Strategy & Mission. No. 25 April 2015 Hauzer for You

Transcription

1 Strategy & Mission No. 25 April 2015 Hauzer for You

2 2 No. 25 April 2015 Hauzer for You Content 3 Introduction: Strategy and Growth 3 International Sales Meeting 4 Mission & Vision: Sustainable Solutions 6 Triboliner : Economically Viable Coatings 10 Sheffield Hallam University: Synergy & Interaction 15 Customer Support: Booming Upgrades 19 Europ Coating: Flexibility Is Our Strength 20 Meet us... Cover photo: Jan Verkoeijen gives training to customers Colophon Publisher: IHI Hauzer Techno Coating B.V. PO Box 3057, 5902 RB Venlo, The Netherlands Tel: Fax: info@hauzer.nl Editor: Désirée Driesenaar desiree@driesenaar.nl No responsibility can be accepted for the correctness or completeness of the statements made, especially in the case of external contributions. The opinions expressed in this magazine do not necessarily reflect those of IHI Hauzer Techno Coating B.V. We reserve the right to make technical changes. Reprinting or reproduction of any kind is prohibited. Exceptions to this rule are possible only with the prior written permission of the publisher. Design: Creation Station, Roermond IHI Hauzer Techno Coating B.V., all rights reserved.

3 3 Strategy and Growth For me the past decade has been a period of growth. I really grew into my current position as CEO of Hauzer. In the course of the years as a Product Manager and CCO I developed my own vision on the markets, the company and its relationships and now, together with our team of directors we are building a fitting strategy. In the article about Mission & Vision you can read about our focus on sustainable coating. In our view sustainability has a broad perspective and has its roots in value creation, taking good care of employees and long term relationships with customers and suppliers as well. The six strategic and enabling pillars will be present in everything we do, as can be seen in the colouring of the articles. In this Hauzer for You we show you the Triboliner, an inline coating platform that can significantly improve coating pro- ductivity for three dimensional products. You can also read about the many upgrades we implemented at our customers, from power supplies to vacuum systems and from operating systems to mass flow controllers. Furthermore, we write about our longstanding relationship with Sheffield Hallam University and how we still inspire each other after so many years. The resulting high temperature resistant tribological coating deposited with High Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering can really benefit the automotive industry. And last but not least we give you an interview with Burkhard Scholz, managing director of Europ Coating in Germany. Our relationships with our customers are the foundation of our company and our strategy will always reflect that. I wish you a good read. Jeroen Landsbergen, CEO International Sales Meeting In March the Hauzer sales force came together in Venlo to discuss strategy and share experiences. Apart from the sales team in the Hauzer headoffice in the Netherlands and subsidiaries in China and Japan; agents from several continents were present. From India to Italy and Brazil, from the USA to Turkey and South Korea. Sharing knowledge is an important factor for success now and in the future.

4 4 No. 25 April 2015 Hauzer for You Mission & Vision Sustainable Solutions In July 2015 Jeroen Landsbergen took over from Thomas Krug as CEO of IHI Hauzer Techno Coating B.V. A new era started; an era in which Hauzer will focus on sustainable coating solutions. Jeroen Landsbergen, CEO Nobody can deny that the world as we know it will change in the coming decades, Jeroen Landsbergen says. The population grows, certain raw materials will become scarce, pollution is a problem and the climate changes. As Hauzer is a part of this changing world, we will use our expertise to find, develop and maintain sustainable coating solutions. We will contribute by developing better material properties as well as better manufacturing technologies. The result will be sustainable products, reduced energy consumption and less pollution. Improve Productivity In Hauzer s view sustainability has a broad perspective, as can be seen in the illustration. Sustainability has its roots in value creation, taking good care of employees and long term relationships with customers and suppliers as well. Jeroen: The sustainable solutions Hauzer is already well known for are our tribological coatings that help reduce CO 2 emissions in for example cars and the environmentally-friendly coatings that are able to replace electroplating in certain applications. But there is more. Hauzer invests heavily in developing inline coating equipment that will significantly improve productivity. Furthermore, we built our first machine more than thirty years ago and several of these first machines are still producing coatings. We proactively think with the customer how to keep their machines up-to-date. Sometimes it means that upgrading is the right solution, sometimes a new machine is needed, but that does not mean that the old machine has to be scrapped. In a different, less demanding environment, the machine can still be very productive and we will help the customer to find a new owner. Cooperation Sustainable business for me is putting energy in matters that will shift perspectives and will land on fertile soil, Jeroen states. If not, we would be heating a room with the windows open. We know our markets and the major players and we will develop our technologies and material properties in line with our customers sustainable goals. Cooperation is our business style and together we will always achieve more than we can ever achieve alone.

