Author: Marketing

Corporate

How does the experience of “Latour et Fils” exemplify the fundamentals of Numalliance, the “Made In France” for wire, tube and strip bending machines?

Thanks to his Openness, Respect and Ingenious spirit, Justin Latour, who founded Latour et Fils in 1872 and developed wire, tube and strip bending machines, was able to best meet the requirements of his customers. “Ingenuity”, because in the 1870s, while working as a mechanic in a factory in the Ennemane Valley (Ardennes region with strong industrial demand), Justin Latour created his own agricultural maintenance company that repaired transmission shafts , replaced the wooden cogs of mill gears as well as provided maintenance work for surrounding industries. 1910s onwards, the company “Latour & fils” produced not only woodworking machines, special machines or rotary wood lathes, but also a new range of machines with forced chains, Vaucanson (name of the famous French inventor and mechanic Jacques Vaucanson, born February 24, 1709 in Grenoble and died November 21, 1782 in Paris) bungee hook machines along with horizontal wire bending machines, which lead to what is currently known as sequential wire, tube and strip bending machines. After the first “type 3” machine for production of slate hooks, other mechanical machines for manufacturing “jar collars” or machines for bottle caps expanded the range of solutions. Gradually, these cam and mechanical slide machines allowed a production rate that met the growing needs of industry. The export of these machines gave new impetus to the company. After the first few exhibitions abroad in the 1970s, the company put in place a sales department particularly by the efforts of Mrs. and Mr. Jean Latour, grandson of the founder Justin Latour. In the 1960s, with the joining of Yves and Alain Latour, sons of Jean, the parents were able to devote time to acquire new markets abroad thus attaining 40% of sales from export: This concept illustrated to exemplify openness and willingness to invest. The installation in 1965 in the premises of Haraucourt …whoops ! not Haraucourt but Hachraucourt!In this valley of Ennemane,there are two small villages that lie back to back: Raucourt and Haraucourt. The inhabitants who wish to go from one to the other, or to refer to their village of origin, the inhabitants of Haraucourt, for example, would refer to their village as Hachraucourt, , to avoid confusion.A year before the death of Jean Latour, Yves Latour became majority CEO of the company in 1992 and further boosted the share of exports reaching 65% of sales, which facilitated the development of new technologies and in particular the birth of numerically controlled machines. The Robomac These wire bending machines (our flagship product on international wire market) were born in those years. With several numerically controlled axes their main feature, these machines bend wire from Ø 1 mm up to Ø 16 mm. Precursor of the robotized line, wire, tube and strip are bent sequentially following different steps: Representing the 5th generation of this family business, Yves Latour brilliantly embarked on the shift to numerical control while developing the company internationaly. For lack of space in the premises of Haraucourt, he built a new building in Bazeilles where the company moved in the early 2000s. Lacking a succesor within the family, Yves Latour sold his company in 2001 to his young French competitor MACSOFT, founded by Joël ETIENNE and Jean-François COUNILH. He continued to support the takeover of his business until his retirement. Competitors but complementary, the 2 companies thus brought together offered to their customers a wide range of high-performance machines. The international presence also strengthened thanks to this acquisition: while LATOUR was present on an East-West axis (for example in the United States and Germany), MACSOFT was more present on a North-South axis (particularly in England and Italy). 2 years after the takeover, MACSOFT, LATOUR and SATIME (a Breton company taken over in 2000, partner of Macsoft for machining and press tools) merged: the NUMALLIANCE group was thus born in 2003, and continues to develop products combining mechanics and numerical control technology. In 2005, the group developed its own numerical control: Touch & Form, and installed it on all its machines. This intuitive interface allows machine operators to quickly program the parts to be produced. Today, the full range offered to customers can be from a simple 2D bending machine to a fully automated cell, including versatile bending machines such as the FTX. The range of Numalliance bending machines continues to expand depending on the requests from its customers. A wide range of secondary operations solutions also developed by Numalliance makes it possible to offer complete productivity solutions that best meet market needs.

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15 June 2023

Advice

Global Industrie Awards: Bend die with integrated Wiper Die

Specialized in the production of bending tools for more than half a century, Numalliance group posseses numerous patents in the world of tube bending and still keeps innovating! Our latest innovation, focussed at one of the tools necessary for bending, is already changing the world of tube bending… Discover our Integrated Wiper Die. Tube tools for complex tube bending – Rotary Draw Bending Different types of bending components exists (see image on the right) but Numalliance Tube bending machines generally use Rotary Draw Bending. Wiper Die The wiper die is an important part of the bending process, as the final quality of the part depends on this tool. It allows the material on the inside of the bend to be spread out uniformly during the bending operation thus preventing wrinkles. It is a wear part that must be changed regularly. The correct setting of this tool is important for a clean bend and increased wiper die life. Therefore, its installation by experienced operators is a must. All these features combined led to the development of a wiper die bend integrated into the bend die. This innovation has been patented worldwide and has been awarded with the Global Industry Award. Bend die with integrated Wiper Die Set up time eliminated This new tool eliminates the need to set up wiper die postion therefore improving tooling changeover time, repeatibility and part quality. Material and energy savings The design of the integrated wiper die contributes to its rigidity and reduces the wear and tear of the tool considerably. As a result, it greatly increases wiper die life thus reducing its consumption. All these advantages also reduce the quantity of raw material used to produce the wiper die. Consumption of tube is also reduced due to lower rejection as there are less adjustments to do and lower risk of wrong settings. Compatible with automatic tool changeover Fully designed to be integrated into automated cells, this tool can moreover be easily changed with a robot. Its design fully meets the requirements of Industry 4.0. Global Industrie Awards Every year, Global Industry Exhibition organizes GI Awards to highlight innovations that contribute to the improvement of production systems and industrial reconquest. We were nominated in “Production Technology”, one of the 6 categories, and were among 108 other contestants in total this year. We presented and defended our product to a panel composed of industrialists and journalists. Numalliance was presented with its award on March 7th. 2023, during the exhibition, by Niclas Dufourcq, CEO of the BPI. What our customers say… This wiper die was lent to one of our customers for 2 years of production to test and validate its advantages. He described it as a “real success” and a “great move forward”. A project supported by France Relance This project was supported by the French government as part of the France Relance program, designed to encourage innovation and industrial development in France. Want to know more? Download our documentation

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22 March 2023

Advice

Presses : 5 reasons to go electric !

