Editorial

 Tolmin-based ITW Metalflex is the biggest employer in the Upper Soča Valley. As one of the largest suppliers of components for the household appliances in Europe, they have managed to realise a constant trend of growth through the years despite the unfavourable market conditions. Their path to success is paved with high-quality products resulting from in-house development, highly automated manufacturing and constant optimisation of operations.
ITW Metalflex from Tolmin has an interesting history. The story began in 1959, when a group of four craftsmen began to manufacture metal wristwatch bracelets and decorative hardware under the name Metalfleks Most na Soči.   

 The main purpose of a trademark is to provide for an added value that cannot be achieved in any other way. The development of a trademark begins with the development of a product or service, and not only when the product has been completed and must be sold. The speakers at the round table, which was once again one of the high points in the two days of socialising between Slovenian engineers and researchers in the industry at the Industrial Forum IRT, agreed that the development of a trademark cannot be imagined without the engagement of engineers, who are important members of the teams shaping the concept of a trademark and the products resulting from the concept.   

 Full Professor Dr. Bojan Ačko is the head of the Laboratory for Production Measurement at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Maribor. He is the author of two textbooks: Osnove meroslovja in merjenje dolžin (The basics of metrology and length measurement, 2008) and Meroslovje in kakovost (Metrology and quality, 2011). He shared with us a tiny part of his knowledge and experience in the field of length measurement.
I graduated at this faculty 1986 with a thesis on length measurement and landed a job as an early stage researcher. Four years later, I earned the Master's degree and took part in a short student exchange at the Virginia Tech in the USA. I wanted to get my PhD first, and then to become an assistant professor. This requires spending a year at a foreign university. I was involved in their teaching process for a year, and then I returned to continue my work in Slovenia as an assistant at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. I received my PhD in 1997. My master's and doctoral theses focused on three-dimensional measurement devices. It was a field of research for which I had very good conditions in the laboratory at our faculty …   

 Festo's tenth two-day international press conference under the title E-Event has presented electrical drives and new opportunities in the field of e-mobility, as well as the manufacturing and logistics centre in Rohrbach, where automation and modern organisation are employed to successfully compete with low-wage countries.
The two-day event, marked with a presence of more than 60 journalists and editors of professional magazines from 16 countries, was initiated by dr. Claus Jessen, member of management board for product supply. He underlined Festo's mission: to be the leading player in the field of production automation. Their knowledge, passion for details and comprehensive solutions, and the cooperation with the customers are the foundation for solutions that improve the users’ productivity and efficiency. It is the small differences in the total efficiency of equipment that determines the profit or loss. The modern users may find automation too complicated, so their vision focuses on intelligent and intuitive solutions for the production automation.etne in intuitivne rešitve za proizvodno avtomatizacijo.   

 According to dr. Claus Jessen, member of management board for product supply at Festo, the company's sales figures have increased by 40 percent, so they had to expand their manufacturing capacities. Festo's global manufacturing is organised in eleven global production centres (GPC) in Europe, Chine, India and South America. The investment into the upgrade of manufacturing capacities from 2010 to 2014 will be worth more than 100 million Euro and the production plant area will increase by more than a half. The majority of production centres is situated in Europe and their competitive ability compared to the low-wage countries is maintained by automation and an own value creation system.
The strategy of development and manufacturing is approached systematically, from strategic decision-making based on a balanced scorecard management system, to operative execution based on the plan-execute-check-take measures methodology. The manufacturing operates according to the Festo Value Production system, which has been put in place in all their production centres. The FVP system is based on a sustainable process of constant improvements, efficient and systematic communication between the plants around the world, a learning organisation, and the integration of all employees into a whole. Only in this way they are able to manufacture more than 30 000 different products with endless custom-made versions, and deliver the customized solutions to any place in the world in just a couple of days. Dr. Tomaž Perme 

