WHM

New apprenticeships for cutting machine operators at WHM

Anestis Elefteriadis — Tue, 10 Oct 2023 10:34:58 +0000

For decades, Wilhelm Herm. Müller GmbH & Co. KG (WHM) has been offering apprenticeships for wholesale, export and industrial clerks. Throughout this period, WHM has supported numerous young people in the first steps of their career. Starting on 01 August 2024, WHM will also offer apprenticeships for cutting machine operators. Young people with an interest in technical craftsmanship should strongly consider this profession when choosing an apprenticeship. The apprenticeship will offer a range of interesting tasks in the production department at the WHM site and will require apprentices to work precisely, make calculations and perform quality checks.

The WHM production in Garbsen operates a variety of 3-axis and 5-axis milling machines for producing high-quality components made of plastics and acrylic material. These are used in machines and plants for producing e.g. packaging and food, but are also in use in analysis and medical technology.

The apprenticeship for cutting machine operators will include the following elements, among others:

Programming CNC-controlled production systems,
Learning to use control systems
Commissioning machines and systems
Conducting trial runs
Checking and monitoring production processes
Producing workpieces through turning and milling.

Moreover, WHM requires its apprentices to plan, prepare and organise tasks in a team and service and maintain equipment, machines and tools.

Apprentices can look forward to plenty of highlights

During the 3.5-year apprenticeship, they will attend the bbs-me (metal technology) vocational school. Apprentices at WHM have a range of advantages and benefits to look forward to. These include 31 days of annual leave and a “JobRad” bicycle partially paid for by WHM as well as all the advantages of a company bound by collective agreements (payment according to current collective agreement) with Christmas and holiday pay.

If you would like to apply for an apprenticeship as a cutting machine operator at WHM, you need to have completed at least a lower secondary education (e.g. in Germany “Realschule”, “Mittlere Reife” leaving certificate) with good grades, particularly in maths and physics. Technical understanding, manual dexterity, a sense of responsibility, willingness to work independently and ability to work in a team are also important prerequisites.

Continued apprenticeships for industrial clerks

Starting on 01 August 2024, WHM will once again offer apprenticeships for industrial clerks. Industrial clerks work in commercial and business management segments such as materials logistics, sales and marketing, HR and accounting and finance. The 3-year apprenticeship includes tasks such as purchasing goods, managing inventories, determining the cost of orders and projects and monitoring production processes. During the apprenticeship, apprentices will be introduced to nearly all company departments to give them a thorough overview of the company and contribute to the success of the apprenticeship.

If you are interested and would like more information, visit our apprentice page, where our former apprentices Johanna and Benjamin have described their experiences at WHM.

Applications can be submitted either through our job application portal or directly to Mr. Patrick Reichow.

Contact

Mr. Patrick Reichow
Wilhelm Herm. Müller GmbH & Co. KG
Heinrich-Nordhoff-Ring 14 / 30826 Garbsen, Germany
reichow@whm.net

Garbsen, 10.10.2023
Wilhelm Herm. Müller GmbH & Co. KG

Reducing electricity costs by 80 % – with the innovative PU roller belt BRECOroll

Leandros Kourtidis — Tue, 22 Aug 2023 15:01:00 +0000

Everyone is talking about energy costs but the options for saving are limited. BRECOroll, an innovation by BRECO Antriebstechnik in the town of Porta Westfalica, gives the industry a way to significantly reduce energy consumption in plants that have long transport belt drives and to build smaller, lower-cost drive motors.

Timing belts used to transport materials are usually very long. The load run of the belt is almost always supported by a support rail, which guides the belt on its sides and absorbs the weight of the workpieces on the belt and of the belt itself. This generates friction between the belt and the support rail.

The greater percentage of the drive power is used to overcome this self-inhibiting behaviour of the system. During this process, the drive is subject to major forces, generates heat and runs at a low degree of efficiency.

For this reason, timing belts for material transport come standard with a backing on the tooth side. This reduces the coefficient of friction between the timing belt and the support rail from μ=±1,0 auf μ=0.5 to 0.6. By cutting the friction in half, timing belts achieve high running performance with a low rate of wear.

