edge. The correct microgeometry of the cutting edge can compensate for this, as sharper edges reduce strain hardening during the cutting process. Depths of cut need to be continuously changed – to spread the risk for too much notch wear from cutting through a strain hardened
layer – and feeds should be as high as possible. Stainless steels have lower thermal conductivity, which means that less heat will be evacuated with the chips. More heat will go to the cutting edge, resulting in higher temperatures, so the hot hardness of the cutting material is important. Cutting speeds and feeds should be selected very carefully to limit heat generation and have maximum heat absorption in the chips. Plastic deformation is a typical tool wear mechanism for stainless steels. The hardness of stainless steels is comparable to steel. Cutting forces are on the same level, so there is no need to take special precautions for cutting force compensation, and depths of cut and feeds do not need to be limited compared to steel applications. Stainless steels show higher abrasiveness, which causes rapid crater wear. With increased abrasion resistance in the coating, tools get higher tool utilization (metal removal rate per unit of tool life). Clearly, the machinability of stainless steels should be defined separately from the one for steel. Stainless steels deserve their own tool selection process, and cutting conditions should be selected accordingly. Patrick de Vos, patrick.de.vos@secotools.com
LEARN MORE in Seco’s STEP education programmes
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PORTR A I T CORPORATE VOLUNTEERS
Volunteering on the clock
At Seco’s NAFTA headquarters in Michigan, USA, corporate charitable donations include employee work hours. TEXT AND PHOTOS: Dwight Cendrowski
T
HE ECONOMIC CRISIS that began
brewing in 2007 sent shudders through world financial markets and governments. Stocks fell, large financial institutions collapsed and governments throughout the world had to bail out their too-big-to-fail banks. In the United States, no state was hit harder and longer than Michigan, the historic birthplace of the auto industry. In late 2007, when the average unemployment rate in the US was 4.6 percent, Michigan’s stood at 7.4. As car sales slowed to a crawl, Michigan workers suffered drastic layoffs, until by the summer of 2009 the official unemployment rate stood at more than 14 percent and close to 30 percent for workers in Detroit – the city’s worst unemployment rate since 1982. In late 2009 some employees at Seco NAFTA Headquarters in Troy, Michigan, asked themselves how they could help their struggling neighbours, and the Corporate Volunteer Program (CVP) was born. Based on a suggestion made to the Culture Improvement Team, which had been formed in 2006 to find ways to foster employee ownership of the corporate culture, CVP was the brainchild of three Seco Troy employees: Media and Design Specialist Amanda Childress, Pricing Analyst Mary Sheridan and Manager of Distributor Development Ron Bawol, now retired.
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CVP is simple in design, but dramatic in effect. Employees are offered 16 paid hours each year to volunteer for an organisation of their choice. Childress says, “We wanted a way to participate in philanthropy without just signing a corporate check. Our way of donating to the community would be by giving away employees’ time.” And while it took time to build, the programme really took off by 2010; today about 85 percent of the employees in Michigan participate. It’s not a top-down programme. Both Childress and Sheridan stress that the key to success has been employees’ initiative and ownership of the policy. “If there’s something near and dear to you, own it, bring it in, do it and get everyone else involved,” says Childress. THE LIST OF GROUPS that receive aid includes the Red Cross, the American Cancer Society, March of Dimes, and many smaller groups and organisations. Anouck White, a Customer Service Representative, is especially interested in health and wellness; she often takes the lead in organising events that not only help those in need, but also improve employee fitness. “I went through a rough time a couple years ago when my husband got really sick,” she explains. “I’m from France and don’t have family here, so I turned to friends. I realised that everyone needs help sometimes. Now that we’re getting back on our feet, it’s important for me to help other
The Corporate Volunteer Program (CVP) 16 hours of paid volunteer time per employee per year Corporate-sponsored events and activities of an employee’s choosing: walk-a-thons, serving meals at a soup kitchen, environmental clean-up, book and bake sales, donating and delivering clothing to families and helping build low-income housing. Religious or political events are not allowed Donations to the programme total USD 12,000 in cash and goods per year. Volunteers have donated 150 hours of their time per year, or about USD 4,000 in man hours.
Anouck White, left; Amanda Childress, rear; Mary Sheridan, Pricing Analyst, right, in front of wall mural in Seco headquarters, Troy, Michigan, symbolising the spirit of volunteerism and signed by 400 Seco employees.
TIPS FOR SETTING UP YOUR COMPANY’S VOLUNTEER PROGRAMME
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Do your homework on potential recipient organisations. You want non-profits with low overhead, so that the bulk of the money goes directly to those in need. Communication to your employees is key. Keep them updated and involved, and encourage them to recruit friends and family. Make it fun. Everyone is busy and working hard, so keep volunteer activities and wellness programs as enjoyable as possible. edge [1·2013]
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PORTR A I T CORPORATE VOLUNTEERS
Amanda Childress of Seco, left, Anouck White of Seco, right, and Priscilla Perkins, Chief Development Officer of Lighthouse, with a bucket of donated items.
