ENGEL Korea's choice for the best quality: Doosan PUMA SMX3100
The ENGEL Group is ahead of its competitors with its innovative technology and efficient production processes in the precision injection molding industry and has positioned themselves firmly as a global leading company. ENGEL says they will not settle for less under the vision of “Be the First”. They are continuously striving for customer success and satisfaction.
Challenge facing ENGEL KOREA – Secure the best quality
The ENGEL Group was founded in Austria in 1945 by Ludwig Engel. The group has nine production plants, 29 subsidiaries, and 60 sales offices internationally, including Austria, Germany, Czech Republic, China and Korea. Since their establishment in 1997, ENGEL Korea has been manufacturing and selling small and medium size injection molding machine products under their vision "Be the First", to be the greatest global leading company in the injection molding machine industry, growing its business not only domestically, but also internationally by exporting to North America, Africa and other countries.
"One of ENGEL’s most important policies is to ensure quality through in-house production," said Kim Yong-tae, technical team leader at ENGEL Korea. He emphasized, "The biggest advantage of in-house production is to be able to control the quality of machined products and have the ability to manage deadlines. Additionally, we have to secure the production method and quality of our own products to manage quality control and provide guidance on the machined products even when we outsource to suppliers."
Under this group-wide policy, ENGEL Korea has gradually increased the percentage of in-house production. Almost all machined products were imported from their European headquarters at the time of their first production in 2001. Then in 2003, they started localizing their machined products with the installment of CNC equipment and now more than 90% are produced locally. Apart from some special items, almost all products are localized and processed in-house or processed through locally outsourced suppliers. Some of the products machined in Korea are now being exported to the headquarters of ENGEL Austria.
Solution – Excellent quality and customer service with PUMA SMX3100
ENGEL Korea began researching various companies around the world to secure the best quality when the time came to replace their existing multitasking machine. The machines selected for the final comparison evaluation were the machines from company D and company W, supplied from Europe, and Doosan's PUMA SMX.
During the final phase, ENGEL Korea compared the machines by evaluating the general machine specs and technical items that were important to ENGEL. From the very beginning when ENGEL Korea was selecting the companies, for precise comparisons, an engineer from the Austrian headquarter with expert knowledge and experience installing and using European machines, participated in the evaluation process to select the best machine that could provide the quality ENGEL Korea was seeking. After the rigorous comparison and evaluation period, the equipment selected by ENGEL Korea was Doosan’s PUMA SMX.
"The machine specs were generally similar. The technical items required by ENGEL have also been objectively reviewed from the viewpoint of the processing engineer from the Austrian headquarters, so a conclusion was made that Doosan’s PUMA SMX would not have any problem in producing the necessary products for ENGEL's injection molding machine" said Kim Yong-tae. From similar machine specs, what stood out was Doosan's quick service response, flexibility to meet customers' needs as a domestic manufacturer, and the price competitiveness, Kim Yong-tae said. "It was impressive that when there was any problem, the design team actively intervened and resolved the issue quickly."
About the changes after the introduction of PUMA SMX, Mr. Kim said, "Compared to M company's one spindle multitasking machine used in the past, Doosan's PUMA SMX has reduced the set up time from 0.5 hours to 0.4 hours with two spindles and we are aiming for 0.3 hours. Percentage-wise, that's an outstanding benefit." He added that the function that machine operators found the most remarkably convenient was the steady rest parking function, which was not available in the previous machine. "In the previous machine, we had to remove the steady rest if we had not secured enough workspace or when workspaces clashed. However, since Doosan’s PUMA SMX has a steady rest parking function, we can keep working without having to detach the steady rest, so the setting time is considerably reduced. Replacing the steady rest lost us one hour every two to three days and since it does not need removal anymore, the lost time is now zero."
As one of ENGEL's most important policies, "securing the best quality," Kim Yong-tae stated, "The equipment cannot lie. There has never been a defect in the equipment itself while using Doosan’s PUMA SMX. I am confident that the PUMA SMX has secured the quality of the products. By analyzing the data for several months, we are confident in the quality of the products produced by the PUMA SMX."
"It's true that I had doubts about domestic brands when we began this project," recalls Kim Yong-tae, technical team leader at ENGEL Korea. He went on to say that after using Doosan's PUMA SMX, a question came to his mind, "Why do we need to buy expensive Japanese or European machines? "I was amazed at how much the technology of Doosan machines had evolved while using the PUMA SMX. If anyone is looking to purchase a multitasking machine, I would suggest them to consider Doosan machines and compare them with Japanese and European ones."