However, the remaining energy consumption caused by the friction between the timing belt and the support rail is still significant. Due to the low drive power of the motors, between 0.38 and 2 kW, energy consumption has so far been largely ignored in a practical context. But this is a mistake, as our brief example calculation will show:

Example calculation of friction loss

Graphic: BRECO

If a conveyor belt transports 20 workpieces weighing 10 kg each, i.e. a total load of 200 kg at v=1 m/s, the power or friction loss is Pᵥ:

Pᵥ=μ ∙ m ∙ g ∙ v

=0,5 ∙ 200 kg ∙ 10 m/s² ∙ 1 m/s

=1 kW

Conventional worm gear motors have a total efficiency of approximately 0.75. The efficiency of the belt drive (without support rail) can be disregarded. This means that, for the friction loss between the belt and the support rail alone, the motor in our example has to provide 1.0 kW/0.75 = 1.33 kW. In single-shift operation, the yearly machine operating time taking into account averages for holidays, annual plant shutdowns, sick days, servicing, etc. is approximately 1.600 hours. This means the annual power consumption resulting from friction in single-shift operation amounts to a total of 2.133 kWh per belt drive. This corresponds approximately to the annual power consumption of a 2-person household. When several belt drives operate in 2/3 shifts, the losses rise to a degree that should not be disregarded in light of operating costs and the CO2 footprint. So how do you solve this problem?

From sliding to rolling friction

The idea of transferring weight forces to the support rail through rollers rather than through a sliding tooth tip is obvious, but by no means a trivial solution. Concepts involving rollers in the support rail proved to be too costly and had negative effects on the function of the timing belt. The solution: Integrating the rollers in the belt tooth.

Tooth mesh in the pulley does not change

PU roller belt BRECOroll
Photo: BRECO
One basic prerequisite for the position of the rollers is that they must protrude over the tooth tip so that the rollers and not the tooth tips make contact with the support rail. To prevent the rollers from lifting the timing belt when entering the pulley and thereby generating strong constraining forces, the T20 was selected. The T timing belt is what is referred to as a “gap carrier”. The tooth tips of the belt do not touch the tooth root of the pulley. On the T20 this gap is 0.8 mm. This means the roller can protrude from the tooth tip by less than a tenth to fulfil its function of transferring the forces on the support rail. The roller practically “floats” freely in the tooth gap of the pulley. The roller diameter is dimensioned so that it does not protrude beyond the tooth flank. This allows the BRECOroll T20 to run perfectly in any standard pulley. By the way: The tension members are not interrupted by the roller.

Reducing the coefficient of friction

The BRECOroll offers a coefficient of friction of +-0.1, meaning that, compared with a PAZ-backed timing belt, it only generates 20 % of the initial loss (0.2 kW). In our example calculation, the BRECOroll would reduce the annual loss of 2.133 kWh per belt in single-shift operation by an impressive 1.706 kWh. And: It becomes possible to use a drive motor that is 0.93 kW (0.8 kW/0.75) smaller.

The BRECOroll can be used for speeds of up to 1 m/s and with area loads of up to 3 kg per roller (3kg/ 40 cm²). These limits are entirely sufficient for most material transport tasks in automated production processes. As the BRECOroll is based on a standard T20 timing belt, this is a product that has been tried-and-tested hundreds of thousands of times and will help operating companies reduce the operating cost and CO2 footprint of their plants thanks to reduced friction losses.

Your personal contact:
Frank Seifer
Phone +49 5131 4522-187
E-mail: seifer@whm.net

Garbsen, 22 August 2023
Wilhelm Herm. Müller GmbH & Co. KG

This product was also reported on in mulco innovativ issue 20. With the kind support of Mulco-Europe EWIV.
Photos/graphics: BRECO

New machines for cold bending and hot forming

Leandros Kourtidis — Wed, 21 Jun 2023 15:20:00 +0000

Wilhelm Herm. Müller GmbH & Co. KG has made additional investments to expand its production range. Thanks to the purchase of new bending machines, the company can now cold-bend and hot-form significantly larger, thicker components made of a variety of plastics more effectively and faster.

