Customer Success StoryPerfect link between cutting machine and Storage system

A lot is going on at Rädlinger Maschi­nenbau in Cham, for example, exca­vator buckets and wheel loader buckets requiring handling are moved along the produc­tion line. There is also a lot happening in terms of produc­tion logis­tics and process opti­miza­tion. “We are gearing up for the future,” explains Simon Fischer, Cham Plant Manager at Rädlinger Maschi­nenbau. “With a high level of invest­ment, we are getting our produc­tion ready for the year 2033. Our goals are clear: greater effi­ciency, greater safety, and even more flex­i­bility. We are investing a lot of money in this, and turning things upside down.”

The family-owned company has grown organ­i­cally over time. “At some point, it became clear that we needed new struc­tures here at the Cham site, and that we had to rethink our processes.” Fischer and his team took a year to reor­ga­nize the mate­rial flow.

This included setting up a new hall with a new flame-cutting system and the new Stopa Compact storage center. A key ques­tion was how these two process stations could best be linked. “We were looking for a link for sheet metal handling between the cutting machine and the ware­house,” reports Fischer. Full automa­tion was out of the ques­tion due to the sheet thick­nesses, dimen­sions, and weights. This is how the elec­trop­er­ma­nent magnetic cross beam from SCHUNK came into play.

Growth requires an adapted mate­rial flow

The specialist for clamping tech­nology, grip­ping tech­nology, and automa­tion tech­nology has been a coop­er­a­tion partner of Rädlinger for years, because clamping devices from SCHUNK are natu­rally part of the oper­ating equip­ment on the lathes in Cham. “We have been working with SCHUNK for many years,” says Martin Grassl, Project Manager at Rädlinger Maschi­nenbau.

“With SCHUNK, we have a partner-like adviser at our side, espe­cially when it comes to the magnetic clamping tech­nology on our milling machine. High quality, always quick help, and absolute reli­a­bility – that’s how we see SCHUNK.” Based on this posi­tive expe­ri­ence, the Rädlinger team involved SCHUNK in the new lifting tech­nology project. “Because SCHUNK stands out due to its magnetic clamping tech­nology,” empha­sizes Grassl. This led to the deci­sion in favor of the TRETEL elec­trop­er­ma­nent magnetic module cross beam for handling metal sheets between the flame-cutting machine and the sheet storage system. Commis­sioning took place at the begin­ning of January 2025. “After a week of famil­iar­iza­tion, it was clear that we had done the right thing,” says the project manager. “We have made signif­i­cant gains in terms of safety, ergonomics, and process effi­ciency thanks to the surface magnet, while at the same time the process paths, set-up times, and space require­ments have been notice­ably reduced.”

Optimal machine utiliza­tion and process accel­er­a­tion

Before the reor­ga­ni­za­tion, Rädlinger used a fork­lift to remove the sheets from the blank ware­house, placed them on the cutting table by crane, and trans­ported the compo­nents away again by fork­lift after the cutting process. “This conven­tional method of handling was labo­rious and not without danger,” says Martin Grassl.

“The surface magnet gives us the advan­tage that we can unstack the sheet from the blank store and place it on the cutting table all in one move­ment, and then completely lift off the work­pieces together with the scrap skeleton after the cutting process with a single stroke. This signif­i­cantly accel­er­ates the process, because the cutting system with its high hourly throughput rate no longer stands still.” Without the surface magnet, produc­tivity would be slowed down by around 50 percent, but now Rädlinger can utilize the full perfor­mance of the Microstep MG. While the machine continues its work, the cut parts are sepa­rated, and the scrap skeleton is deposited sepa­rately. Thanks to the magnetic cross beam, work­pieces are handled outside the cutting system in parallel while machining continues. “This boosts our produc­tivity,” says Simon Fischer, “and will pay off quickly.”

Employee protec­tion and signif­i­cant ergonomic gains

The new lifting tech­nology has been well received: “Accep­tance among employees is very high and they are enthu­si­astic about the bene­fits of the new processes,” says Grassl. One worker oper­ates the magnetic cross beam, while a second helps to sepa­rate the cut compo­nents, which no longer have to be picked up from the table with a magnet. “The convincing argu­ments in favor of the magnetic cross beam were not only the faster machine loading and unloading, but also an improve­ment in the areas of occu­pa­tional safety and ergonomics,” explains Martin. “In view of the shortage of skilled workers, we want to protect our employees as effec­tively as possible while offering them a pleasant work­place.” In this way, the new solu­tion contributes to an ergonomic working envi­ron­ment. The control system also bene­fits the oper­ator in terms of safety and ease of oper­a­tion; it is controlled by two-hand oper­a­tion on the control panel of the cross beam when not in use, and by radio remote control during the lifting and trans­port phase. SCHUNK has designed all the oper­ating elements to be of high quality, clearly arranged, and labeled, which the user greatly appre­ci­ates.

