WAFIOS Presents High-End Solutions for the Wire and Tube Forming Industry in Wuppertal, Germany

Fig. 1 The WAFIOS AG's In-House Exhibition in Wuppertal is per se the most important event for any wire and tube forming expert. This year the exhibition is bigger than ever before.

Fig. 2 A highlight of this year's In-House Exhibition is the TWISTER² production concept for bending tubes. The WAFIOS programming system WPS 3 Easy Way enables the control of the robot for handling tasks.

Fig. 3 A particular focus is this year on tube forming technology. Wire and tube forming are therefore exhibited in two separate halls.

Fig. 4 This year, WAFIOS presents once more the latest wire and tube forming technologies at their biennial In-House Exhibition

WAFIOS Presents High-End Solutions for the Wire and Tube Forming Industry in Wuppertal, Germany The twelfth in-house exhibition of the WAFIOS AG sets new records: more exhibitors, more exhibition space, more innovations. As usual, the event for experts from the wire and tube forming industry will be staged in Wuppertal, Germany, this year from May 8 through 11, 2019. A particular focus is on tube forming technology.

Besides WAFIOS AG and WAFIOS Umformtechnik, three more companies of the WAFIOS Group will present their products and services at this year's In-House Exhibition: WAFIOS Tube Automation GmbH, Witels-Albert GmbH and E. W. Menn GmbH & Co. KG. In addition, more co-exhibitors from the wire and tube forming industry have been invited than ever before. With an area of 1,400 m² - about two soccer pitches - this year's fair breaks all previous records. This also applies to the number of exhibition machines: about 20 exhibition machines can be seen live.What is completely new about this year's In-House Exhibition is the division of wire and tube processing machines into two halls. "This underlines the increasing importance of our tube processing machinery," emphasizes Dr. Uwe-Peter Weigmann, Speaker of the WAFIOS AG.

Since the lectures held at previous In-House Exhibitions had been very well received by visitors, the range of topics has been extended. The block of lectures on new spring, wire and tube forming technologies will be complemented by presentations on current topics such as the WAFIOS Smart Factory (Industry 4.0) or E-Mobility. E-Mobility demands for new formed parts like hairpins for electric motors or busbars. The specialists from Reutlingen have already developed new production solutions for both. A guest speaker from the Metal Forming Faculty of the University of Siegen will hold a lecture on "Cyber Set-Up 4.0 - Expert to Go" to complete the range of lectures.

There are several world firsts among the exhibited machines: the flexible wire bending machine BM 36 for producing large quantities and meeting highest quality standards, the spring end grinding machine G660 for large wire diameters up to 12 mm and automatic feeding of springs during the grinding process, or the compression spring coiler F 30 which has been designed for more flexibility and which is an enhancement of the reliable Eco Coiler series, now equipped with the WPS 3 Easy Way programming system.

As a special highlight among the tube bending machinery, there will be several TWISTER² production cells on display. What makes these solutions so special is the integration of a robot. The tube bending machine and the robot share one and the same user interface of the programming system WPS Easy Way which enables an intelligent interaction of bending and handling tasks. There is no special robot software needed anymore. This concept allows the flexible production of three-dimensional geometries while ensuring high process reliability, easy operation and high productivity.

Based on this concept, WAFIOS Tube Automation shows an automated solution for the production of hydraulic lines comprising the automatic feeding in of components, the endforming machine RU 18-8 and the TWISTER² 16-20-R. The iQ functions developed by WAFIOS software experts for optimizing processes are also very important in the tube forming area. Visitors of the In-House Exhibition have the chance to see how iQtube⁺ can help the machine fitter to avoid collisions when bending complex tube shapes. The sofware enables the graphical simulation of the entire forming process before actually starting production. If iQtube⁺  detects a collision, alternatives are automatically calculated. Based on these solutions, the opening travels of clamping jaws and backstops can also be optimized in order to

minimize unproductive times. The system also calculates the maximum possible output of each solution suggested. The operator quickly sees which solution is without doubt the most economical one.

The enhanced efficiency of the Customer Service and the Tool Center are further important topics at the In-House Exhibition. The Customer Service has new retrofit packages to offer, a superior spare parts program and an extensive range of trainings. The Tool Center has included new solutions for reconditioning tools in their portfolio. The webshop ensures shortest delivery periods for tools and spare parts.