TPT November 2014

Industry News

Rattunde opens new manufacturing facility

facility on a 14-acre parcel of land the company purchased last year in Caledonia, initially to build tooling for its machinery systems, which process bar and tube stock into various end products used by manufacturers in the auto, appliance, off-highway, transportation and other industries throughout North America. Rattunde Corporation is the subsidiary of Rattunde & Co GmbH, based in Ludwigslust, Germany. Long- range plans call for an expansion of this new facility up to 100,000ft 2 for eventual machine builds here. The new facility also houses a complete spare parts inventory,

GLOBAL manufacturer of tube and bar processing machinery Rattunde celebrated the official ribbon-cutting ceremony to open its new manufacturing facility in Caledonia, Michigan (Grand Rapids area), USA, recenty. The ribbon was cut by company president Rick Stadler, who was joined by managing directors Ulrich Rattunde and Martin Proksch from Rattunde & Co GmbH and the Rattunde Corporation staff. Approximately 50 people enjoyed the day, complete with good food and camaraderie. A formal open house for Rattunde customers and the media is slated for later this year. Rattunde erected its new 30,000ft 2

training areas for both company and customer personnel, machines for demonstration purposes and testing plus a state-of-the-art machine shop, where machine- and application-specific tooling will be manufactured, making the company more responsive to customer requirements. Mr Stadler said: “Everyone in the company is excited by the potential of this new facility. It will create an energy that will translate into a great working environment for our team, plus we’ll have more capabilities to better serve our customers, immediately and into the future. The growth of Rattunde sales in North America and especially the hard work of our team made this all possible.” Mr Stadler also mentioned future plans for a facility in Mexico, where the company has substantial business engagements. Rattunde president Rick Stadler cuts the ribbon to officially open the company’s new facility in Caledonia, Michigan, near Grand Rapids. He is flanked by Martin Proksch (l) and Ulrich Rattunde (r), both directors from the parent company in Germany, plus the team members of Rattunde Corporation. Mr Stadler’s sons hold the ends of the ribbon for their dad

New 30,000ft 2 facility officially opened by Rattunde

Rattunde Corporation – USA Website: www.rattunde-corp.com

Plasma surface treatment applications presented

The application of plasma surface treatment is explored in various situations like finished material cleaning, degreasing and surface preparation for coating. The workings of the plasma cleaner and its components are explained and compared to the traditional surface cleaning techniques.

Rogelj, commercial director of Plasmait GmbH, the Austrian supplier of plasma heat and surface treatment machinery. The technical paper titled ‘Continuous Plasma Cleaning and Surface Activation of Welded and Seamless Tubes’ was selected for presentation at the Pipe and Tube conference in Houston, USA, in September 2014. The paper outlines the plasma cleaning and surface activation process for small and medium diameter tubing.

SURFACE cleaning and degreasing is an important part of the tube production process. Traditionally this involves wet, chemical processes that are potentially harmful to the operator and the environment. One way to turn production chemical-free is to use plasma surface cleaning, which is a dry surface treatment. The subject of plasma surface treatment has been summarised in a technical article prepared by Igor

Plasmait GmbH – Austria Email: info@plasmait.com Website: www.plasmait.com

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N ovember 2014