ODU toolmaking put to the test
Above:
Reinhold Hechfellner with some of his toolroom team.
Courtesy ODU
For 18 years, the WZL machine tool laboratory at RWTH Aachen University and the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology have presented the best tool and mould manufacturers in the German-speaking countries with the 'Excellence in Production' industry competition. This year 265 companies competed, with ODU paricipating for the first time.
All participants initially fill out a two-stage questionnaire and then receive site visits. Eleven finalists from the tool and die industry are selected in four categories, based on detailed comparison and visits to the respective companies.
ODU were finalists in the category 'best in-house tool shop with 50+ employees'. In their submission, ODU demonstrated production on modern robot-integrated production lines, utilising its own injection moulds, overmoulding tools, stamping and progressive dies as well as assembly tools up to fully automated systems.
Ultimately, the category winner was ZF Friedrichshafen but the jury also selected Robert Bosch in the Czech Republic and ODU from Mühldorf for a certificate.
"Calling our category a lion's den sums it up pretty well. We were in direct comparison with larger companies. We were there for the first time but we did well and, above all, are broadly positioned - from punching tools to automatic machines, we make everything and have thus been able to hold our own", said Reinhold Hechfellner, Head of Global Tools at ODU.