5 5 Vision We live in a world with an urgent need for sustainability. IHI Hauzer Techno Coating contributes to that by creating better material properties and manufacturing technologies leading to sustainable products, reduced energy consumption and less pollution. Mission To create value by providing the best machine for the best coating with lifetime support. To realize innovative solutions in partnership between advanced customers and our dedicated employees. To have the leading position in sustainable coating technologies. Strategic & Enabling Pillars Market Development Customer Support Leading Edge Highly Skilled Reliability and Operating Excellence Technology Workforce Quality

6 6 No. 25 April 2015 Hauzer for You Triboliner, Inline Coating Platform Economically Viable PVD Coating Technology The step from batch coating machine to inline platform has been made by Hauzer several years ago, when they built the first Metalliner for applying PVD and PACVD coatings on 3D-products for decorative purposes. The Triboliner is the next inline system for applying wear resistant coatings on 3D-components. This inline production platform will open up a huge potential for increased productivity in many different markets, Geert-Jan Fransen, Product Manager Tribological Coatings, says. For more than thirty years Hauzer builds Physical Vapour Deposition (PVD) and Plasma Assisted Chemical Vapour Deposition (PACVD) coating batch machines. The extensive experience in this field has led to many innovations over the years and a competitive edge in building batch and inline systems. This time we used our engineering methods to build a machine around the products of our customer, Marijn Gelten, Systems Architect, explains. Our starting point has been an attractive cost of ownership of the machine, not the physical properties of a coating. We looked at the number of products that had to be fed through the machine and only later we decided what that meant for the features of the machine itself. We did extensive efficiency calculations and organized the loads and cycles accordingly. The load efficiency of the Triboliner is now approximately 80 percent. That means 80 percent of the coating materials actually reach the product and form the coating. We have used the proven components of other Hauzer machines to be the building blocks that make our technology in this machine feasible. The end result has been a big step forward for our customer. In general, this inline coating technology can make coating economically viable on products, which were never considered for PVD coating before, because of high coating costs per piece. Consequently it opens up Geert-Jan Fransen, Marijn Gelten, Product Manager Tribological System Architect Coatings new applications for wear resistant coatings. As a next step friction reducing coatings might potentially become possible, although this will be product specific and might require some further development. This can make benefitting from reduced wear within the automotive engine economically viable. Collaboration This result has not been achieved overnight. It took several years, lab scale concepts and a prototype before the Triboliner was ready for mass production. Geert-Jan: This customer came to us because of our longstanding experience in PVD coatings and our willingness to develop a machine completely tailored to their products. We always like collaboration like this, because it brings two worlds together. Our customer has specialist knowledge of his products and