More options for cold bending through purchase of a swing-folding machine

Cold bending allows effective bending of the thermoplastic material Makrolon® polycarbonate up to 90°

The purchase of an electric swing-folding machine made it possible to significantly expand the range of available cold bending options. Now plastic parts made of Makrolon® with a thickness of up to 10 mm and a length of 2,500 cm can be bent to an angle of up to 90°. It goes without saying that WHM offers customers further processing steps on request, such as gluing, protective coats for finishing and removal of any bulges caused by bending.
Simple cold-bending of polycarbonate plates made of Makrolon® can make other processing options significantly less costly.

New manual bending machine: Hot forming of PETG & PMMA (PLEXIGLAS®)

The new hot bending machine makes it possible to perform several bending processes at the same time

The new manual bending machine expands the hot forming options for customers for the synthetic materials PETG and PLEXIGLAS®. The new machine makes larger radii possible, e.g. for use as covers or hoods with a working length of up to 3,000 cm. Eight heating zones – four each in the machine bed and the top section – heat up the plastic components quickly and effectively so that trained production staff can form them using specially made templates.
Thanks to this new acquisition, the available product range now includes material thicknesses of up to approximately 10 mm and simultaneous hot forming of multiple parts – this reduces the processing cost even further. This method, too, permits several forming processes and, on request, further processing with material allowances, e.g. milling with our 5-axis gantry milling machine.

Expertise & consulting at WHM

Our trained experts will be glad to help you with any questions regarding production and prior planning/design (including for serial parts) or further machining of the products.

Your personal contact:
Matthias Brandes
Tel. +49 5131 4522-138
E-Mail: brandes@whm.net

Garbsen 21 June 2023
Wilhelm Herm. Müller GmbH & Co. KG

Conti® Synchrochain Supreme: The new power belt for drives in ATEX areas

Leandros Kourtidis — Wed, 07 Jun 2023 15:46:00 +0000

The most recent Conti® PU timing belt is now available at WHM: The Conti® Synchrochain Supreme with a CTD profile combines the extremely high resilience of the tried-and-tested Synchrochain Carbon heavy-duty timing belt with antistatic properties. That means this PU timing belt is suitable for drives with extreme acceleration forces and the safe transfer of high torques at low rotation speeds – now even in flammable, explosive or electrostatically sensitive environments.

Antistatic properties without compromises – for the entire product life.

The new Conti® Synchrochain Supreme exceeds the requirements of the common standard ISO 9563, in that it does not just provide electrical conductivity when delivered, but maintains this property throughout its entire period of use.

One belt – countless applications

Whether it is used in oil refineries, for geothermal power generation, in grain elevators, treatment plants, saw mills, air-cooled heat exchangers, in mining, chemical processing or in systems for energy recovery: The Conti® Synchrochain Supreme is highly reliable, even in extreme conditions, and is also suitable as a replacement for chain drives.

All information about the Conti® Synchrochain Supreme

Function / Properties

Antistatic properties according to ISO 9563
PU material oil-resistant according to DIN 53428 (reference oil: IRM 903)
PU material ozone-resistant according to ISO 1431
PU material light-resistant according to DIN EN ISO 4892
Temperature-resistant depending on application from -55 °C to +80 °C
Suitable for contraflexure / back tension rollers
Carbon tension cord, CTD profile and wear-resistant anti-static fabric for maximum power transfer
Suitable as replacement for chain drives
Low-noise operation
Maintenance-free

Technical product design

Tooth surface: Antistatic fabric
Teeth: Polyurethane
Tension cord: Carbon
Belt back: Polyurethane

Available dimensions

Profile CTD 14M: Belt lengths 994 mm – approx. 5,502 mm, widths: 20 – 125 mm
Profile CTD 8M: Belt lengths 720 – 4,480 mm/width 12 – 62 mm

In-between lengths and widths on request. We would be glad to help you with the design, planning and implementation of your PU timing belt drive.

