In order to cure the bottlenecks and to improve productivity and flexibility, the Josef Eibl GmbH – Carpentry, Handicraft & Design, invested in a CNC woodworking centre from Messrs. Weeke.

This centre was equipped in the factory with the vacuum clamping system VC-K2 from Schmalz. This system has two vacuum circuits. The first circuit fixes the suction blocks, so that they cannot move while the workpiece is being loaded, and the second circuit then secures the workpiece to the machine table for the machining operations.

As Eibl produces a large number of different workpieces in small batches or as one-off jobs, they retrofitted the vacuum clamping system Innospann on the machine, to improve the flexibility without longer setting-up times. The Innospann system can be sued in mixed mode and can be converted very quickly. It reduces the non-productive setting-up times to a minimum. This means that more parts can be produced in the same operating times of the machine. 

Since only the friction pads need to be replaced when they are worn and the system needs no maintenance otherwise, the Schmalz vacuum clamping technology has proved to be very efficient. Furthermore, the company no longer needs to design and produce templates. These benefits ensure fast amortisation of the investment in vacuum clamping technology and also the investment in the CNC machining centre.