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The spring industry and wire 2010 trade fair
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Technical springs are very important products from the wire-processing industry that are used in many different applications. While they often appear inconspicuous and have a relatively low value, they are vital for the functions of many mechanical systems and for the transmission of electricity.
Naturally, wire processors are also affected by the global financial crisis, especially as about 60% of their work is for the automotive industry and the automotive components suppliers that have been especially hard hit by the crisis. But since technical progress is closely connected with further developments in the wire and wire-processing industries and their suppliers, there are still many opportunities available even in times of crisis.
Springs and their function
Technical springs are machine elements that can change shape to absorb and store mechanical forces and then pass these forces on to specific applications or render them harmless. Most springs are shaped from wire or metallic strips; depending on the application, special spring as well as non-ferrous metals, such as specific copper alloys, are used. The demands placed on springs are often very complex and the variety of shapes is virtually unlimited. The most important parameter of a spring is its spring characteristic, which describes the relationship between load and deflection. Probably the best known types of spring are the helical ballpoint pen springs wound from thin wire and the suspension springs in vehicles and railway carriages manufactured from much thicker wire or bars, which are known as helical compression springs due to their shape and their ability to handle compressive loads. About half of all springs manufactured are used in vehicles of various kinds, while the other half can be found in all other technical areas.
Roughly 8,000 springs can be installed in a vehicle to carry out many different tasks. One example of this can be found in the brochure issued by the Steel Information Centre in Düsseldorf, Germany entitled “Draht zur Zukunft” (Wire for the Future). This describes how the valve springs in an internal combustion engine keep the inlet valves for the fuel-air mixture and the outlet valves for the exhaust gases and the combustion residue in their seats and close them in a controlled manner. In a four-stroke engine, at 4,000 rpm a spring such as this ensures that a valve opens and closes 33 times each second or almost 120,000 per hour. Extrapolated over the total life of the engine – about 200,000 km – a valve spring has to endure about 200 million load alternations without suffering fatigue or fracture.
Production technology
Wire springs are produced on various types of machinery, such as automatic spring coiling machines, involving a complicated interplay of wire and tool movements, which is often controlled electronically these days. As most springs are produced in large quantities, this keeps the unit price relatively low; however, if they fail, this can result in considerable material damage or even personal injury. Because of this, spring manufacturers rely on efficient machines and testing equipment that are subject to continuous development and refinement. Today we can say that "the number and styles of products that can be made from wire and metallic tubing are really only limited by the designer’s imagination", as Mike McNulty, Chief Editor of the trade journal "Wire Forming Technology International", wrote in the 2009 spring issue in an introductory article on the requirements for machines used to shape wire and tube products. Peter Schneider, Managing Director of Itaya Europe GmbH, the European subsidiary of Japanese spring machine manufacturer Itaya, said, "the spring producers requirements for specific solutions and their demands on machine manufacturers to develop and market these solutions creates mutual benefits, which in turn means that the possibilities for manufacturing and shaping springs are becoming increasingly sophisticated."
For example, the latest spring machine engineering solutions include computer-controlled spring shaping centres with 15 axes and optoelectronic testing systems that test several parameters on every spring – such as the pitch angle and the parallelity of spring coils – during the production process with extremely short measurement times using two test cameras. If necessary, they can also immediately adjust the production process automatically. In addition, the advances that have been made in drive technology not only allow the tool slides to move back and forth on extremely short paths at high speeds, it also means that the slides start up and brake gently. This enables high production speeds with steady, gentle machine operation. Another special feature that spring machine manufacturers have developed relates to cutting the finished springs from the rest of the wire. With helical compression springs the ends have to be ground in a separate process so that the springs have a good seating vertical to the spring axis and so that the wire edge of the final spring coil is prevented from being pressed into the next to last one, which would damage it.
Since up to 60% of the total costs of spring production are incurred in the grinding process, as the trade journal "Draht" wrote in its February 2009 issue, considerable costs can be saved if the spring is separated from the wire with an angled cut and does not require much subsequent grinding. Apart from this, with suitable electronic controls the forming tools can be moved so that tiny, manufacturing-related, but often undesired, deformations in the last spring coil are balanced out. For spring manufacturers modern production centres are absolutely vital for future security.
The crisis and its opportunities
Spring manufacturers are also not immune from the effects of the global financial crisis, especially as many of them rely on the automotive industry. On top of that, banks are often unwilling to lend money to medium-sized companies, especially automotive components suppliers. This situation is made even more serious as a result of the tough international competitive pressure. Giovanni B. Manenti, Director of the Italian Spring Manufacturers Association, ANCCEM, said in the May 2009 issue of the association's magazine “Mollificio” that the spring industry is in an "extraordinary phase" that will result in "epochal changes". Managers need human and functional skills more than ever before. One of these managers, Walter Bach, Executive Partner and Group Managing Director of the international concern Scherdel, in the 1/2009 issue of the customer magazine "Scherdel aktuell" listed creativity and a willingness to embrace innovative ideas, expanding customer service and finding savings potentials in your own organisation and in the production process as criteria for remaining competitive and pointed out that "in the past it was always the eventful times that offered companies the opportunity to improve." At another section in the magazine it says that the Chinese characters for crisis and opportunity are the same…
Stephen Wood, Chairman of the International Wire & Machinery Association, IWMA, and President of Steel-Wire Europe Ltd, believes that 2009 will be a very serious challenge for wire and cable manufacturers throughout the world. At present, he sees no signs of an upswing, but is convinced that therefore wire 2010 will be ideally placed as customers start to consider their needs and investments to be fully equipped to meet the challenges of the economic recovery."
wire 2010
wire, the International Wire and Cable Trade Fair, has always been the venue where all the well-known wire and cable machine manufacturers have presented their new products. This leading trade fair provides information about trend-setting manufacturing concepts. Synergies will be generated from the International Trade Fair for Tube and Pipe, Tube, which will be held at the same location and at the same time. wire 2010 will take place from 12 to 16 April 2010 in Düsseldorf, Germany.