Your personal contact:
Frank Seifer
Phone +49 5131 4522-187
E-Mail: seifer@whm.net

Garbsen 07 June 2023
Wilhelm Herm. Müller GmbH & Co. KG

WHM Christmas donation to social projects in Hanover region

Leandros Kourtidis — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 16:57:00 +0000

This year, WHM has once again decided not to send Christmas cards and will instead help people in need of aid by donating to social projects in the Hanover region. The money will be going to the “Johanniter Kältebus Hannover” and the “Hannöversche Tafel”.

“Now that the year is coming to an end, we consider it extremely important to think of people less fortunate than us,” said WHM director Michael Ellinger. “The massive increase in energy costs and the cost of living hits vulnerable people the hardest. Both of these social projects provide incredibly valuable aid. With our donation, we would like to express our appreciation and support.”

The “Johanniter Kältebus Hannover” provides homeless people in the city centre with warm food, hot tea, clothing, hygiene products and sleeping bags. 27 volunteers have committed themselves to this project.

The “Hannöversche Tafel”, a food bank, provides people in need of aid with food and basic necessities. It is run with the aid of 140 volunteers throughout the region who help to collect and distribute the food.

Photo: Johanniter/Bettina Martin

WHM expands electric charging infrastructure

Leandros Kourtidis — Wed, 21 Sep 2022 16:03:00 +0000

Wilhelm Herm. Müller GmbH & Co. KG (WHM) has launched four additional charging stations for electric cars and hybrid vehicles on its company premises in Garbsen. With these new stations, a total of 8 charging points is now available. In the short to medium term, WHM intends to convert the company vehicle fleet to climate-friendly hybrid and electric drives.

The charging points are now available to employees and visitors

They are easy to use, but an explanation of how to use them is also attached directly to the charging points themselves
“This is an important investment intended to give our employees incentive to use hybrid and electric vehicles. Electric mobility is the mobility of the future and as a company we want to do our part,” says director Michael Ellinger. The new charging stations located on the car park of the administrative building are also available to customers visiting the site.

The charging stations are equipped with a card reader that uses innovative RFID technology to record charging processes and attribute them to the user. Visitors and employees can get the necessary cards at the headquarters in the administrative building. Two vehicles at a time can be “refuelled” at each charging station.

Anniversary: 25 years of the WHM branch in Schkeuditz

Leandros Kourtidis — Mon, 08 Aug 2022 16:09:00 +0000

The branch office of Wilhelm Herm. Müller GmbH & Co. KG in Schkeuditz near Leipzig has now been in existence for 25 years. To mark the occasion, Ulrich Roßner, Managing Director of Wilhelm Herm. Müller GmbH & Co. KG, and Rayk Bergner, Mayor of Schkeuditz, visited the employees of WHM.

The Managing Director of WHM, Ulrich Roßner, received a certificate and an award from the Mayor of Schkeuditz, Rayk Bergner

The WHM team in Leipzig/Schkeuditz together with Ulrich Roßner: Mike Nest, Peggy Hensel, Andreas Skotnik, Head of Internal Services Leipzig Christine Weise, trainee Niels Samland, André Schmidt, Ulrich Roßner and Manuela Schönwiese (left to right)

The Managing Director of WHM, Ulrich Roßner, received a certificate and an award from the Mayor of Schkeuditz, Rayk Bergner
The WHM team in Leipzig/Schkeuditz together with Ulrich Roßner: Mike Nest, Peggy Hensel, Andreas Skotnik, Head of Internal Services Leipzig Christine Weise, trainee Niels Samland, André Schmidt, Ulrich Roßner and Manuela Schönwiese (left to right)

Review and beginnings

In 1990, shortly after the German reunification, the WHM branch was initially opened directly in the city of Leipzig. The range of services was well received and the demand for WHM components from drive and rubber/plastics technology steadily increased. New premises had to be found to accommodate the growing number of sales staff and for a larger on-site warehouse. Ultimately, the company moved to the neighbouring town of Schkeuditz, where today’s branch was opened on 12 July 1997.