 If we want to improve the competitive ability of the industrial sector, we have to be aiming for the more advanced and efficient modern technologies, as well as for the optimisation of mould design, a crucial factor in the volume production of plastic products. The engineering practice is increasingly turning towards the use of materials and combinations of materials which cannot be achieved with the classical manufacturing process.
This group includes the so-called functionally graded materials that may replace the tool steels, commonly used in injection moulds. The article discusses the application of LENS technology for building a functionally graded binary alloy based on the AISI H-13 tool steel and pure copper (99,5 %). This alloy must fulfil the requirements regarding the quality of final product, the productivity and the long life of the product. As the technology is based on laser surfacing, it can also be used for repairing and renewing damaged and worn mould parts. Uroš Artiček 

 BUSS AG has presented the four-stage MX 30 laboratory mixer at this year's fairs WIRE, NPE, Chinaplas and Plast. It attracted a lot of attention from the manufacturers of compounds, who also placed the orders for the first machines.
The visitors have been able to see the structure of the cylinder, and the reduced auger speed provided an insight into the machine's operating principle, especially the auger rotation and oscillation, and the combined axial and transversal mixing ensuring a high quality of the mix. The auger diameter is 30 mm and the machine capacity is between 5 and 25 kg/h. The auger's top speed is 800 revolutions per minute. The maximum processing temperature is 280 °C. The machine is suitable for compounding polymers sensitive to high temperatures and high sheer speeds, as well as for the production of compounds with a high share of different fillers. 

 The total quantity of data in the world increases almost by a half each year, more than doubling every two years. This creates big quantities of data, which are almost impossible to manage and process with traditional software tools such as databases. How can we harvest the information, knowledge, experience and competitive ability provided by the »big data«?
In half a century of the information era, the focus was on the acquisition of data that is then stored, transmitted, processed, analysed, shared, visualised and used in several different ways. In the process, an excess of information is created, considerably more than what we are able to process, and approximately twice the amount we are able to store. The market intelligence firm IDC estimates the total quantity of data in the world increases almost by a half each year, effectively more than doubling in volume every two years. This involves not only the streaming and exchange of existing data, but also predominantly the creation of new data.   

 Modeling sculptures, statues or different pots hasn't changed a lot since the ancient times. The sculptor takes a piece of hard or soft material, such as clay, wood, copper or marble, and starts to shape it. He uses various tools to slowly and persistently model a shape he has envisioned. This is how the masterpieces of great sculptors were created, which are being admired to this day. As time was then not as significant a factor as it is today, a statue or pottery with many details was sculpted for a very long time. In case of any mistakes or corrections, the work took even longer.
Fast forwarding to the modern world, we soon discover that far less time is available to model a product than as it used to be. The market demands are increasingly complex and a need for rapid product development has led to new tools. The greatest question was how to use the computer technology to prepare tools as similar to organic sculpting as possible. 

 For the stable production of super-precise titanium welding tools, Herrmann Ultraschall relies on the combination of CNC 5-axis, high-performance machining centres with a robot-aided workpiece magazine and handling system supplied by Hermle.
In the course of 50 years, the intelligent implementation of physical laws has enabled the medium sized company Herrmann Ultraschall to advance to become a leading supplier and global player in the ultrasonic technology sector. In the Karlsbad headquarters alone, around 190 employees develop and produce machines, tools and complete solutions for the welding of thermoplastics or for cutting baked products. Ultrasonic joining and cutting involves complex processes in which the joint types of the parts to be connected, the behaviour of materials, the shape and the physical vibration behaviour of the sonotrodes. Herrmann Ultraschall leaves nothing to chanse and sets great store by application consultation and know-how – in other words 'quality made in Germany': All components and components are produced either in-house or by selected subcontractors.lajo sami ali pa jih naročijo pri izbranih dobaviteljih. 

 Despite a slight decline in the sales figures, the manufacturers of precision equipment are riding the wave of success and battle the global competition with constant innovation. They will showcase their response to the trends of energy efficiency and new materials at the International exhibition for metal working AMB from 18 to 22 September 2012 in Stuttgart.
Lothar Horn, president of the Precision Tools Association at VDMA and managing director of Paul Horn GmbH, has announced a noticeable increase in production at the start of the year. This is confirmed by the Federal Ministry of Economics: The producers of machines, devices and other capital goods manufactured 1.7 percent more in June than in the previous month - well above expectations. The metal-cutting tools sector actually increased by 29 percent.