7 7 Market Development Highly Skilled Reliability and Operating Excellence Workforce Quality we add our expertise on PVD coatings and equipment building. This is the way innovation works best! Open discussions among technical experts about possibilities and pitfalls and finding solutions along the way. And the beautiful part is that the Triboliner has been built for a specific product, but can easily be adapted for other products as well. This machine can give a boost to all products in many different markets that were not considered for coatings so far, but that could benefit from functional PVD coatings nevertheless. Examples of parts that would fit perfectly in this new concept are needles, ball bearings and two dimensional products, as well as products to be coated without rotation. Very High Productivity The Triboliner has been designed to become part of an automated production line. Therefore the machine had a few main focuses: robustness, ergonomics, maintenance and manufacturing integration. Marijn: As you can see in the picture, the door is extremely large and makes the machine very accessible. Cathodes are easy to reach and the platform at the front makes the machine ergonomically attractive for the operators. Mechanically, the weight and movement of the door were challenges. The door weighs 1.5 tons, so that was no sinecure! Another mechanical challenge was the product transport system. One learning experience was the productivity of our machine. The Triboliner is very fast, but when part of an automated production line you have to tune the speed to the other machines around you. Key Components In order to handle the electrical engineering of the machine a significant task was to make a structured lay-out of the machine. In total the machine consists of approximately 200 modules, excluding all connections to water and pressured air. Many cables, lines and utilities had to be connected and kept in control. Due to the machine operating in mass production, new water-cooled power supplies were used for this machine. The Triboliner needs to be very stable and robust, Marijn explains. The power supplies run 24 hours a day, six days in a row at maximum capacity, so we cannot risk overheating them. We also identified key components and used the principle of redundancy. It means that several components are twice applied so one remains idle in case the other breaks down. Customer Freedom The software of the Triboliner, not only PLC also HMI, has been freshly written, incorporating all Hauzer knowledge.

8 8 No. 25 April 2015 Hauzer for You Example inline concept: Metalliner concept for metallization of decorative parts (publication of Triboliner platform photos is limited due to confidentiality agreements) It has been modularly built based on the experience gained while building the Metalliner. Serviceability and integration at the customer were the main drivers. Marijn: We give the customer the possibility to set the alarm conditions for the relevant process variables. Let me use the analogy of speed and the gas pedal. We build the pedal, but the customer can decide on the speed limit. The parameters are set per recipe and our customer is free to put in his own alarm boundaries. Another point of attention was data generation, which has to be combined for total process control. There is a report per carrier which is used for Manufacturing Execution System (MES). MES is used for manufacturing decision making, because it provides the right information about multiple elements of the production process at the right time. Horizontal Process Looking at the details of this Triboliner, it can be noticed that the machine has now been built as an inline system producing coatings on three dimensional products. Many different product racks can be applied, including the ones using rotation, but the way the machine is built now it is ideal for coating on small rotating or stationary products. The fixturing is kept simple and the process is horizontal because of the specific products the machine is built for. Monolayers or layered coatings are both possible. Multilayers with gradients do not belong to the spectrum. The machine can deposit at high temperatures up to 500 C. The Triboliner can be fitted with or without bias and additional magnetic field to enhance the coating properties. Process Highlights Geert-Jan: Achieving a stable process for reactive coatings is different in an inline machine as opposed to a batch machine. In batch processes the product faces the target say one hundred times during a batch. In an inline process, this face-to-face moment happens only a few times. Also stopping and starting has many consequences in an inline process. However, due to our extensive experience and knowledge of tribological coatings and the building of several kinds of inline machines, we can come up with the right concepts. In this case we managed to stabilize the process for reactive coatings. What makes the process in the Triboliner unique is the closed field unbalanced magnetron sputtering with electromagnetic coils, the high temperature resistance and the relatively thick and hard nitride coatings of approximately three microns. We really learned a lot from the transfer of processes from batch to in-lne systems. Furthermore we learned machine lessons

9 9 about software, product transportation systems, integration of the machine into the customer s automated production line, the support needed for inline machines and handling of wear and spare parts. Conclusion Economical production methods are necessary in all markets. Pressure on prices is high and the need to standardize and increase volumes will become bigger and bigger. PVD coatings can add functionalities, such as hardness, wear and friction reduction and corrosion protection to many different products. But the price for these coatings must be as low as possible to manufacture competitive products. Geert-Jan: The Triboliner fi ts into this bigger picture. The machine has been built according to lean manufacturing principles and can be integrated into automated production lines. As an expert in PVD coatings as well as equipment building we take our role as an architect of production systems very seriously. Therefore we would like to challenge companies that have not considered coatings before because of fi nancial reasons to discuss these new opportunities with us. Together we will be able to fi nd solutions that are economically viable and bring benefits to products and their users. Triboliner, main benefits: Reduction of coating cost per product Inline concept integrated in factory production line Markets unavailable for PVD coating are opening up due to reduced coating costs per product Features Triboliner : Machine platform lenght: aprrox 9 meter Horizontal orientation of planar cathodes Monolayers and/or layered coatings Ideal for high volume parts and/or large two dimensional products Process temperatures up to 500 C possible

