DanobatGroup, the top Spanish machine tool manufacturing group, has strengthened its product range and diversified its offer with the creation of a generation of large machines which include, for the first time, large-sized vertical lathes and grinding machines, as well as a new family of milling machines, an area in which they already stood out. Those in charge of the group point out that this equipment will enable them to meet the demand for solutions from customers in the energy and wind-power sector, for whom they have designed equipment capable of turning and grinding parts up to five metres in diameter and mill components up to six metres high.

The prototypes built by DanobatGroup, which were presented at the BIEMH Fair, were well received by European industry. Indeed, three contracts have already been signed for the supply of vertical lathes to German and Italian firms, like Palmieri, worth an aggregate amount of €5m. Likewise, the group has already supplied its first vertical grinding machines (ZF and Rolls Royce) and its first FXR milling machine (Officine Zorzo) which introduces automation and systems to provide greater speed and precision. Another part of DanobatGroup’s strategy is based on “technological innovation as a means of differentiation”. In this field the group is committed to designing machinery to automate the manufacturing of composite parts in advanced sectors.

However, the big step forward has been the construction of a plant for Danobat Fibras which they will be moving into in the coming weeks and which will enable them to tackle any challenge with 4,000 square meters of factory space and a height of 16 metres under the crane hook. The first big contract to be tackled in this factory will be the construction of a machine for a leading manufacturer of wind turbine blades. In this case, equipment will be designed to make extremely large offshore blades. The big advantage of the installation will be the optimisation of processes and the guarantee of building blades that are the same and weigh the same, something that is impossible with manual systems, which will improve the operation of the wind-powered generators. The machine will be delivered in 2011 and has a manufacturing budget in excess of 2 million. The DanobatGroup engineers are also working on the development of applications of this technology with large machines for sectors like shipbuilding, aeronautics, civil engineering, enclosures, etc.

Finally, it is also worth highlighting that the process of specialisation and creation of turnkey solutions also reached a turning point with the launch of Danobat Railway Systems, which has focused on the railway industry, with the building of lines for manufacturing axles, wheels and wheelsets. The first big order, worth €60m after it was extended, was signed with the Russian firm TVSZ, who will be supplied with automated lines and robot-controlled cells, in addition to peripherals and services.

DanobatGroup’s focus on the area of R&D&i is clear from the fact that in the last few years it leads the ranking in terms of assistance from the Basque Government’s Gaitek and Innotek programmes, on both an individual and group basis. It is also participating as a partner in CIC marGUNE, the co-operative high performance manufacturing research centre; in the Etorgai Hiperlon plans, which it leads and which aim to create large machines with high precision ranges, and Etorgai Bio-based Materials, to replace plastics and fossil-based composites with fibre reinforced bio-based materials. It has also played a leading role in Cenit “eFe” to create the machine for 2015 and has led the European Launch-Micro project to develop micro-milling machines with submicrometric positioning precision.

DanobatGroup is made up of Danobat, Soraluce, Danobat Railway Systems, Dano-Rail, Estarta, Goimek, Goiti, Ideko, Overbeck (Germany), Danobat-Bimatec (Germany) and Newall (United Kingdom), and also has a direct presence in China, India and Russia. The group, which employs 1,100 people, posted a turnover of €248 million in 2009.

Tel +34 943 748300 – Fax +34 943 743674 - danobatgroup@danobat.com – www.danobatgroup.com