VWH Vorrichtungs- und Werkzeugbau Herschbach GmbH specialises in the design and manufacture of injection mould tooling as well as special purpose machinery, such as semi- and fully-automated systems and assembly and testing systems. A wide range of mechanical components are used in VWH systems and a significant number are supplied by Misumi.
The medium sized company, located in Herschbach between Cologne and Frankfurt, Germany, boasts 40 years of experience in machine building, with a major focus on the automotive industry.
The company's product portfolio includes assembly equipment for airbag systems, car entry systems, leak testing systems and fuel systems.
In addition, other customers from the domestic appliances or telecommunications industries count on the all-in-one supplier from Herschbach. VWH offers a one-stop-shop for all services from research and development and manufacturing, to installation and the start of production and final acceptance.
Any team of mechanical and electrical designers, assemblers, and engineers work closely together in product development and production.
Having strong vertical integration with all the necessary machining operations ensures fast and flexible workflows. This is one important advantage over the competition.
To continuously maintain and utilise these advantages, VWH demands the same high level of flexibility, cost effectiveness, and short delivery times from its suppliers and partners.
VWH uses Misumi Europa GmbH to source its components. Given that Misumi's Factory Automation catalogue contains over 60000 items, arranged under 30 different categories, VWH estimate that they can source 70 per cent of their requirements directly from this one source.
The relationship with Misumi offers VWH a variety of advantages. Head of Design, Johannes Steudter points out that, 'their product portfolio is much bigger than that of other vendors in Germany', and, referring to product quality as well as product range, he explains further that, '50 per cent of some of our systems are based on Misumi components'.
From his point of view, getting components from a single source is very efficient because the workflow is optimised which saves time.
There are other time savings also. VWH used to produce some parts on their own: "Even for simple parts we had to create drawings, order raw materials, manufacture components, inspect, rework them if needed and carry out surface treatments. This process took us up to four weeks. Misumi's delivery is significantly faster. Stock items are available in one to two days; others in six to eight days.
Considering the permanent time pressure in our business, this is a major advantage," says Steudter. It also has a dramatic effect on costs. For VWH, the costs for in-house produced parts can be as much as EUR300 to 600 per piece. They can now order those components from Misumi for just EUR50.
To select the mechanical parts implemented in VWH machines, Johannes Steudter uses the Misumi catalogue: "The catalogue really simplifies everyday tasks."
According to Steudter, the Misumi catalogue beats competitors in another area as well: it includes the prices and delivery times as well as volume discounts for each product - great for reliable planning.
This is an important factor for VWH whose strategy is to support its customers by providing low-cost-manufacturing concepts.
Meeting the demands
The very nature of special purpose or assembly machinery is a commercial challenge: the high number of different solutions does not support the design and manufacture of low cost and short time-to-market equipment.
Unique machines are the rule rather than two or more identical systems. In addition to the need for an efficient and cost effective procurement of mechanical components with fast delivery times, another point which could cause headache is that some parts are only needed in very small volumes. The Misumi concept resolves this by imposing no minimum order quantities or minimum order values.
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Stefan Pulver is with MISUMI Europa GmbH, Schwalbach am Taunus, Germany. www.misumi-europe.com