If there’s something near and dear to you, own it, bring it in, do it and get everyone else involved.” people.” White points to the example of Relay for Life, a programme in which employees gather pledged donations and walk for 24 hours. The relay in June raised USD 2,000 for cancer research. A FAVOURITE BENEFICIARY of the programme
is a social service agency called the Lighthouse of Oakland County, which provides services to struggling families, from emergency food aid and medical help to job training and transportation. Besides providing donated food, personal care products and money, Seco also supplies volunteers for a unique Lighthouse housing assistance programme. Employees spend time preparing apartments for mothers and their children, doing the cleaning and painting, then bringing in furniture. “It’s inspiring to see the passion and generosity people bring,” says Childress.
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Employees have found other inventive ways to contribute to the programme. There is a regular ‘Jean Day’, during which employees can pay one dollar to wear more casual clothing to work. The sales force gathers small toiletries, shampoo and toothbrushes for needy families. Management hosts charity golf tournaments. And any department can sponsor an employee barbecue to build camaraderie and raise money. For disasters farther from home, such as the tsunami that devastated Japan in 2011, Seco has matched employee donations, doubling the aid collected. “The support we get from upper management is unbelievable,” says Sheridan. At times the Troy office partners with Seco’s manufacturing facility in Lenoir City, Tennessee, for greater impact. AT SECO THERE’S GREAT pride in CVP, which is fairly unique among corporate programmes in its reach and effectiveness. Childress says that for many of the employees, “It’s moving to hear about the good work Seco does. It’s important for employees to feel, ‘I’m part of something bigger than just filing these papers each day.’”
SU STA I NA B ILITY
SECO’S
CARBON TAX TEXT: Cari Simmons PHOTO: Prince Hat/ Agent Molly & Co
The company’s carbon emissions trigger contributions to the Green Fund for environmental investments.
THROUGH ITS GREEN FUND, Seco sets aside
money related to the amount of CO2 generated by business trips and the transport of products. The collected money is then used for various environmental investments. “Transport to and from our distribution centres to customers has a big impact in terms of CO2, so we are optimising transport solutions,” says Gunnar Lobell, Global Environmental Coordinator. “We constantly analyse distribution and
logistics systems. The locations of distribution centres and the optimisation of stocked products minimise the use of air transport, while still maintaining fast deliveries. Business trips are minimised by using more video conferencing.” Of course, not all travel and transport can be eliminated, which is where the Green Fund comes in. For every tonne of CO2 generated through transport or business travel, Seco deposits SEK 400 into the fund. In 2012, investments will total about SEK 3.5 million. So far, the money has gone to two investments in India and one in the UK. In India, the Green Fund is helping to rebuild an electrical feed system for more reliable electricity generation to Seco’s plant. This will help reduce the need for diesel-generated electricity and acid batteries. “With a more stable flow of electricity, we can remove our diesel generators and cut down CO2 by 189 tonnes per year,” says Lobell. Green Fund money will also be invested in a new water treatment plant, helping alleviate the company’s dependence on India’s limited water resources by 90,000 litres of water a year. In the UK, Seco is building a new plant equipped with solar panels, which will produce 39 MWh of electricity per year and reducing CO2 emissions by 21 tonnes annually. The panels will feed any surplus electricity to the public grid. “The aim is to make the Green Fund a longterm activity,” says Lobell. “As long as we have emissions from products and trips, we will continue to set aside money to be used with Green Fund thinking.”
Less impact The Green Fund, which officially started in 2012, is just one part of Seco’s efforts to compensate for any negative environmental impact its operations or activities might have. The company has been ISO 14000-certified since 2006 and has also set up a number of objectives to reduce its environmental impact, such as minimising waste, making waste recyclable and buying back used inserts and solid tools from customers for recycling.
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IN BR IE F
MILLING TURBO 10 GAINS GROUND THE 2011 LAUNCH OF TURBO 10 for square shoulder milling is now followed by an insert range expansion that includes both direct pressed and ground insert alternatives. Direct pressed inserts get a larger radii range from 0.4- to 3.1-millimetre corner radii. The expansion of the ground insert range includes geometries for materials that are difficult to machine, such as aluminium, stainless steels, titanium alloys and other alloyed materials. The ground insert alternatives are available with radii ranging from 0.4 to 3.1 millimetre corner radii.
