HAIMER acquires 25% from WinTool AG and enters into global strategic partnership with TCM Group

HAIMER Toolroom now set up with WinTool and Toolbase System

The Haimer Group becomes 25% shareholder of WinTool AG and enters into a strategic partnership with the TCM Group, giving HAIMER worldwide distribution rights for WinTool and Toolbase. Prior to the decision to acquire this stake in the company, WinTool and Toolbase were introduced in the company's own production facilities and tested in continuous use, proving their value in a very short time. In the future, TCM will rely on HAIMER as a strategic supplier in the areas of tool holders, crimping, balancing and pre-setting machines in its core tool management business.

Tool management is becoming increasingly important in production companies. HAIMER, a world player and market leader in tool holders and presetting technology, has therefore been offering innovative Toolroom solutions for years, with HAIMER crimping, balancing and presetting machines ensuring high efficiency.

At EMO 2023, HAIMER took an important step forward and has since offered its successful hardware products for machine tools alongside a powerful digital range consisting of the WinTool software, an independent tool management system, and Toolbase, a smart tool dosing system with software and hardware components. To achieve this, HAIMER has entered into a competence partnership with the TCM Group, which includes WinTool AG and Achterberg GmbH, which have built up an excellent reputation over many years as developers and manufacturers of the WinTool and Toolbase solutions. The partnership is now strategically and long-term anchored by the 25% stake in WinTool AG and consolidated by further worldwide distribution agreements. This allows HAIMER to offer and distribute both product lines to its global distribution partners and customers.

Markus Temmel, CEO of TCM, is excited about the new partner and anchor investor at WinTool AG and the global cooperation with HAIMER: "In 2023, we worked together very intensively and achieved significant successes in a very short time. The product portfolios of HAIMER and the TCM Group complement each other seamlessly, and our joint understanding of our customers' requirements will lead to even more powerful comprehensive solutions. Both partners stand for practical, high-quality solutions focused on the customer's long-term benefit. Moreover, we are confident that the HAIMER product range will enrich our tool management service offering and strengthen our market position and our claim to be the market leader in tool management services. All TCM tool management customers worldwide will benefit from this in the future. We look forward to consolidating this strategic partnership and welcome HAIMER as a shareholder to WinTool. "

Digital tool management offerings

Andreas Haimer, President of the HAIMER Group, explains: "The strategic partnership with TCM and the investment in WinTool fit perfectly into our strategy: We want to offer our customers worldwide a coherent system concept in the area of digitization and automation of Toolroom management. This requires easy-to-implement products and intuitive software solutions that enable users to increase productivity on the shop floor. With our new WinTool and Toolbase products, we can offer our customers the most complete solution on the market. In a record time of just four months, we introduced the systems in our own large production facility with more than 200 CNC machines. Our own positive experiences and great customer feedback at EMO 2023, along with the trusting cooperation with the TCM team, have encouraged us to take the next step with WinTool and TCM."

Software implemented in in-house production

As always, HAIMER tests new products to be launched on the market first in its own production facilities. "We are a manufacturing company ourselves and produce up to 4,000 toolholders per day at our headquarters in Igenhausen and the neighboring plant in Motzenhofen. We also produce our own 3D sensors, crimping, balancing and presetting machines. Therefore, we are also very interested in constantly optimizing our tool management," Andreas Haimer explains.

HAIMER managed to introduce the WinTool software, including the Toolbase release system with fully integrated connectivity to HAIMER devices, in a very short time. "The easy implementation of these products is already an important first factor," explains Stefan Echle, head of product management at HAIMER, who acted as project manager and interface between suppliers, IT, toolmaking and production during the introduction. "In the short time available, we entered all our existing tools, spare parts and C-items - no less than 10,000 items - as digital twins into a central WinTool database and also digitized the HAIMER application knowledge for each job. This means that the information is always available to us, regardless of the user. We have also connected our existing large vertical issue systems to Toolbase and commissioned additional lockable Toolbase cabinets, giving us a decentralized supply network for the consumables in our production."

The user training confirmed that the software has a very practical structure. "The user interface has no extra bells and whistles, but concentrates on the essentials," confirmed Stefan Echle. "The production staff and the people in the tool room who work with the products have no problems understanding and using it."