Energy savings, reduced machine maintenance, increased productivity… : the industrial electric presses meet the needs of the industry of the future.In today’s context where industry 4.0 forms the core of production processes and where corporate social and environmental responsibility is being increasingly highlighted; it is necessary to adapt our manufacturing methods. Thus, the electric press has many advantages that solve various problems : Reduced maintenance A hydraulic press requires significant running maintenance : oil change, replacement of filters and seals, leaks… Its electric counterpart is free from all of these troubles, which makes it possible to obtain a cleaner working environment and to limit the possibilities of malfunction. Reduced energy consumption Energy saving remains the most convincing reason favoring an all-electric press. Indeed, is this type of machine, the maximum power is obtained only during the tool opening/closing phase. During other phases such as wait/stand by, the energy consumption is almost zero. Thus, the electric press consumes 50% less energy during production. Precision A fully electric press ensures higher precision. Being numerical control, the press stroke is fully repeatable and does not require any special adjustments to meet the required specifications. Increased productivity In addition to increased precision, all-electric technology simplifies production and improves machine performance, ensuring extremely fast set-up and start-up times.The absence of hydraulic components reduces maintenance time and prevents the risk of component wear, ensuring maximum long-term reliability and improved productivity. This therefore has a direct impact on your production turnover while reducing your manufacturing costs. Silent functioning The presence of a pump on hydraulic presses can be potentially noisy, which does not facilitate working conditions during its use. Its electric equivalent is quieter thanks to a fully electric motor. Because we think about your future and that of the planet, we have designed an electric press that meets all these criteria. Compact, powerful, efficient – it will surely convince you to switch to electric. You need to find out more ? Consult our page dedicated to electric presses and contact us ! Think about the future and go electric !

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8 December 2022

Sector of activity

E-mobility at the heart of new environmental challenges

E-mobility, a word we hear more and more often, but what does it really mean ? E-mobility or electric mobility is a booming business sector. Its characterizes preserving the environment by reducing the carbon footprint of each travel and improving everyone’s quality of life, notably by manufacturing parts for the automotive sector intended for electric and hybrid vehicles, bicycles and scooters. At a time when environmental degradation and the depletion of fossil fuels are at the heart of the topics of concern, preserving the environment has become a predominant issue in the strategy of industrial companies in the automotive sector. Which is why many of them decided to adapt their production to meet the new demands of the electric mobility sector. Numalliance likewise has decided to support its customers by adapting its range of machines thus offering state-of-the-art productivity solutions dedicated to this new sector that needs parts that meet every specification precisely. Numalliance solutions at the service of e-mobility Historically being a partner of the automotive industry, Numalliance is well aware of the various constraints and problems faced by its customers and thus knows how to adapt its response in order to find optimal solutions, whether manufacturing parts for private vehicles, buses or trucks or even other smaller sized means of transport such as bicycles. Numalliance’s R&D teams integrated all these criteria received as part of customer requests to develop various production tools to meet the needs of the e-mobility sector. Thus, our wire and flat bending machines can produce large quantities of busbars and hairpins. Do you produce or wish to produce this type of part but do not know which machine to turn to? Numalliance guides you : The FPX Busbar, developed to meet all your specific bending needs on copper and aluminum flat stock Also referred to as Omnibus, the busbar is a component that conducts very high intensity electricity between the battery and the motor of electric and hybrid vehicles. It can be produced on our FPX Busbar, a flat-stock bending machine with high precision for making close, double and even twist bends. The FPX Busbar is able to bend flat-stock parts from 9x3mm up to 25x8mm and has various options for secondary operations such as stripping, punching, marking as well as part check. Owing to its specially design material feed system, the FPX Busbar respects the integrity of the material regardless of its type and coating. Highly flexible with coupled with ease of production change-over, the FPX allows you to make many other part references as well. The speed of a Numaslide for the production of Hairpins Key part of hybrid and electric vehicle propulsion systems, hairpins can be in 2D or 3D form and of different sizes. For the production of these parts, the Numaslide multi-slide bender is the ideal solution combining flexibility and speed, some references being produced at rate of less than a second per part. This bending machine also allows secondary operations such machining, finished part handling, marking and control. The choice of a numerically controlled machine designed specifically to meet the requirements of the e-mobility or electric mobility sector, such as the FPX Busbar or the Numaslide, allows savings in raw materials compared to currently existing conventional solutions due to a perfect control of the part production process. In addition to its remarkable bending, stripping and cutting capabilities, these machines in Numalliance’s new range can be easily integrated into fully automated production cells. High-performance solutions in terms of software (simulation, HMI, control, etc.) are also integrated into the machines, thus making it possible to obtain a complete productivity solution, a showcase for Industry 4.0. You have a project, a question, do not hesitate to contact our specialists :

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17 November 2022