Product:
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Turbo 10 geometry expansion
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Turbo 10 helical cutters
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Minimaster Plus additions
NOW
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335.25
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Highfeed 4
NOW
www.secotools.com/highfeed
Square 6-08 cassette range Dimension Ø160 – 315mm addition
NOW
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MK2050
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JABRO Product:
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Jabro HPM additions JHP770
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Jabro Composites additions
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Jabro-Solid² Inch additions
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Jabro HPM Inch additions
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THREADING Product:
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Seco-Capto Snap-Tap Holders
NOW
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Ready to wear MK2050 IS A NEW INSERT grade specially designed for milling cast irons with varying cutting data in both automotive (for engine blocks and cylinder heads, for example) and general engineering applications. With cooling it is suitable for all types of cast irons, and without cooling for nodular cast irons. Replacing MK2000 and – to some extent – MK3000, MK2050 has a newly developed high-hardness substrate for even and controlled wear, which means long tool life and high application security.
GO HELICAL TURBO 10 HAS BEEN ADDED to Seco’s range of high-performance helical cutters, offering high feeds, large depth of cut and high metal removal rates in contouring and profiling applications. It can be used for slotting, pocketing and ramping as well as circular and helical milling. Helical Turbo 10 has better depth of cut capabilities than those of conventional square shoulder mills. The tool features insert pockets with improved precision and axial support, to minimise mismatch between insert levels. Inserts come in XOMX10T3 and XOEX10T3 versions with geometries giving low cutting forces. Helical Turbo 10 is available with Combimaster, Arbor, Seco-Capto, Weldon and Seco Weldon mounting systems.
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IN BR IE F
HOLEMAKING Product:
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Crownloc Plus (14.00-17.99)
NOW
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Crownloc Plus 8xD
NOW
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Crownloc Plus Chamfer Module
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Composite Machining – PCD Tools Step #2
NOW
www.secotools.com/feedmax/pcd
New Jumbo Bridge Bars A731S001 and 002
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www.secotools.com/jumbobridgebar
SD602 Modular drill head – adjustable
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www.secotools.com/SD602
Nanofix Short Range – Custom Design
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Axiabore with Seco-Capto connection
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Tougher turning
ADVANCED MATERIALS Product:
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CBN10/100 Replacement Uncoated Low CBN Range
NOW
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Chipbreaker PCBN
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CBN010 IS A NEW uncoated Polycrystalline Cubic Boron Nitride (PCBN) grade mainly made for turning in hardened steels. It replaces CBN10 and CBN100 and has a more uniform microstructure with greater resistance to edge chipping. This has been achieved by using newly developed manufacturing methods. Compared to its predecessors, CBN010 is tougher and has more wear resistance, resulting in increased reliability and tool life predictability. It is mainly intended for finishing and is available in three different insert formats: tip, solid and full-face, all including a number of wiper options.
Three-micron collet chuck EPB-5672 is a new collet chuck system with run-out reduced to only three microns at maximum. It offers two to three times the transmittable torque of existing collet chuck models. Tools are fastened by tightening the nut with a dedicated torque roller wrench. Due to its cylindrical shape without any asymmetrical parts, and its precision balancing, EPB-5672 is suitable for high-speed machining. A chuck can be used with collets of different clamping diameters, for tool shank diameters from 1 to 20 millimetres.
TOOLING Product:
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High Precision Collet chucks EPB-5672
NOW
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Reinforced HSK-A Shrinkfit Holders Type 5600
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Easyshrink 20: Packs No1;2;3 replacing individual modules
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TURNING Product:
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X4 – 4 Cutting Edges
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TGK1500 – Cast Iron Grade MDT
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Heavy Machining Cassettes
NOW
www.secotools.com/heavymachining
M6 Chipbreaker ISO
NOW
www.secotools.com/m6
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ROLLS-ROYCE is a world-leading provider of power systems and services for use on land, in the air and at sea , with a strong position in many global markets. Engines from Rolls-Royce provide electricity for offshore oil platforms all year round and in every condition imaginable.
8,000 kW The V12 and V16 engines can provide power from 3,000 to 8,000 kW.
Rolls-Royce Bergen Engines uses Seco’s High Feed Milling tool R220.21-8208-R160.12C for the rough machining of its engine blocks. Machining time for leveling the top and cylinder surfaces has been cut practically in half using High Feed Milling. The company also uses a range of hole making tools, drills and boring heads supplied by Seco.
320x400 All engines have a bore of 320 mm with a 400 mm stroke.
750rpm All engines can deliver 500 kW per cylinder at 750 rpm.
SUGGESTIONS? Do you use Seco tools to make a compelling product? Contact us at edge@secotools.com. 02863169 ST20126379 GB
PHOTO: ROS ROBERTS/GETTY IMAGES
POWER PLATFORM
Cutting machining time in half