Svarvmekano is successfully adopting additive manufacturing
Svarvmekano uses additive manufacturing to customize chip channels. With Seco as their partner, they improved process control, production speed, tool life – and sustainability. Discover how.In a large industrial facility in Malmö Harbor, the state-of-the-art Svarvmekano machine park attests to significant investments – a total of 35 million SEK in recent years. The company has focused heavily on automation to streamline production and increase competitiveness. Svarvmekano’s CEO, Fredrik Gordon, discussed the company’s experiences with additive manufacturing (AM) tools from Seco, as well as the need for sustainability and for industry-wide collaboration to drive change.
CEO Fredrik Gordon currently leads Svarvmekano, which was founded in 1961. With 21 employees and profits of around 75 million SEK, the company specializes in stainless steel grades with tight tolerances. Most Svarvmekano customers are large global Swedish companies that produce food, medical technology, heat exchangers and water pumps, partially for export to China, Germany and Italy. Seco Tools is one of Svarvmekano's longtime major tool suppliers, primarily in drilling but now also in additive manufacturing.
Additive Manufacturing (AM) is one of the most important manufacturing technologies of the future. This method enables manufacturers to customized and optimized for customers’ unique needs. Although Seco has helped Svarvmekano find optimal tool solutions for a long time, additively manufactured tools supplied exactly the tools Svarvmekano needed.
Svarvmekano needs specific tooling functionality. The right chip channels proved difficult to achieve with conventional machining, but 3D metal printing provided a good alternative. “Previously, we had to grind the chip channels ourselves to get good chip evacuation, but now with AM and 3D printing, we have a product that looks like it did after we fine-tuned a conventional product,” CEO Gordon said. Through AM, Seco also optimized the tools’ cooling channels.
Svarvmekano noticed obvious impacts after beginning to use AM products.
Fredrik said, “For us, process predictability is absolutely the most important, along with better control of the lifespan of the turning function.
There, we have noticed a significant improvement. We also speed up our process because we can eliminate certain conventional steps. But process predictability is our primary focus.
We must move forward to keep up; there is no alternative if we are to maintain the level we are at today.”
Fredrik explains that Svarvmekano’s internal ambition is to “try to make the world a little better every day.”
Although sustainability was not the impetus for the company’s investment in AM two years ago, it forms a positive part of the outcome. In AM, material efficiency is a major advantage, with 97-98% of the material being recyclable.
“We strongly believe in working together and helping each other within the industry with open collaboration. Especially in terms of sustainability, we must support each other for change to happen,” said Fredrik.
To meet market demands, Seco has built a dedicated AM production unit at its headquarters in Fagersta, Sweden. This investment establishes Seco as a natural partner when it comes to additively manufactured tools.
In Svarvmekano’s industry, continuous round-the-clock operations process 1.2 tons of material, including 800-900 kg of stainless steel. Their processes must be reliable. Process control reduces cost increases and increases their confidence in their equipment.
“Effective time management is better for us as owners, but also for our customers and for the environment,” Fredrik said.
Svarvmekano was an early adopter of AM tools. Fredrik Gordon’s advice to others who are curious about the technology is to “be brave! Start simple! Create knowledge and build success. Identify something simple and start there. Don’t begin with a problem that you haven’t been able to solve in 15 years. We like to solve problems because we are technically inclined, but we need to take this one step at a time and build experience,” he said.
Increased investment in automation means that Svarvmekano has more space to take on new customers. “We have grown significantly with our existing customers, for which we are very grateful, and now we are ready to take on more,” Gordon noted.
Besides its product knowledge, Svarvmekano has long experience with compliance and with exporting outside Sweden’s borders, which they see as a significant competitive advantage.
Advantages of Seco AM Tools for Svarvmekano
