Strautmann Hydraulik

Key facts

• Company: Strautmann Hydraulik GmbH & Co. KG
• Location: Melle (Wellingholzhausen), Lower Saxony, Germany
• Founded: 1983
• Employees: approx. 160
• Products made: hydraulic cylinders and control blocks (approx. 15,000 items)
• Industries: Machine construction, Agriculture
• RoboJob products: Turn-Assist, Pallet-Load
• CNC machine brands: Okuma, DMG Mori, Biglia
• Automated machines: 5 (3 Okuma, 1 DMG Mori, 1 Biglia)
• RoboJob customer since: 2016
• Key result: capacity utilisation from 68% to 85%

Precision hydraulics from Melle, Germany, since 1983

Strautmann Hydraulik has been designing and building hydraulic cylinders and control blocks in Melle-Wellingholzhausen, in the south of the district of Osnabrück in Lower Saxony, Germany, since 1983. The owner-managed company employs around 160 people and produces on a site of approximately 30,000 m².

Its range covers some 15,000 items: standard hydraulic cylinders in various pressure classes as well as custom cylinders built to customer specifications. Those cylinders end up in machine and plant engineering, agricultural machinery, construction equipment, shipbuilding, aviation and wind turbines.

Quality, precision and reliability are non-negotiable in every one of those markets. That is why Strautmann keeps investing in a modern machine park and in automation.

The challenge: more spindle hours from the same team

With a range of some 15,000 items, Strautmann depends on flexible and reliable production. In the area that is now automated, the company ran two shifts with a capacity utilisation of 68%. At the same time, skilled staff were becoming harder to find, production conditions had changed, and the need for process reliability kept growing.

To future-proof its production capacity, Strautmann needed its CNC machines to keep producing outside staffed hours, without compromising on the precision its customers expect.

Why Strautmann chose RoboJob

In 2016, Strautmann automated its first CNC machine with RoboJob. For the family business, choosing a new automation partner was not a decision taken lightly.

The first installation met every expectation. “In 2016, we started working with RoboJob to automate our first CNC machine, and this step went to our complete satisfaction,” says Christian Strautmann.

The solution: Turn-Assist and Pallet-Load on Okuma, DMG Mori and Biglia machines

Today, five CNC machines at Strautmann are equipped with RoboJob automation: three Okuma machines, one DMG Mori and one Biglia. The installed base combines two RoboJob product lines:

• Okuma LU 3000 with a Turn-Assist 270
• Okuma B300W with a Turn-Assist 200
• Biglia B465 T3 with a Turn-Assist 180 (an earlier Turn-Assist model)
• Okuma Multus U 3000 with a Pallet-Load
• DMG Mori NTX 2000 with a Pallet-Load

Turn-Assist loads and unloads the turning work on the Okuma LU 3000, the Okuma B300W and the Biglia B465 T3. That the Biglia still runs with a Turn-Assist 180, an earlier model, shows how long a RoboJob system keeps producing.

Pallet-Load automates the two multitasking machines, the Okuma Multus U 3000 and the DMG Mori NTX 2000, so they can keep producing unattended outside staffed hours.

The results: from 68% to 85% capacity utilisation

The effect of the three most recent RoboJob systems was visible almost immediately.

Where more hands were needed in the past, the automated CNC machines now run unmanned until the early hours of the morning, with the same quality and consistency. That gives Strautmann more process reliability, more production continuity and extra capacity without extra shifts.

Service and a long-term partnership

For Strautmann, the partnership with RoboJob goes beyond the technology itself. The company is supported from RoboJob’s headquarters in Heist-op-den-Berg, Belgium, and from RoboJob GmbH in Lehrensteinsfeld, Germany.

Since 2016, the collaboration has grown from one automated machine to five. Christian Strautmann sums it up in one sentence: “With RoboJob, we know we can count on quality, craftsmanship and trust.” At RoboJob, we are proud of this long-standing partnership with a company that, like us, strives for progress, reliability and sustainable efficiency.