What are the features of WinTool?

As a software solution for tool and data management, WinTool makes it possible to collect and use data on tools, master and operating equipment, CNC machine programs and processes. Its modular structure allows users to "start small" with WinTool, says Stefan Echle, "by initially entering only their cutting tools and tool holders. This is the first step: collecting and reconciling their tool data." To ensure that this can be done easily and efficiently, WinTool provides an open database that can be used to import existing data from other data software systems. 2D and 3D data made available online by manufacturers can also be easily imported.

This first action alone gives the user an overview of which tools and sister tools are available in production and where they are located. In a second step, the user can clean up the initial inventory and further optimize his tool inventory based on consumption determined over time.

"The respective tool life can also be stored in WinTool, which is essential for maximizing the use of cutting tools in machining," mentions Stefan Echle, who adds another strong point of the system: "Assembling complete tools in 3D is much easier in WinTool than in a CAM system." For subsequent transfer to CAD/CAM, WinTool offers 25 direct interfaces to all common systems - ideal for companies like HAIMER that use more than one CAD/CAM system. Thimo Rotter, Area Sales Manager at WinTool, summarizes, "WinTool is the optimal data hub for all tool information, and thanks to its connection to CAM, ERP, Toolbase, the presetter and other software systems, the customer has access to uniform and relevant data anytime, anywhere."

Of course, WinTool can do much more, and HAIMER will expand its use step by step. It can be used as a library for materials to be machined and for CNC data, process and inventory management. The advantage: shorter programming and setup times, less tool inventory, integrated documentation and ultimately higher productivity.

Find the right tool quickly and safely - thanks to HAIMER Toolbase

The perfect complement to the tool management system is the smart Toolbase dispensing system, a user-friendly software-based tool dispensing system. "We have also equipped our existing issue cabinets with Toolbase software," explains Stefan Echle, "and we are very satisfied. The issue system saves us cost-intensive processes, such as searching for the right tool, continuous stock control and determining consumption requirements."

Ideally, Toolbase is combined as a logistics module with WinTool, as the interface is available and has been tried and tested many times. However, Toolbase can also be combined with other tool management systems or operated manually as an entry-level solution. Stefan Echle points out that for small and medium-sized companies, the combination of a HAIMER Microset tool pre-set devices with a Toolbase issue cabinet is an advantageous solution: "Many processes can be made faster and more efficient with slimmed-down management and automated storage."

The Toolbase software enables user access and search via barcode, RFID chip or manual entry and ensures that tools and consumables are always correctly retrieved from stock without time-consuming searches. The gains in terms of time and process reliability are noticeable from day one. Accurate consumption data also provides transparency and is the key to more efficient warehouse management and reduced storage costs. "We have already been able to reduce our inventory in the first few months and expect the investment in the WinTool and Toolbase systems to pay for itself within a period of six to 12 months," says Manfred Mayr, Plant Manager and employed by HAIMER for more than 45 years. "From the first minute, I was impressed by the simplicity of the WinTool and Toolbase user interface and the intuitive operation of the software. The machine operators for our more than 120 CNC machines at the Motzenhofen plant collect their consumables themselves via the dispensing systems. The automatic ordering of tools from the Toolbase software ensures that there are always sufficient tools in stock and that we can fully concentrate on the production of up to 4,000 tool holders per day."

Efficient and digital tool management with HAIMER

For managing director Andreas Haimer, WinTool and Toolbase are important elements in the digitization of CNC machining: "We benefit from them in our own production and gain experience that we are happy to pass on to our customers. We are convinced that tool management with our analog and digital HAIMER products will become increasingly important as automation increases. All systems are modular, so that each company can choose the right entry point for digitizing its own production."

Therefore, in the future, all HAIMER Microset tool presetters can be supplemented by WinTool as standard. Because if the master data is available in WinTool, a digital copy of a complete tool can be created and used for simulations without complications in just a few minutes.

Regarding master data for HAIMER cutting tools and toolholders, the company has already created all parameters, STEP and DXF files according to DIN 4000 and ISO 13399. The data are available for download on the HAIMER website and the Tooltracer platform.