10 10 No. 25 April 2015 Hauzer for You New Coating Design for Tribology Synergy & Interaction When universities and industry cooperate, new avenues are born. The cooperation between Sheffield Hallam University and Hauzer is longstanding and has given the industry several new technologies and coating designs. And now Hauzer has put another idea in our heads, Professor Papken Hovsepian, Head of the Thin Films Research Centre, says. We were talking about the demand for low friction tribological coating, which can be operated in oil lubricated conditions at much higher temperatures and a new idea was born. Tribological coatings have two main functionalities, reducing friction and providing high wear resistance, so most coatings have been designed to solve these two problems. But the automotive industry is changing rapidly and the requirements for components are altering as well. Due to downsizing of the engines, operating conditions are becoming ever harsher, which means the components have to withstand much higher temperatures and mechanical loads. Within a university one is always tempted to go for blue sky research, which is a risk of becoming blind to the needs of the market, Prof. Hovsepian says. Therefore I enjoy working with partners like Hauzer who know how to put your feet on the ground. People in the industry are the first to be aware of changing demands on the market so we regularly have lively discussions on how to come up with the right coating solutions to satisfy these demands. Roel Tietema, Manager New Technologies at Hauzer says: The PVD group at Sheffield Hallam University is clearly result oriented, their main strength is the ability to combine fundamental science with applications. Three Steps Whenever we design a new coating, we identify three steps, Prof. Hovsepian continues. As a first step we study the application and try to understand what is needed for it. The second step is as smart as possible selection of the coating materials. They have to be materials that have a right response to and are active in actual operational environment. For example in tribological applications, elements are needed that form beneficial tribo-layers on the contact surface. The coating materials have to be well developed and well understood. Based on this knowledge we take step three: we choose and develop the best possible technology to deposit the coating. Especially in step one and three we need a close collaboration with the industry which helps us to develop a coating that is not only nice to have but is also beneficial, technically possible and economically viable. Dopants with Two Roles The demand for low friction tribological coatings which could be operated at elevated (higher than that of the state-of-theart C-based coatings) in lubricated sliding conditions brought us to the idea of doping Carbon with two chemically active metals such as Molybdenum (Mo) and Tungsten (W). These two metals are known to react with Sulphur, to form highly lubricious MoS 2 and WS 2 compounds. Sulphur is naturally present in any kind of oil and therefore it was expected that if a tailored amount of Mo and W was added to the Carbon a lubricious MoS 2 and WS 2 containing tribofilm will form in situ at the asperity contact due to tribochemical reactions. It was further expected that the dopants will enhance the high temperature stability of the Carbon film and therefore expand the operational envelope. The choice of the coating technology was clear from the very beginning. The novel High Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering (HIPIMS) was selected due to the power of this technology to produce highly adherent, very dense and smooth coatings due to the high metal