Perfect conditions are crucial for success

The excellent transport links in Dölzig near Schkeuditz were just one of the reasons for the choice of location. Managing Director Ulrich Roßner pays tribute to the achievements of the workforce on the occasion of the anniversary: “Our thanks go out to the outstanding work performed by the employees at the branch, without whom today’s success would have been unimaginable.” WHM in Schkeuditz has now become an important contact for customers and interested parties not only in the region, but also now far beyond the borders of the German state of Saxony.

25-year employee anniversary

Furthermore, Mr Roßner congratulated employee Mike Nest, who as of 1 July 2022 will have been with the company for 25 years and has therefore supported the branch in Schkeuditz since day one.

BRECOprotect® – Polyurethane timing belts for the maintenance of wind power plants

Leandros Kourtidis — Fri, 13 May 2022 17:18:00 +0000

Wind power is an increasingly important energy source in Germany. Already there are around 30,000 wind power plants requiring regular maintenance. Above all, the rotor blades are affected by erosion, lightning strikes and cracks caused by high fluctuating loads. To date, cable systems and open work platforms remain the method of choice for plant maintenance. However, as these are affected by the weather, they can only be used on 60 to max. 100 days a year in Germany.

New system doubles number of possible repairs

The Brandenburg-based company for the maintenance and disassembly of wind power plants WP Systems from the Ruhland municipality has developed the mobile maintenance system “System terra 1.1”. This system makes it possible to more than double the number of repairs per year.

^L^{eft: The tandem axis trailer with the service platform System terra 1.1 of WP System in Sweden

Middle: The timing belt is easy to roll up and unroll and install in next to no time with a click-in system

Right: The omega drive of the access system withstands damp environments – also thanks to the BRECOprotect® timing belt}

Working in a closed cabin – with light and power

The system’s special feature: Its light-weight design with a weight of less than 2 t makes it easy to transport from one site to the next on a tandem axle trailer. Moreover, the reduction in weight is essential for the winches, as these can only transport limited weight. System terra 1.1 is a kind of closed “cabin” that encloses the rotor blade of a wind turbine and moves along it. The cabin contains everything required for repairs, including light and power for infra-red lamps used to heat up the repair areas on cold days. This makes it possible to work in adverse weather conditions and even in darkness.

Left/Right: System terra 1.1 at work
Middle: The BRECOprotect® timing belt drive does not require any pre-tensioning here

Great demands require great solutions: The BRECOprotect® timing belt

PU belt drives using BRECOprotect® timing belts are used to support and rotate the work cabin. Their advantage: Their weight is much lower than, for instance, that of a rack-and-pinion drive, but thanks to their steel tension members they can carry enormous loads. Due to a special production method, the tension members of BRECOprotect® timing belts are completely enclosed in weather-resistant PU to prevent corrosion.

The timing belt technology for the maintenance system was developed by Wilhelm Herm. Müller GmbH & Co. KG (WHM) based in the northern German town of Garbsen. But that’s not all: WHM application consultant Dipl.-Ing. André Schmidt came up with the idea of using an engineering “trick” to minimise the system weight. No pre-tension is required because the timing belts are designed as omega drives. Otherwise structural mechanics would have made it impossible to use the light-weight telescopic frame design made of aluminium.

Left/Right: With system terra 1.1, work can be carried out even at night or in foggy conditions
Middle: Infrared radiators heat the inside of the cabin so that work can be done on the rotor blade with polyester resin, among other things, even in cold weather

The System terra 1.1 now makes it possible to perform maintenance work on approximately 200 days of the year, meaning double the number of maintenance days with the same number of staff.

Advantages of the BRECOprotect® timing belt:

extreme tensile force thanks to steel tension member
no coiling noses, decreasing soiling and preventing corrosion of the steel tension members
polyurethane resistant to any weather condition

Play Video

Your personal contact:
Frank Seifer
Phone +49 5131 4522-187
E-Mail: seifer@whm.net

Garbsen 13 May 2022
Wilhelm Herm. Müller GmbH & Co. KG

_{This application was also reported on in mulco innovativ issue 19. For this article, all technical contents have been checked again and updated. With the kind support of WP Systems and Mulco-Europe EWIV. Photos: WP Systems, Mulco-Europe EWIV.}

New coating program for BRECO® timing belts

Leandros Kourtidis — Wed, 09 Feb 2022 18:26:00 +0000

BRECO® timing belts can be covered with a variety of materials to make them suitable for a wide range of transport tasks. Now three additional materials have been added to the existing range of backing materials for these PU timing belts.

