Video: Videezy.com

900 machines for our customers in two countries

When it comes to machining centers from Tuttlingen and Alzenau, customers in the Czech Republic and Slovakia have known CHIRON Czech as O.C. Tech since 2007. To date, the team under Managing Director Ivan Mikita has supplied and commissioned around 900 machining centers in both countries.

Since November 2019, the company has belonged to the CHIRON Group, with a branch in Hluboká nad Vltavou near Budweis. The head office is in Brno, the second-largest city in the Czech Republic after Prague, and the best example of a dynamic "second city". It's a forward-looking city with over 50,000 students, over one million trade fair visitors per year, and a strong industry.

For Ivan Mikita, Brno is the ideal location: »From here, we can provide our customers with the best possible support and present CHIRON and SCHERER's innovations to a large technical audience right here at the MSV, the largest mechanical engineering fair in central Europe.«

Management: Dipl. Ing. Ivan Mikita

In addition, Brno has a lot to offer visitors, according to the Managing Director: »It's not as overcrowded here as in Prague, and you can find modern architecture, Habsburg history and delicious traditional cuisine. And of course our top export – the world-famous Czech beer from Budweis.«

Overview of CHIRON Czech

Beginning

The representation has been active in the Czech Republic and Slovakia since 1993, most recently as O.C.Tech s.r.o.. Since November 2019, the company has belonged to the CHIRON Group as CHIRON Czech s.r.o..

Size of the branch:
Offices: 530 m²
Warehouse: 100 m²

Employees:
Total: 22
Service engineers: 10

 Managing Director Ivan Mikita and his team at the trade fair in Brno.
Managing Director Ivan Mikita and his team at the trade fair in Brno.

Tasks:

  • Sale of CHIRON and SCHERER machining centers and of Pfiffner rotary transfer machines

  • Engineering and application-technical support

  • Order and project management

  • Technical support and service

Customers:

The majority of the customers come from the automotive industry, which operates 80% of the machining centers supplied by CHIRON Czech. The remaining 20% are used in the production of small arms and lenses as well as in the production of components for railway vehicles.

A key success factor is the complete range of turnkey machines, including holding fixtures and tools.

Service is a key factor in the constantly positive development. The ten engineers are proud of their fast, competent on-site service, which is very highly regarded by the customers and is the basis for many long-term customer relationships.

The services provided include repairs and preventive maintenance as well as assembly and commissioning of machines. CHIRON Czech also offers training courses, carries out conversions and implements retrofits.

Objectives:

As the main supplier of machining centers for the Czech Republic and Slovakia, CHIRON Czech is currently focused on automation solutions with which customers can produce even better quality even more efficiently.

The aim is no only to maintain the market share in both countries, but to further expand it and gain new customers for the Czech company and for the CHIRON Group with customized turnkey solutions.

Things to see and do in and around Brno and Hluboká nad Vltavou

Photo: MAV

Double success: Specialist forum for watches/jewelry and medical engineering

At the end of November, countless production experts met at the "Microprecision in focus" mav specialist forum at CHIRON to find out about trends and challenges in precision machining. To address the requirements of the individual industries in even more detail, a watch/jewelry day was held for the first time, alongside the established medical engineering colloquium.

Globalization, demographic change, dynamic technology development, digitalization and permanent innovations: These megatrends have wide-reaching implications for production companies too. And micromechanics is no exception. Both in the watch/jewelry industry and in medical engineering, the objective is to achieve more flexible production with maximum quality at reduced costs.

On both days, the specialist forum focused on specific machining requirements. In his key note speech, for example, Salvatore Ragusa, Managing Director of the Swiss precision engineering company Concept CNC Design, reported on the filigree challenges in the production of watch face overlays. For medical engineers, there were presentations on flexible, intelligent production of instruments and implants, with digitalization and additive manufacturing being important topics.

Overall, industry experts found out first-hand about current trends and solutions throughout the process chain. In addition to the host, CHIRON, other leading manufacturers of machining centers, tools and peripheral devices gave concentrated presentations of their products and services for micromechanics: C. Hafner, Concept CNC Design, Espi, Haas Schleifmaschinen, HB Microtec, Hexagon, Louis Belet, Marquardt, Motorex, Solidcam, Stäubli, Tornos, Trumpf and Yerly. For anyone who wasn't able to attend in Tuttlingen on 27th-28th November, here is the conference reader where you can read all of the presentations.

Impressions of the microprecision specialist forum

Image Source: MAV

Full house at the VIST technology day in Croatia

VIST: These four letters stand for Representation, Engineering, Service and Technology. The also stand for a family company, which has been a sales and service partner of the CHIRON Group since 1989 – then still as NC SERVIS LOVREK Ivan s.p. – with locations in Slovenia and Croatia.