11 11 Leading Edge Technology Highly Skilled Workforce Reliability and Quality Figure 1. Optical microscopy image of a scratch track of Mo-W-Carbon film deposited on hardened HSS substrate. ionization in the discharge. Furthermore as the technology has first been up-scaled and the viability for industrial applications demon-strated at Sheffield Hallam University by Prof. Arutiun P. Ehiasarian, a vast experience and know-how was available in house for the production of this demanding new coating. Mo-W-Carbon Coating Properties The Mo-W doped Carbon coating is deposited by nonreactive magnetron sputtering from graphite and metallic targets using HIPIMS technology in both the surface pre-treatment as well as coating deposition steps of the process. Adhesion of Diamond Like Carbon (DLC) coatings has always been of major concern especially for coatings with higher hardness and therefore higher stress values. The availability of a metallic target as in the case of the Me-doped Carbon coatings presents the opportunity to exploit the metal ion etching technique, therefore the new coatings show significantly enhanced adhesion strength. Figure 1 shows an optical microscopy image of a scratch track of Mo-W- Carbon film deposited on hardened HSS substrate. No coating delamination and only cohesive failure at critical load values of Lc = 80.8 N was obtained. This high adhesion was attributed to the HIPIMS pre-treatment used in the process. Hauzer was among the first companies who applied the HIPIMS etching technology patented by Sheffield Hallam University on large scale. Figure 2a and 2b shows High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy images of the structure of the coating substrate interface produced by standard Argon plasma etching, (Fig. 2a) and by HIPIMS etching, (Fig. 2b). The interface after Argon bombardment has random amorphous like structure resulting in poor adhesion whereas the HIPIMS pre-treated interface is highly Cr Layer Interface Substrate 0,159 mm Fig. 2a) Standard Ar pre-treatment Amorphised interface with a more random structure orientation. Results in poor adhesion. Innovatial Project Image courtesy of Jeff Th.M. De Hosson, Department of Applied Physics,. Mater Scientific Centre, University of Groningen, The Netherlands Fig. 2b) HIPIMS pre-treatment Crystalline interface with well-defined orientation. Results in strong adhesion EC, NMP3-CT Figure 2a and 2b. High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy images of the structure of the coating substrate interface produced after standard Argon plasma etching, (Fig. 2a) and HIPIMS etching (Fig 2b).

12 12 No. 25 April 2015 Hauzer for You friction coefficient Lubricated sliding of 7.5 km A B C D E CMW1R coated samples Figure 3. Coefficient of Friction in room temperature lubricated sliding after 7.5 km long sliding distance of various state-of-the- art DLC coatings, labelled A through E and a Mo-W-Carbon film labelled CMW1R. crystalline with well-defined crystal orientation, which results in strong adhesion. The tribological behaviour of the Mo-W-Carbon films was studied thoroughly using ball on disc geometry in dry and lubricated conditions both at room and elevated temperatures, sliding against steel or ceramic counterparts. Figure 3 compares the Coefficient of Friction after 7.5 km lubricated sliding distance of various stateof-the-art DLC coatings and the Mo-W-Carbon film. The test has been carried out at room temperature using highly viscous Mobil1 Extended life TM 10W-60 multigrade synthetic engine oil. As it can be seen the Mo-W doped Carbon coating outperforms a selection of DLC coatings with the lowest coefficient of friction values currently on the market. The Mo-W-Carbon coatings show excellent friction behaviour in lubricated sliding at elevated temperatures, Figure 4. It has been found that after the run-in period (segment I in Figure 4) the coefficient of friction of the Me-doped coating decreases continuously to reach mean value of µ=0.056 in segment III of the test. In contrast the coefficient of friction of the DLC coating continuously increases to reach mean value of µ = The test has been carried out at 200 o C, whilst sliding against 100Cr6 steel ball counterpart. This peculiar behaviour can be understood after careful investigation of the wear product formed in the wear track by the two coatings. Raman analyses of the wear debris of the Mo-W-Carbon coating revealed unambiguously the formation of a lubricious MoS 2 compound, Figure 5. The spectrum shows that the wear debris produced during µ ~0.092 I friction coefficient (µ) µ ~0.056 I µ ~0.048 II µ ~0.068 II segment I segment II segment III sliding distance (m) µ ~0.075 III µ ~0.056 III DLC Mo-W-C Figure 4. Coefficient of friction of Mo- W-Carbon and DLC films as a function of sliding distance in lubricated sliding at 200 o C against a 100Cr6 counterpart.