Sponge rubber is characterised by impressively high absorbency and excellent friction characteristics. It is suitable for transporting sensitive items such as glasses, bottles and porcelain. PU timing belts with sponge rubber backing can also be used in packaging or labelling machines.

Foam rubber as a backing material is also very soft, but has a closed pore structure and an outer layer. The material consists of EPDM and is weather-, ozone- and UV-resistant. The closed-cell structure makes foam rubber ideal for transport timing belts used in wet areas.

For food industry applications, look no further than the Supergrip Blue FDA: With this backing, customers benefit from a wear resistant material that is suitable for use in the entire food industry. Supergrip Blue FDA is more wear resistant than PVC variants and can be extruded directly onto a BRECO® timing belt without use of adhesive.

Your personal contact:
Frank Seifer
Phone +49 5131 4522-187
E-Mail: seifer@whm.net

Garbsen 09 February 2022
Wilhelm Herm. Müller GmbH & Co. KG

Welded joints instead of screws – Plastic welding at WHM

Leandros Kourtidis — Fri, 21 Jan 2022 18:28:00 +0000

New and secure: Homogeneous welding of PP, PETG and PVC

We now have the option of welding plastics that are not suitable for adhesive gluing, such as PP, PVC and PETG (transparent). This permits homogeneous and stable connection of plastic components without any screw connections.

Screw-connected plastic components often have a tendency to crack when subjected to high mechanical loads and vibrations. To counteract this, we now offer a new option for connecting different plastic components.

This method involves a mitre cut followed by a welding fillet to fill it, creating a homogeneous appearance for the overall design. It allows PP, PVC and transparent PETG to be connected to form a unit that tolerates tension well. Items subject to strong mechanical load may benefit from partial reinforcement.

A great advantage of this new method is the bonding strength provided by the connection. Like the base material, weld seams are available in thicknesses of 2 mm, 3 mm and 4 mm.

The new technique is suitable for a wide range of applications and is, for instance, ideal for containers in pharmaceutical and chemical applications. In addition, the plastic PETG lends itself to use in containers in food industry applications, but in this case the applicable directives have to be taken into account.

Our qualified experts will be glad to support you with the design and implementation of your projects. If you are interested, just fill in our contact form!

Test our performance and expertise in this product segment. Precision and reliability are our top priorities.

Everything at a glance:

An alternative to screw connections and adhesive joints – plastic welding now available
Homogeneous connection thanks to weld seam
Particularly high connection strength
Design that tolerates tension
It’s your choice: We can weld PP, PVC and transparent PETG

Your personal contact:
Matthias Brandes
Phone +49 5131 4522-138
E-mail: brandes@whm.net

Garbsen, 21 January 2022
Wilhelm Herm. Müller GmbH & Co. KG

WHM

New apprenticeships for cutting machine operators at WHM

Reducing electricity costs by 80 % – with the innovative PU roller belt BRECOroll

This product was also reported on in mulco innovativ issue 20. With the kind support of Mulco-Europe EWIV. Photos/graphics: BRECO

New machines for cold bending and hot forming

Conti® Synchrochain Supreme: The new power belt for drives in ATEX areas

WHM Christmas donation to social projects in Hanover region

WHM expands electric charging infrastructure

Anniversary: 25 years of the WHM branch in Schkeuditz

BRECOprotect® – Polyurethane timing belts for the maintenance of wind power plants

New coating program for BRECO® timing belts

Welded joints instead of screws – Plastic welding at WHM

This product was also reported on in mulco innovativ issue 20. With the kind support of Mulco-Europe EWIV.
Photos/graphics: BRECO