On 28th November 2019, VIST opened its doors for the annual technology day in the Croatian branch in Čakovec, about half way between the capital city Zagreb and Lake Balaton in Hungary. There, the company founder Ivan Lovrek and his team welcomed over 60 customers from Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, who wanted to find out first-hand about the CHIRON and STAMA machine and service portfolio.

In addition to CHIRON and STAMA, the event was attended by other technology partners such as APODIS, who presented their product innovations and spoke about highly topical issues, such as electromobility. Guests then had the opportunity to view the exhibited machines in more detail, see the wide range of products in the CHIRON Group's interactive showroom and share experiences in one-on-one conversations.

 VIST's company building with large hall for the retrofit of machines
VIST's company building with large hall for the retrofit of machines

Bildergalerie

Concentrating faces at the specialist lectures
 Over 60 visitors took the opportunity to take part in technical discussions and find out about the latest innovations from CHIRON and STAMA – such as the MT733 machining center.
Over 60 visitors took the opportunity to take part in technical discussions and find out about the latest innovations from CHIRON and STAMA – such as the MT733 machining center.
 Of great interest: The CHIRON Group's interactive showroom, in this case with the pallet changer of the five-axis DZ 25 P.
Of great interest: The CHIRON Group's interactive showroom, in this case with the pallet changer of the five-axis DZ 25 P.
Photo: ETG

Happy Birthday, ETG! Happy Birthday, CHIRON UK!

The British Engineering Technology Group (ETG) celebrated its 25th anniversary in October 2019 and used this occasion to present the latest manufacturing technologies. Another reason to celebrate: For 20 years, the leading machine tool supplier in Great Britain has been operating under the name CHIRON UK and offers its customers turnkey solutions for the entire CHIRON Group portfolio.

CHIRON UK, with headquarters in Wellesbourne, a few miles from the Shakespeare city of Stratford-on-Avon, welcomed over 450 guests from the industry to the big anniversary event. Visitors were given an insight into the portfolio of the recently acquired HK Technologies and the latest developments in turnkey solutions. The focus was on compact, high-performance machines for precision machining, such as the CHIRON DZ 15.

Whether as DZ 15 S five axis or DZ 15 W with automatic tool change: The vertical machining centers of the CHIRON 15 series have huge reserves for powerful milling performance and stand out for high precision in manufacturing.

Of particular interest to the professional visitors: the numerous configuration options with which the basic machine can be turned into an individual solution thanks to its modular design.

»With our customized solutions, our clients can reduce cycle times, optimize lead times and accept orders for the production of increasingly complex components.«
Martin Doyle
Managing Director CHIRON UK

Focus on »Turnkey Excellence«

Martin Doyle, Managing Director of CHIRON UK, placed the focus of the event on Turnkey Excellence, on offering complete packages. Besides machines, CHIRON UK also showed Hyfore workholding, Filtermist oil filters, Blum-Novotest laser measuring systems and automation solutions from Robojob, ABB and CHIRON. Because, according to Martin Doyle: »Our customers are telling us they want more ‘lights-out manufacturing’, machines that take up a smaller footprint and twin pallet capability so they can work quicker and smarter. A good solution would be the automation CHIRON Variocell UNO.«

The managing director is convinced: »Yes, there’s a bit of uncertainty out there, but our customers realize the need to invest in new technologies in order to be competitive in the long term. With our customized solutions they can reduce cycle times, optimize lead times and look at taking on increasingly complex components.«

»Faster, more intelligent and man-less production: This requires automation solutions with a small footprint and double pallets. A good example of such a solution is the CHIRON Variocell UNO.«
Steve Brown
Sales Director

The expanded production team for CHIRON, STAMA, SCHERER

The more complex the requirements, the better and more stable the machining centers have to operate. With this in mind, Martin Doyle and the 122 employees in Wellesbourne see themselves as an extended production team for their customers. Therefore, LifetimeSolutions –- customer-specific packages for the lifelong support of the machines – are the focus of the CHIRON UK Service. About 20 factory-trained engineers work in the service team, who cover the entire United Kingdom and ensure that the machining centers of the CHIRON Group do a good job anywhere from Plymouth in the south of England to Aberdeen in the north of Scotland.

About ETG/CHIRON UK

The CHIRON Group representative in the United Kingdom has its headquarters in the Wellesbourne Distribution Park in Warwickshire County in the West Midlands region. 122 employees work in the new building with a total area of 17,500 square metres. CHIRON UK is a turnkey partner for customers in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and covers the complete range of performances - from sales, commissioning and services to training.

Impressions of Wellesbourne and its surroundings

The British Motor Museum in Gaydon with the world's largest collection of legendary British car classics.

Events 2020

We will also be attending trade fairs and exhibitions this year.

Why not pay us a visit?

For topics and for more information about our events, go to
https://chiron-group.com/de/presse/messen-events


Review Impressions EMO 2019