16 mag 2015
METAV 2016: premiere for the Moulding Area Tool and mould-making optimally integrated into the METAV’s structure
Frankfurt am Main, 12 May 2015.– On 23 February 2016, the METAV will be pressing the power button. For five days, Düsseldorf will once again be the meeting point for international users interested in metalworking technologies. “Power your Business” is the motto displayed to exhibitors and visitors for boosting their business, not least in the field of tool and mould-making, in the newly established Moulding Area.
Among the companies to be showcasing its capabilities there right from Day One will be Georg Meusburger GmbH & Co KG from the Austrian town of Wolfurt. To quote Sales Manager Lutz Schaller: “Tool and mould-making is an integral constituent of the metalworking industry, and vital to its customers. So we’re delighted that this is being reflected in the METAV’s new concept.” And he continues: “The Moulding Area is ideally embedded in the METAV’s remit structure, focusing as it does on CAD technologies, production processes and quality assurance. That’s why we aim to set new standards at the METAV 2016.”
Dr. Wilfried Schäfer, Executive Director of the METAV’s organiser, the VDW (German Machine Tool Builders’ Association), concurs: “We know from surveys that almost one in five visitors to the METAV is interested in tool, mould and model-making. In the Moulding Area, these prospective customers will find applications and solutions for their own particular specialisms, both for metal and for plastic. Additional information can be obtained by visiting the other areas as well. For example, complex moulds can nowadays be alternatively produced using additive processes. The possibilities available here are on show in the Additive Manufacturing Area. Metrological questions, also extending beyond the confines of production technology, are covered in the Quality Area,” is how he describes the synergies for the visitors. “You won’t find anything like this at any other event,” to quote Wilfried Schäfer.
This is also what motivates Andreas Stute, Managing Director of Intercam Deutschland GmbH in Bad Lippspringe, also known under the name of Mastercam: “In the Moulding Area, visitors will obtain all the information they need for efficiently developing and manufacturing their products. That’s why we shall be showcasing our innovations at the METAV.” The Moulding Area images the entire bandwidth of tool and mould-making, from the initial design and then prototyping, all the way through to series production. For the premiere of the Moulding Area at the METAV 2016, the former existing exhibitor listing has now been expanded to include more than 90 new products in this category.
Tool and mould-making offers new and extended solutions for implementing complex geometries in plastic, metal or glass. Technical mould design, surface structures or kinematic and thermal considerations are all spotlighted in the Moulding Area, as are the competence fields of design and prototyping all the way through to series production.
In the Moulding Area, tools and moulds for the different production processes involved in forming operations are showcased, plus concepts for jig and gauge construction. Solutions for design work, computations and simulations will be spotlighted by the exhibitors of C-technologies.
The partner for the Moulding Area is the VDMA’s Tool Construction Working Group, a Special Section of the VDMA’s Precision Tools Department. The manufacturers of precision tools have traditionally been the second-largest exhibitor grouping at the METAV. The special section, one of the initiators for the inauguration of the METAV in 1980, is still its conceptual sponsor. Executive Director Markus Heseding also welcomes the Moulding Area at the METAV. “Firstly, tool and mould manufacturers can spotlight requirement-optimised tool technologies at the METAV. Secondly, the METAV offers its visitors from the tool and mould manufacturing sector a holistic overview of innovative production processes for tool and mould-making operations.” After all, besides conventional processes, more and more new process technologies are being used in mould manufacture, such as laser-aided production for fine-structuring design surfaces, or generative processes for producing close-to-contour cooling. Markus Heseding is certain that innovative technologies of this kind, in particular, can provide tool manufacturers with significant competitive advantages.
The METAV showcases the entire value creation chain involved in the metalworking sector. With their own nomenclature, the fields of additive manufacturing, moulding, quality and medical will in future be integrated as permanent features of the fair in what are called “Areas”. Inside a particular area, vendors can exhibit their corporate capabilities as individual exhibitors or on shared stands. Each area will incorporate an integrated forum for communicating topical issues.
