When component sizes exceed the available production capabilities, you have to react. At EKATO in Schopfheim – a market leader in the field of stirring and mixing technology – this was done by replacing the old Fixed table travelling column milling machine with a modern Floor type milling machine from MTE Deutschland GmbH.

Agitator blades with diameters of 10 meters and more and drive powers of several thousand kW are impressive values and part of everyday life at EKATO. The up to 20 m long shafts with a diameter of 500 mm for these huge agitators are machined on an MTE Floor type milling machine FBF-M 6000.

The Fixed table travelling column milling machine previously used in production was not only getting on in years, but the travel paths no longer met the requirements for modern machining of large components.

Sascha Madzovski, the employee responsible for production and programming at EKATO, went in search of a suitable replacement and found what he was looking for at MTE. As a BT 4200 Bed type milling machine / machines had already been purchased from MTE the year before, the company was familiar with the quality and reliability of the machine and the offer was prepared by the responsible sales representative Wolfram Krieger according to EKATO’s requirements. With Travel paths of X = 6,000 mm, vertical Y = 2,500 mm and transverse Z = 1,500 mm, the generous machine enclosure with wide-opening safety doors and a tool magazine with 60 pockets, the Floor type milling machine has everything it needs to flexibly machine the long shafts.

In the end, MTE achieved all the goals it had set itself: set-up times were significantly reduced and the processing result corresponds to the desired EKATO quality!

The successful cooperation between EKATO and MTE has now been running for many years. In addition to the two machines mentioned above, two more have been in production in Schopfheim for some time now: A K 2700-R Bed type milling machine with integrated rotary table for highly flexible 5-sided machining of complex smaller components and an SB-M 5500 Fixed table travelling column milling machine.