We are pleased to share the news that today we delivered the necessary machined components for 300 intensive care unit ventilators. The remaining parts for the additional 800 units will be delivered shortly.

In response to the global pandemic, a Hungarian medical device manufacturer — Celitron Medical Technologies Ltd. — began producing state-of-the-art ventilators. As part of this project, a total of 1,100 ventilators will soon be assembled, serving the health of people in Hungary. The machines can be used to ventilate newborns, children, and adults in intensive care.

We thank our colleagues for stepping up during this difficult period. It fills us with great joy and pride that our company can supply — and our team can manufacture — the machined components for these life-saving machines.

Adient Mezőlak Ltd. (formerly Johnson Controls) held a closing ceremony for its grant project. During the implementation of this consortium-based R&D project, three automotive product families were developed. Julius-Globe Ltd. was Adient’s consortium partner, and our main task was the design and experimental manufacturing of selected components within the prototype product families.

The Adient group — a manufacturer of car seats — has been present in Hungary since 2007, producing innovative vehicle seat structures for major automakers such as BMW, Daimler, Chrysler, Tesla, Ford, Jeep, Seat, and Volkswagen. More than 2,700 specialists work across the company’s three Hungarian sites in Mór, Mezőlak, and Kecskemét. The Mezőlak plant, which opened in 2011, manufactures seat backrest adjusters, seat height adjusters, locking mechanisms, and seat fastening systems. Today, one in every ten cars worldwide contains seat mechanisms produced at the Mezőlak facility, which employs 580 people.

Alongside mass production, R&D activities also take place in Mezőlak, in close collaboration with specialists at Adient’s European headquarters in Germany. This work made it possible to develop a world-first range of zero-backlash seat backrest adjuster product families — covering backrest adjustment, seat height adjustment, and locking mechanisms. The project’s goal was to design, finalise, and bring into production the new product family series and development prototypes, as well as to design and manufacture the associated production line and tooling.

The outcome of this development was the world’s first completely zero-backlash seat backrest adjuster product family, specifically designed to meet the requirements of 3-door vehicle types. The updated model of the seat height adjuster product family also incorporates numerous innovations, making it functionally superior to the previous series while also representing a manufacturing advancement. The newly developed locking mechanism series — used to secure backrests and seats — offers a competitive market advantage thanks to its uniquely low weight and compact size.

The development — worth approximately HUF 2.85 billion in total — was made possible with HUF 996 million in funding from the Economic Development and Innovation Operational Programme (GINOP) under the Széchenyi 2020 programme.

We recently visited the MAZAK factories in Japan — a company founded by the Yamazaki family. At this year’s EMO exhibition, MAZAK’s central theme was Industry 4.0. Among other things, they presented the iSmart Factory concept, which we were able to see in person at the Oguchi plant. We also visited the company’s technology centre and the Minokamo and Seiko plant units, where additive manufacturing was showcased alongside multi-tasking machines (INTEGREX) and the latest generation of CNC machining and turning centres. We also visited the Optonics plant, where laser cutting machines are manufactured underground.

The MAZAK factory was founded by Sadakichi Yamazaki in 1919 in Nagoya. It started out making straw mat weaving machines, then moved to industrial wood-cutting machinery before beginning the production of machine tools, lathes, and drilling machines in 1928. This foundation has driven the continuous development of the MAZAK manufacturing company we know today. MAZAK is one of the world’s leading machine tool manufacturers, selling approximately 30% of its machines in Europe.

But how does one actually get to the point of designing and building an iSmart factory?

MAZAK launched its first flexible manufacturing system in 1981, at which point robots were already delivering raw material to the machining centres. Between 1983 and 1986, manufacturing underwent huge development. The groundwork was laid for machine-to-machine (m2m) communication, production began using computers, and the computer system communicated with production — at that point, only one way. By 1998, two-way computer communication had been achieved. From 2006, the eFactory concept was developed, in which manufacturing cells worked autonomously and chuck changes were also performed by robots. The iSmart factory followed in 2017.

What is the iSmart factory?

The Mazak iSmart Factory is built on three core pillars: SMOOTH Technology; the new SmartBox, which provides faster data analysis with enhanced security; and the MT Connect standard communication protocol. The components are interconnected to enable real-time sharing of production data between the shop floor and the offices — resulting in shorter lead times, reduced in-process inventory, and lower indirect machining costs for manufacturers. SMOOTH Technology — which includes the world’s fastest CNC controller and the Smooth Process Support (SPS) factory management software — is at the heart of Mazak’s Industry 4.0 infrastructure. SPS contains software modules that can provide management with valuable information. Through functions such as machining programme generation, centralised tool management, production scheduling, and real-time remote monitoring of machine status, networked data sharing delivers the highest efficiency for plant and system managers. According to their experience, this can reduce machining time by 30%, while also connecting the complete machine status and providing real-time monitoring and analysis capabilities.

During the week-long visit, in addition to the latest technology, the Yamazaki family, MAZAK President and CEO Tomohisa Yamazaki, and the company’s senior management and Hungarian representatives also took care to share traditional Japanese values — something that impressed not only the Hungarian team but all the other international guests as well.

Source: MAZAK, MIMTA2017

At the conclusion of the two-day event series, we proudly received the National Audience Champion award at the European Business Awards Gala Evening held in Dubrovnik — representing our country with great pride. Winning companies and organisations from 34 European countries took part in the ceremony.

Considering the size of our business, our company’s profile, and the characteristics of our economic sector, winning these awards is a major achievement. It is a recognition of many years of hard work by our team. EPAM Systems also attended the ceremony, having been selected as one of the top 10 employers.

We visited the AVIO factory in Colleferro, near Rome, where we had the opportunity to observe the manufacturing of rocket engines. Avio is one of the world’s leading companies in international space exploration, with over 100 years of history, and holds deep expertise in the design, development, and manufacturing of solid, liquid, and cryogenic propellant engines.

As part of the manufacturing process, we also got a glimpse into the carbon fibre winding process used for the engine casing.

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