13 13 sliding is a mixture of graphite (see the D and G bands) and MoS 2. It is believed that the lubricious MoS 2 compound forms at the asperity contacts via a tribochemical reaction between the Sulphur contained in the lubricant and Mo as a coating element. The trend for reduction of the coefficient of friction with sliding distance in Fig. 4 can be attributed to the increase of the amount of the lubricious compounds in the wear track with time. In contrast, DLC will deteriorate its properties with time due to slow degradation of the coating when exposed to elevated temperatures. Another important role, which the Mo and W dopants play is that they improve the high temperature stability of the carbon based coating. Figure 6 compares the mass gain of Mo-W-Carbon and DLC coatings deposited on stainless steel substrate in thermo-gravimetric experiments. At temperatures as low as 300 o C, the DLC coated sample starts loosing mass due to oxidation and spallation. In the same experiment the Mo-W-Carbon film retains its mass unchanged up to 600 o C with temperature of onset of rapid oxidation as high as 800 o C thus demonstrating much more reliable substrate protection against high temperature exposure. Concluding remarks: Me-doping of Carbon based fi lms is a powerful tool for manipulation of coating structure, properties and therefore performance. When smartly selected, in boundary lubrication conditions the dopants may form lubricious compounds in situ via tribochemical reactions with the lubricant, which further improve the tribological performance of the Carbon based coatings as well as enhance their high temperature stability. The use of the HIPIMS technology brings further advantages as it provides conditions for deposition of highly adherent, very dense and smooth coatings. The Mo-W- Carbon coating solution is patent pending. Intensity Intensity Mass gain (mg) MoS 2 MoS Figure 5. Raman spectrum taken in the wear track of Mo-W-Carbon film tested in lubricated sliding conditions at 200 o C. The inset shows Raman spectra of pure MoS 2 powder for reference. coating delaminated Figure 6. Mass gain of Mo-W-Carbon and DLC coatings deposited on stainless steel substrate in thermo-gravimetric analyses experiment. MoS 2 MoS 2 D Raman Shift (cm -1-1 ) ) onset of rapid oxidation Temperature ( oc) Intensity G Sample: MoS 2 powder Raman Shift (cm -1 ) Mo-W-C DLC

14 14 No. 25 April 2015 Hauzer for You Benefits of New Coating The carbon coating with dopants of molybdenum and tungsten has been designed to be wear resistant with a low friction coefficient, while contact temperatures can become very high. Therefore the coating is extremely suitable for tribological applications in the automotive industry. Very low friction (0.03 lubricated at room temperature) High temperature resistance (up to 500 C in air) Low stress Very ductile coating High load bearing capacity Dense coating Strong adhesion at interface Cooperative Team Dave Doerwald Manager Process Engineering IHI Hauzer Techno Coating Prof. Papken Hovsepian Sheffield Hallam University Ruud Jacobs Process Engineer Tribological Coatings IHI Hauzer Techno Coating Prof. Arutiun Ehiasarian Sheffield Hallam University Roel Tietema Manager New Technologies IHI Hauzer Techno Coating

15 15 Customer Support Booming Upgrades After installing coating machines in decorative, automotive and tool markets for the last thirty years, the need for customer support and upgrading at Hauzer s customers has grown significantly. Geert-Jan Heijl, account manager customer support & upgrades: In 2014 we have installed a record amount of upgrades. Our customers especially feel the need to make their machines more efficient and less vulnerable. Our upgrades success story is in part due to a different way of organizing the work involved, Geert-Jan says. By analyzing all the systems in the fi eld, we proactively advise our customers what would be necessary and possible to make their machine state-of-the-art again. Especially power supplies, PLCs, operating systems and the turbo pumps will often be replaced and modernized. Other parts that are often upgraded are mass fl ow controllers, fore pump group and vacuum gauges. If customers wait too long with maintenance or upgrades, the machines become very vulnerable and ineffi cient. Technological developments at our suppliers are the main driver for necessary change. Many suppliers stop giving support on certain spare parts, end of life policy. In practice this could mean long downtimes when a part fails. Furthermore, my colleague John Claessen has a longstanding experience in producing the machines, so he can give good advice based on practical details of specific machines. Profibus An example of modernization that can make a real difference is our Hauzer Support Link, John Claessen, field service engineer, adds. Many machines are still equipped with old, unstable telephone modems, but as files are getting bigger and bigger, and analogue telephone lines are being replaced by digital telephone stations, it becomes

