The manufacturer of high-quality tube fittings lacked ready-to-install hydraulic lines in its range, i.e. complete tube lines with the appropriate connection components, as well as hose lines with the corresponding hose fittings. These complete solutions were increasingly requested by customers in order to be able to obtain all components from a single source. As part of its development into a comprehensive system provider, the company has invested a total of around one million euros in the expansion of its machinery. In addition to classic hydraulic connection technology, the company now also offers customized tube and hose combinations. All metal components are coated with VOSScoat, a specially developed zinc-nickel coating, as standard. This makes them particularly corrosion-resistant and durable.

A third pipe bending machine and a sawing system were purchased to enable the pipes to be processed accordingly. In addition, a new 3D measuring device enables the machine measurement of the bent pipes. This means that incorrect measurements can be virtually ruled out. Using state-of-the-art camera technology, the machine photographs all the pipes from different perspectives. The data obtained from this enables corrections to be made with micrometer precision. As a result, the company can produce thick- and thin-walled hydraulic pipes up to 6 m long and with an outer diameter of up to 60 mm precisely according to customer requirements.

Voss invested in a laser system, an orbital welding machine, an induction brazing system and a forming machine with 18 tons of pressure force to mark and label the tubes. The induction brazing system ensures that the components have to be brazed without additional flux. This eliminates the need for time-consuming cleaning after the joining process. With these investments, the manufacturer is aiming for greater automation in quality management in order to achieve standards that are normally only achieved in the automotive sector.

"The big advantage for our customers is that we can now produce pipe-hose combinations in extremely lean and therefore more efficient work steps. For example, we are able to connect hose lines with straight pipes and then bend them. As already bent parts are more difficult to handle than straight components, our method saves us time, which we can pass on to our customers as an enormous price advantage," says Alexander-Peter Schmidt, Head of "Ready-to-Install Piping Systems".

Thanks to the innovative forming system, Voss can form and reshape hose contours. As this process takes place entirely on the individual component and a single component is always tighter than connections of several elements, the result is greater leak protection. The company wants to set itself apart from its competitors with a high level of leak-tightness despite noticeably fewer work steps. kp