Lauble, a company based in Dunningen in the Rottweil district and run by two generations of the founding family, is one of these companies that have shaped the region and embodies this tradition in a particularly compelling way. Here, through continuous review of cost-effectiveness and new technical possibilities, opportunities for improvement are consistently identified and realized with the help of the right tools. 

“Precision in record time” is Lauble’s motto, showcased on its website with the company’s own employees acting as a pit stop team. This team consistently tackles setup and non-productive times to optimize productivity and delivery times. For over 15 years, ZOLLER has been a partner for greater efficiency at Lauble and, following the successful introduction of tool setting in ZOLLER’s own horizontal position several years ago, has now also supported the digitization of tool management. Together, they have enabled significant cost savings, process improvements, and reduced workload.

The finished part from a single source 

Lauble’s story is typical of the region’s industrial landscape. Founded in 1965 as a turning shop in a home garage, three generations have developed the company into a technology firm with 50 employees and a state-of-the-art production facility featuring 31 machines across a total area of over 3,000 square meters. Using modern short- and long-bed turning machines, parts are manufactured in batch sizes typically ranging from 500 to 100,000 pieces for various demanding applications. Drawing on the full range of experience and expertise of a turning specialist, the company produces high-precision, complex parts made of stainless steel, aluminum, steel, brass, and even plastic for drive technology, mechanical engineering, medical technology, and the electrical industry. Lauble offers the finished part as a complete solution from a single source, including final machining, finishing, and marking all performed in-house.

As an experienced manufacturing expert, Managing Director Sascha Auber intuitively knew that there was significant potential for cost savings and optimization in professional setup and measurement. While working as a technician in 2004, he explored this potential and was able to confirm his hypothesis with hard data. Pre-set tools in general, and specifically at Lauble on the numerous indexing machines of the ABC and C series, have particularly significant effects on setup times and machine availability. It was therefore clear that a professional setting device was an essential component of modern manufacturing at Lauble. The decision was made to use a »hyperion« setting and measuring device from ZOLLER. 

For a turned parts manufacturer, the device is the ideal choice due to its horizontal clamping configuration and the wide range of options tailored to turning operations. ZOLLER is the only supplier on the market offering horizontal tool setting devices and has continuously refined the technology. With the ability to precisely set the center height or the optional additional Y-axis for measuring tools on multi-tool holders or off-center tools, as well as special adapters from lathe manufacturers, ZOLLER offers functions derived from the daily operations of turned parts manufacturers that are particularly useful and time-saving. 

At Lauble, the initial focus was on the concrete savings achieved by outsourcing tool setting. And these were impressive: with a reduction in setup times of around 40%, the cost of the setting device paid for itself in less than six months and now delivers significant ongoing savings. These result from the machine spending far more time in production. When changing non-preset complete tool assemblies—i.e., tool and holder—the machine takes a long time to manually find the tool’s position by “scraping” against the workpiece. This involves moving the tool toward the workpiece. If the tools are preset in advance, the machine can return to cutting much faster after a tool change. The bottom line is that the machine requires less time to manufacture the same part, allowing for more cost-effective and faster production.

It quickly became clear that the »hpyerion« was more than just an investment aimed at reducing downtime. Inspired by the ease with which Sascha Auber now measures tools on the setting machine himself, even the employees who had previously sworn by the tried-and-true “scratching” method soon let go of their reservations. The transition was also made easier by the fact that the tools are measured in their usual horizontal position. As a result, acceptance was high within a short time, and daily work became easier for everyone involved. Today, it seems unimaginable to carry out the complex setup processes without external measurement. 

Further Potential in Tool Management 

This was exactly the kind of optimization the Boxenstopp team was looking for a few years later. It made sense to explore further potential in tool management as part of this initiative, which began in 2018. What possibilities existed for recording and storing the countless tool components in such a way that search times would be virtually eliminated and inventory would always be visible? What if the measured tool data could be transferred directly from the setting device to the machine without any manual intervention? And how could the tool data be best utilized for Index’s VirtualLine virtual machine, which assists with programming, simulation, and optimization?

Florian Kreuzberger explored these questions; as an assistant to the management, he has a good overview of the company’s key financial metrics and corresponding opportunities for optimization. However, when you see this trained lawyer today setting up tools or at the tool management workstation, he comes across as an experienced professional in the tool room. 

The starting point for these considerations was the obvious potential for improvement in the tool room and during setup. “Of course, we have different batch sizes, and the following sample calculation is rather conservative: Assuming we set up 50 tools per day, consisting of 125 individual components—even if you spend just 90 seconds searching for each complete tool, including all components, that adds up to a pure search time of 75 minutes per day. And that’s already very optimistic, since our tool room was tidy but not organized consistently enough,” says Kreuzberger. 

The plan was put together relatively quickly: Electronic cabinets were to be purchased for tool storage, tool lists were to be standardized, and tool provision was to be handled by a central point of contact instead of by each individual set-up technician as had been the case previously. The entire system was to be integrated using professional tool management software.

ZOLLER had the solution. With the SILVER package from TMS Tool Management Solutions, Lauble gained everything needed to set up a well-organized, state-of-the-art tool and inventory management system. Pre-configured interfaces for the planned Kardex storage lift, the user-friendly ZOLLER storage location management, centralized maintenance of tool data records, components, and material characteristics in accordance with DIN 4000, the management of setup sheets, and data import to the machines were thus made available. To ensure that the digital twin of the Index machines, complete with measured 3D tool data, could be fully utilized within the software, ZOLLER developed the software interface as part of the project. 

In laying the groundwork for this significant step in Lauble’s manufacturing process, ZOLLER provided support through appropriate training and solutions. Kreuzberger: “Above all, setting up the tool data was a headache for us at first. Although our tool suppliers were able to provide us with all the data, the task of creating all the components in the system—and in 3D at that—seemed like a mammoth undertaking to us. While milling shops can work with far fewer components and simpler contours, we turners have to create complex data. 

At first, we had the impression that ZOLLER’s software was very much geared toward rotating tools and that we would have to spend an immense amount of time on data entry.” However, this was quickly resolved in collaboration with ZOLLER: “Data entry is, to a certain extent, always a matter of tidying up and systematization, but it pays off many times over,” says Felix Kammer, who supports the process at Lauble on the ZOLLER side. “There are always specific details that need to be taken into account, but fundamentally, our software allows any tools, components, and material properties to be defined in accordance with standards, thereby ensuring seamless exchange with third-party systems.” 

This requires only a training session, which provided the responsible personnel at Lauble with the necessary knowledge, confidence, and speed. “We thought we’d spend at least half a day on each tool, but during the training we quickly learned how to populate the DIN 4000 structure in the ZOLLER TMS with data from the tool manufacturers.” From there, it was purely a matter of implementation. Feasibility and efficiency were already assured.

Step by step toward greater efficiency 

Sascha Auber and Florian Kreuzberger want to build on what they have achieved: “With ZOLLER, we have brought more efficiency into our production step by step with increasing impact, without having to restrict ongoing operations. Simply working in a perfectly organized tool room and the targeted optimization using virtual tools make our forward-looking strategy tangible for both employees and customers,” says Sascha Auber. 

Florian Kreuzberger adds: “The savings in setup times—both due to faster tool retrieval and directly at the machine through external tool measurement—are impressive. And through our intensive exchange with ZOLLER, we are constantly learning about new opportunities for optimization that we certainly don’t want to miss.” Currently, automation solutions from ZOLLER for the tool preparation process are under consideration, which can be implemented quickly and easily on the existing infrastructure.