16 16 No. 25 April 2015 Hauzer for You Customer Support Leading Edge Technology Highly Skilled Workforce Geert-Jan Heijl, Accountmanager Customer Support & Upgrades John Claessen, Field Service Engineer & Upgrades impossible for us to provide remote support if one of these machines have problems. Another change that helps solve problems much quicker is Profi bus. Many of our systems that are not upgraded still work with analog controlled equipment and associated electrical wiring. Profibus makes it possible to reduce cabling and save space in the machine, but more importantly you can see which component causes problems. Whenever a power supply has to be renewed, it is interesting for our customer to change to Profibus as the upgrade will be more economical. In combination with the Hauzer Support Link real advantages can be obtained. Saving Space The power supplies themselves are often upgraded when a customer wants to install new technology and in case power supplies are no longer available or repairable. There are power supplies for arc evaporation, sputtering and bias, but also for more recently introduced technologies such as HIPIMS and CARC +. John: I remember in the old days that one power supply was as big as one cabinet. Nowadays we can fi t four power supplies in one cabinet. It is just like old computers that took up so much space, technology evolves and the hardware evolves with it. When we arrange a full upgrade, the customer can easily save a lot of space. If we look at the HMI software, CITECT gives many more applications than the old Factory Link on DOS or OSP. Programming of recipes and introducing new recipes is much easier. Risk Analysis Our machines nowadays are all plug and play, which means that whenever a power supply breaks down we can loosen the cable and replace it, John says. But with the old machines it is not so simple, it takes us many more hours and is therefore more expensive. The same with repair time. When an old, obsolete model power supply breaks down our customers have to reckon with ten weeks repair time at our supplier. With the new models repair service is only one or two weeks and moreover we can keep the power supplies on stock if the customer has a service contract. The upgrade from Factory Link to CITECT is another good example of an upgrade that can save a lot of repair time. When the obsolete operating system breaks down and there is no proper backup made it can take up to twenty weeks for a new operating system to be delivered. Prolonging Lifetime By mapping the machines for our customers, they really see where the vulnerabilities are, Geert-Jan says. For every system we make on overview showing the actual condition of the system, sub systems and parts. We list obsolete parts and possibilities concerning replacements and a detailed risk analysis. This way the customer can easily judge whether he can wait with replacing parts or if the risk of breakdown and production stop is too high. We often combine the analysis with a detailed full machine inspection visit. We will check the complete machine, mechani-

17 17 Reliability and Quality Old type Bias Power Supply HS7-B takes a whole cabinet The smaller Truplasma 3018 BP18 cal parts and e.g. the water system. When the customer decides that he wants to upgrade his system, we deduct the fi rst inspection visit, depending on the size of the upgrade. We want to make the threshold as low as possible to give the customer the opportunity to get his machine risks properly analyzed. Our aim is to update the machine in such a way that it will function satisfactorily for the next five to ten years. Prolonging machine lifetime and minimizing down-time are our goals. Better Alternatives Hauzer s engineering department is constantly looking for better solutions. Geert-Jan: When parts become obsolete we take the opportunity to look around in the market for

