Schopfloch 10/03/2011

PRACTIVE for the practitioners – expertise tailored to the needs of woodworking shops

Today’s woodworking shops and joineries are reliant on the benefits of high quality products, flexibility and integral solutions at an affordable price. The efficient use of resources is assuming an ever more important role here, as increases in productivity coupled with energy saving measures can add up to appreciable savings in hard cash. New to the existing PRACTIVE group of producers since January 2011 has been HOMAG eSOLUTION – a partner providing software solutions for the plants and machines of the HOMAG Group. On its stand in Hall 11 at the Ligna 2011, the HOMAG Group will be presenting its latest PRACTIVE highlights again this year.

The companies BARGSTEDT Handlingsysteme, BRANDT Kantentechnik, BÜTFERING Schleiftechnik, HOLZMA Plattenaufteiltechnik, HOMAG Holzbearbeitungssysteme, LIGMATECH Automationssysteme and WEEKE Bohrsysteme already have a range of high-powered individual solutions on offer. But even more importantly, the partners’ products are all ideally coordinated to work together: networked with the support of innovative software concepts from HOMAG eSOLUTION, they can be combined to create top-class system solutions. Since January 2011, HOMAG eSOLUTION has raised the networking of machines and software to a whole new integral dimension which marks a brand new departure for the industry. The new company actively supports customers from the furniture and interior fittings industries and also from the structural element sector to achieve software-based optimization of their business processes. Alongside classical CAD/CAM products, integrated software solutions for sales and production planning form the focus of its work. Innovations on show at the HOMAG Group stand will include a complete solution featuring the new BARGSTEDT area storage system TLF 210 for woodworking shops in combination with a HOLZMA saw or a WEEKE nesting machine – the ultimate in flexibility. The workpieces will subsequently be assembled in a mini workshop to create a complete item of furniture.
HOMAG Finance – the finance partner behind the majority of leasing transactions for woodworking shops and cabinet makers in Germany – is able to facilitate speedy new investment with attractive leasing offers for all of the company’s machines.

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LIGMATECH world premiere: quick and simple return conveyors
LIGMATECH focuses much of its attention on the woodworking shop sector, and will be taking the show by storm with two special highlights aimed at PRACTIVE customers. Firstly, LIGMATECH will be linking the world premiere of the ZHR 500 with a HOMAG edge banding machine, the Ambition 2274. This return conveyor is designed on the basis of gantry technology, and alongside the return transport of workpieces is also capable of feeding and stacking. LIGMATECH will also be exhibiting the ZHR 100, the most compact of its return conveyors, on a BRANDT KDF 1440 edge bander.

CAD|CAM software for HOMAG Group AG machines
The woodCAD|CAM software from HOMAG eSOLUTION addresses the needs of both woodworking companies and also globally active furniture manufacturers. From the initial sketch to the final product, from the costing process through to the quotation, from the parametric design of individual items of furniture or complex room planning concepts through to CNC data generation, this software is all about safety and security in the order execution and production process.

BRANDT and HOMAG: The right solution for every edge
The AMBITION series is precisely oriented to the requirements of both woodworking shops and industrial producers. Offering a complete portfolio from the smallest through to the high-tech, ultra-flexible fully automatic resetting edge banding machine, BRANDT and HOMAG offer individually tailored solutions with an affordable price tag.
The new Highflex 1220 is revolutionizing the Highflex range from BRANDT. Even in its basic version, it provides a high level of automation, saving customers time and offering a good cost-to-performance ratio. The Highflex 1220 permits complete processing of workpieces. BRANDT will also be exhibiting the Ambition 1660 FGC – here, the watchwords are flexibility, economy and resource efficiency. One of the outstanding features of the Ambition 1660 FGC is the new BRANDT gluing unit, which combines the factors of time saving and operator convenience with a heating-up time of no more than 10 minutes and high-speed changeover to different glue types (e.g. PU or colour changes) due to an automatic cleaning and emptying mechanism.
The use of units taken from the industrial sector guarantees a long service life coupled with a consistently high and reproducible standard of quality. The new HOMAG PC22 powerControl system permits user-oriented, graphically supported touchscreen machine operation.

Flexibility: CNC processing from HOMAG and WEEKE to address every level of need
WEEKE will be providing some surprises this year in the form of innovations to its BMG series. As the result of a smart expansion of the range, WEEKE is now offering a versatile spectrum of equipment variants to address every conceivable requirement. Its BHX 050/055 machine also promises to make a big impression at the show. Providing CNC technology on a footprint of less than 5 square metres, this model has already elicited an enthusiastic response from over 660 customers around the globe. One of the major highlights to be exhibited by HOMAG in the stationary technology field is the new powerProfiler BMB 900. Capable of being fitted with up to 432 tools, this machine must be classed as a true multitalent. The challenge to produce "100 windows a day" was what prompted HOMAG to launch the development of automated processing centres.

Extreme programming simplicity with woodWOP 6.0
woodWOP 6.0, the latest generation of the Workshop-Oriented Programming system installed already in over 25,000 HOMAG Group applications, makes for significantly simplified CNC programming. Visitors to the Ligna stand will have the opportunity to experience this first hand with a series of live demos. The new three-dimensional workpiece view provides greater safety and clarity in the production engineering process, as all the processing operations are graphically displayed. The help function integrated in the user interface provides an illustrative graphic for each parameter and supports the daily work of the programmer. The free adjustability of window sizes and information boxes which can be hidden or shown as required permits programmers to configure the interface to suit their specific requirements. An update is also available for existing users.

BÜTFERING: Rediscovering flexibility!
The BÜTFERING presentation will be concentrating particularly on innovations in the field of unit technology. The focus of will be on wide-belt sanding machine SWT 315 X featuring the X unit at its nerve centre. A complete new development, the patented X unit forms the perfect symbiosis of combination unit with contact roller and sanding unit with chevron belt. In this way, the X unit fulfils a wide variety of different applications – from calibration through fine sanding and denibbing to the most challenging high-gloss sanding finish. As the X unit can be used comprehensively in all the machines of the 300 and 500 series, it can be combined with up to five different sanding units.

In its 500 series, designed to address the needs of sophisticated woodworking shops and medium-sized industrial operations, BÜTFERING will be showing off the continuation of the innovative machine bed made of the mineral material SORB TECH. This machine frame concept, which was previously reserved to heavy-duty industrial machines, is now being used by BÜTFERING worldwide in machines aimed at the medium performance category. This fibre-reinforced mineral composite material technology cuts vibration down to a previously unattainable low level, coupled with optimum sanding results. This improvement in sanding quality is due to the smoother running properties and significantly reduced vibrations.

"Easy2Feed" – automatic feed with an affordable price tag
This year HOLZMA will be exhibiting its HPP 230 machine linked to the new BARGSTEDT storage system TLF 210, in conjunction with a WEEKE nesting machine. This saw concentrates power, reliability and functionality within a minimum of space. HOLZMA will also be presenting the HPP 350 – the perfect solution for expanding woodworking shops and producers working with small batch sizes. This saw will be exhibited in combination with the optional “Easy2Feed” system which feeds workpieces across the rear machine table. The feed process is performed automatically, saving the user both time and space, and also increasing the saw’s output.