Tooling for tomorrow
Voltas Machine Tools advances from strength to strength in novel ways
............................................................................................................................................

Through several decades Voltas' Machine Tools Division (MTD), India's leading marketing and service organization for machine tool products of cutting-edge technology, has been focused on providing engineering solutions and dependable service support to Indian industry. Voltas has partnered with machine tool pioneers and global leaders in manufacturing to bring cutting-edge technology into the country, and thus fulfill the needs of automotive, aerospace, defence, railways, heavy engineering, the Public Sector, and small and medium enterprises.

Voltas is proud of its association with global leaders, such as FANUC, George Fischer +FMS+, HAUSER, HATEBUR, MAAG, MITSUBISHI, SIP, SUPFINA, to name a few, along with LMW Machine Tools & SRP Tools. These are pioneers and front-runners in their respective fields, and MTD has enjoyed long-standing relationships with them, based on commitment and trust over the years.

Since India's manufacturing capabilities have come of age with the development of indigenous machine tools for general application, offering high technology and cost competitiveness, there has been a significant demand for high-end machines. This demand spans applications such as high speed machining, dry cutting, hard machining, high accuracy and zero failure machines.

They are deployed in a highly productive and competitive environment to achieve very high production rates, zero defects, better finish and sustained accuracies, thus entailing fewer finishing operations and quality checks. Additionally, they ensure savings on maintenance as well as consumables, and are environmentally friendly, which is an increasing area of concern for the future.

Some of the areas in which Voltas' MTD has contributed to the development of the manufacturing industry are:

• 100% of the most accurate tooling, jigs and fixtures in tool rooms, precision, aerospace and defence industry, are manufactured on SIP Jig Boring machines and HAUSER Jig Grinders, which are sold and comprehensively serviced by Voltas specialists.
• MAAG gear boxes delivered by Voltas help the nation's infrastructure industry, such as the cement and power sectors, to achieve higher efficiency.
• Two-thirds of two-wheeler OEMs use compact, flexible, high-speed FANUC Robodrills introduced into the market by Voltas.
• Two out of every three gears are manufactured with SRP cutting tools marketed by Voltas.
• 30% of all quality job workers in the automobile sector are proud to own a premium LMW lathe sold by Voltas.

MTD has notched up multiple success stories too. One such is the introduction of the pioneering FANUC high-speed drill tap centres for the motorcycle segment in India, which has led to an exponential growth in demand for this line of products in recent years. The last few years have seen the sales of about a hundred of these machines per annum, to customers like TVS Motors, Bajaj Auto, Escorts and Castmaster.

Factors that have contributed to increasing sales volumes at competitive investment levels include high performance, zero defects and total reliability. MTD has also added value to manufacturer and customers, by localizing supplies for automation, tooling, fixtures and peripheral systems.

A second major MTD success story has been the introduction in India of MITSUBISHI Dry Gear Cutting technology using HSS gear cutting tools. These tools have very significant advantages relating to lower running costs, elimination of problematic coolant handling and recycling procedures, lower cycle-times and consumable costs, while being environment and operator friendly. They are thus the choice of a large number of progressive companies like TVS Motors.

MTD is staying abreast with the latest global developments and continues to bring to India technologies for the future. These include:

• SUPFINA Superfinishing technology, which is widely used in industries such as automotive components for high performance engines and fuel injection systems, bearings, electronic equipment components and silicon wafers, ball and socket joints for artificial limbs, etc. SUPFINA's innovative technology and automation has made them the preferred suppliers to a number of leading global car and commercial vehicle manufacturers.
• DS Technologie's new concept High-Speed machines, for manufacture of aircraft parts like fuselage, structural components and landing gear, has revolutionized the manufacturing technology in this field. The technology offers better finishing capability and chip disposal for voluminous machining of aluminum parts, in order to reduce fatigue failure and achieve higher reliability. The need to manufacture the most advanced commercial airliners from Airbus (like the A380) as well as high-tech military aircraft manufactured by British Aerospace & Lockheed Martin, have helped the development of these futuristic machines from DS Technologie.