Foundation of the Industrial Working Group Fineblanking (AKF) - 32 Companies to collaborate on Research in the Future

On September 23, 2016 the big opening event of the newly founded Industrial Working Group Fineblanking (AKF) took place in the conference room North/South of the Manfred Weck House in the Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering (WZL) of the RWTH Aachen University.

  Copyright: © WZL The fineblanking system at the WZL is unique worldwide. The combination of ARKU's coil system and Feintool's XFT 2500 speed servo-mechanical fineblanking press enables research into the fineblanking of the future.

Economy and precision are the two essential features of fineblanking technology that make the process a cutting edge technology. In order to extend this lead over alternative technologies, fineblanking companies must serve current trends, which are rewritten by keywords such as high-strength sheet metal materials, geometrically highly complex forming and cutting components, environmentally friendly lubricants and digitalization of the value chain in the context of the topic of Industry 4.0. This results in a variety of technological challenges that every fineblanking company is confronted with in a similar form. In everyday industrial life, it is often difficult to meet all challenges equally. The newly founded working group will meet the current challenges in the future.

32 new members from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Spain form the first research community on the subject of "fine blanking" together with the Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering (WZL) of RWTH Aachen University.

We are pleased about the large and positive response from the fineblanking industry to jointly research the relevant topics of the industry in the future.

Dr.-Ing. Patrick Mattfeld, head of the AKF working group and managing chief engineer at the Chair of Manufacturing Technology

A homogeneous composition from large-scale enterprises and KMU's form the industry-spreading network. The combination of experts in the field of fineblanking technology and the expertise of companies from the fields of tool technology, lubricant technology, materials technology, etc. creates an excellent basis for demanding community research.

The aim of the industrial working group will be to generate a technological lead through the targeted processing of relevant research projects in order to provide members with a sustainable competitive advantage. The industrial working group is also an active knowledge hub for the lively exchange of experience between users, fineblanking producers, tool and material manufacturers and lubricant manufacturers.

By bringing together the various technical expertise, the technologically complex interactions in fine cutting can be researched and discussed at the highest level. This enables well-founded scientific research under industrial conditions.

The annual research program of the Industry working group is created from the various needs of the members. The research topics are oriented to demand and are defined by the members. Potential topics are alternative materials, numerical modelling and process design as well as tribology and surface design. On the foundation day, two experimental projects were defined and a relevant study was initiated. Within the next 12 months, these projects will be worked on and researched.

Further information can be found on the website of the Industrial Working Group Fineblanking (AKF).