Elec­trop­er­ma­nent lifting tech­nology for complete safety

The elec­trop­er­ma­nent magnetic chucks only require a short current pulse for magne­ti­za­tion or demag­ne­ti­za­tion – no contin­uous current is neces­sary. In pick-up mode, the oper­ator lifts the sheet a few centime­ters at 75 percent power and checks that the load is centered and the air gap behaves accept­ably. With this partial load func­tion, safety is guar­an­teed at all times and in all condi­tions. This is followed by full magne­ti­za­tion at 100% power for the lifting and trans­port process. A central safety lamp on the cross beam indi­cates the switching states. Even if shear forces act in trans­port mode, shearing of the load is ruled out; triple safety is natu­rally provided in the design, taking into account oper­a­tional condi­tions such as mate­rial, surface quality, and rough­ness.

Control­ling the load lifter by radio remote control ensures a safe distance from the oper­ator and helps to prevent acci­dents. Demag­ne­ti­za­tion is only possible when the load has been removed and the chain sling has been relieved. This is moni­tored by two redun­dant safety lifting eye switches arranged diag­o­nally at the chain sling attach­ment points; they prevent the load from falling during the lifting phase due to unin­ten­tional actu­a­tion or incor­rect oper­a­tion. This ensures compre­hen­sive safety in the event of a power failure or over­voltage. Any incor­rect oper­a­tion on the cross beam or via radio remote control is also ruled out.

Maximum flex­i­bility in the sheet metal handling process

At Rädlinger, the surface magnet handles all sheet metal panels in all grades, sizes, and thick­nesses up to five metric tons in weight. High-alloy steels such as HARDOX are often used; the require­ment here is for the sheets to be completely demag­ne­tized again, so they can be used in subse­quent processes without any prob­lems. Quality losses due to any residual magne­ti­za­tion on the mate­rial are ruled out. “We can adjust the holding force in four stages and lift indi­vidual sheets with a thick­ness starting from five millime­ters in a defined manner. This gives us unpar­al­leled flex­i­bility in sheet metal handling,” explains Martin Grassl.

The magnetic lifter can be used to feed the metal sheets indi­vid­u­ally into the flame-cutting system and lift them off after cutting in a single oper­a­tion, together with the work­pieces, scrap skeleton, and cutting waste. The sheets can be fed to the Stopa sheet storage system indi­vid­u­ally or in sheet packs – SCHUNK has inte­grated trans­port hooks and chains as special equip­ment for this purpose.

The produc­tion of construc­tion machinery equip­ment at Rädlinger also bene­fits from the future viability of the system, as the load lifter can be expanded with addi­tional magnet modules if required. “We found a great solu­tion together,” says Project Manager Martin Grassl. SCHUNK had clearly worked out the advan­tages and special features, which was an impor­tant aspect in the deci­sion for the TRETEL cross beam. “Added to this is the imple­men­ta­tion of our indi­vidual wishes and require­ments – for example, the entire system in the color of our choice – as well as smooth commis­sioning,” adds Grassl. “SCHUNK spent a lot of time on us and worked hard to ensure that we got the best result.”

Elec­trop­er­ma­nent magnetic cross beam closes the loop

repre­sents a quantum leap for us,” summa­rizes Simon Fischer. The plant manager sums up the advan­tages: “Less space required, optimum machine utiliza­tion, fork­lift-free oper­a­tion, improved worker protec­tion and ergonomics as well as a massive reduc­tion in handling times, setup effort, and path lengths per product,” says Fischer, working his way down the list.

“The lifting tech­nology adapts flex­ibly, we have gained trans­parency and trace­ability, and we can largely elim­i­nate search times in make-to-order produc­tion. What’s more, the elec­trop­er­ma­nent system is envi­ron­men­tally friendly because we use less energy. This means we are well equipped for the future.”