18 18 No. 25 April 2015 Hauzer for You alternatives. But sometimes long before becoming obsolete the market comes up with better alternatives that give a real advantage to our customers. This market is constantly moving and technology never stops improving itself. Our engineering department will weigh the pros and cons and quality-price-performance, so we can give sound advice to our customers. John adds: We always try to prepare our work in such a way that the customer benefits most. For example when four turbo pumps are obsolete and one breaks down, we will advise to replace one or two pumps and prepare the other pumps, so they will be much more easily replaced when the time comes, thus risking less machine downtime. Conclusion There are two main reasons that customers decide for upgrading, Geert-Jan says. They either want to minimize the risks of downtime or they see the advantages of state-of-the-art equipment as a competitive edge in their market. The biggest risks are in the brains and the heart of the system. The brains in this case is the software and the heart is the bias power supply. In this analogy a cathode is the arm and often the system can still function without it. If we look at competitive edge, we have a lot of requests from customers to upgrade to new processes, such as those obtained by CARC + technology, because they see the commercial value in their market. Real Life Example Many customers do not see the advantages of machine inspection (yet). John: I recently visited a customer with a machine from the 90s. In their opinion the machine was functioning well, it was an old one but they saw nothing wrong with it. The inspection however, gave a different perspective. Safety was not in order and the cycle time was much longer than necessary because of vacuum issues. When a machine is dirty or there is no optimum gas flow, it takes much longer to reach the base pressure and therefore it takes longer before you can start the coating process. When we fixed the leaks and took a few measures the machine was running smoothly again and the productivity of the machine improved significantly. Sometimes simple measures can make a huge difference.

19 19 Market Development EC Europ Coating GmbH, Germany Flexibility Is Our Strength At the end of 2013 Europ Coating started a new branch in Tuttlingen, specialized in coating medical tools. Burkhard Scholz, Managing Director: We chose a Hauzer machine to establish our expertise on the medical technology market and to reach our commercial aims as soon as possible. Now the machine is running for more than a year and we can say we made the right choice. We are growing within our market and are considering a second machine. Tuttlingen is the home of more than six hundred surgical equipment companies. Worldwide, this area is an important surgical centre as well. Fifty percent of the world s surgical equipment is manufactured here. For us, as a service provider for high quality PVD-Coatings, Tuttlingen is a logical place to be, Burkhard Scholz explains. We started our branches in Tuttlingen because we see a large potential of customers. Here we started out with twenty active customers, but approximately 150 companies are prospective customers for us. Our speciality is coating of surgical instruments with black DLC coating and TiAlCN. A few features are important for surgical instruments. Black coating features very low reflection, which is very important for surgeons who are operating under glaring lights. Furthermore the coating needs to be biocompatible, it needs to withstand aggressive chemical cleaning materials and should be easy to sterilize. Support and Installation The first contacts I had with Hauzer date back to 1993, Burkhard continues. In former employment I worked with decorative Hauzer machines. So when I started my own company I contacted Hauzer and they offered me the possibility to buy a second hand Hauzer Flexicoat 750, a model that is no longer in production but is ideal for my type of coating. We tested many products on this machine to see if the three dimensional products with complex geometries would be coated uniformly. When that was the outcome, we could build up our commercial production real fast. Communication and support from Hauzer is excellent. And they installed the machine in a professional way. Knowledge Exchange Flexibility is a very important feature in our machine, Burkhard says. We have to change from one coating to the next in a very short period of time. In our machine we can change cathodes and shutters very fast. The biggest products we coat are 400 mm, so we do not need a large vacuum chamber. Operating the machine is simple and we can exchange knowledge with Hauzer in order to develop our coatings. Our main focus is on decorative coatings, including real gold. Besides we developed many other coatings with different functionalities. As an example we also deposit functional coatings on fuel cells. The possibilities are endless and thanks to our Hauzer equipment we remain flexible to grab the opportunities when they come along.

20 Meet us Hauzer would like to welcome you to the following conferences and exhibitions, where we will be present. 36 th Vienna Motor Symposium ICMCTF CIMT SVC International Vienna HIPIMS Conference Engine Expo 2015 Motorsymposium April 20-24, 2015 April 20-25, 2015 April 25-30, 2015 May 7-8, 2015 June 10-11, 2015 June 16-18, 2015 San Diego, CA Beijing Santa Clara, CA Vienna Braunschweig Stuttgart USA CHINA USA AUSTRIA GERMANY GERMANY