HELLER commissions large gantry-type milling machine

EUR 5 million investment

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With a weight of 194 tons and 30m in length, the new machine is a real heavyweight. Accordingly, the installation presented quite a challenge. After a five-month building period, the five million euro investment was put into operation at Plant II of machine tool manufacturer HELLER located at Max-Eyth-Straße in Nürtingen. This facility houses the production equipment for the machining of base bodies and columns - the largest parts incorporated in the HELLER machines. The new machine will help to reduce machining times by up to 30 to 40 percent, explains Production Supervisor Peter Herrmann. As of now, manufacturing on the machine will take place in three-shift-operation. This investment provides long-term job security for employees of the Nürtingen-based machine tool manufacturer, explained Herrmann during a small ceremony. Associate Hubert Heller also attended yesterday’s ceremony to learn more about the new gantry-type milling machine. The machine’s high precision was a particular challenge for the staff during the installation. The tool support (shown in the top right of the picture) may only deviate by five thousandths of a millimetre from its path over a length of 2.5m in order to meet the high quality standards of the HELLER machines, explains Herrmann. In 2009, the company from Nürtingen already invested approx. 5 million Euros in a new manufacturing system at their Plant I. “Altogether, we have invested approx. ten million Euros in our production facilities throughout the last two years", states Managing Director Claus Garnjost. The picture shows (from left): Claus Garnjost, Wolfgang Liebrich, Managing Director of Heller Services, Hubert Becker, Managing Director of supplier company Waldrich Coburg, Klaus Winkler, Chairman and Managing Director of Heller and Production Supervisor Peter Herrmann.

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