alWays At the reAdy

wAlter mAurer’s wAterjet Ag is one of the lArgest compAnies in switZerlAnd

thAt uses wAterjet cutting. And this hAs A greAt deAl to do with efficient

work orgAniZAtion And industriAl thought processes.

text: volker Albrecht, photos: michael meier

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overcapacity costs money, at least ac-cording to standard commercial principles. this is not the case at the swiss company waterjet Ag: here, the apparently dead capital ensures a stable position in the market and good returns. “it is our recipe for success that we work with overcapacity and a large materials warehouse and hence are al-ways in a position to deliver,” says walter maurer. he was a cofounder when the company was set up in 1989. in the meantime, it has become one of the largest companies in europe to use waterjet cutting technology. today, 22 such machines are in use in the machine shop in the municipality of Aarwangen in the swiss canton of Bern. A number of other companies have evolved around waterjet Ag, and with a total of 30 employees, these deal with various aspects of waterjet cutting; starting with development work in all areas associated with the process, the trading of abrasives, and right through to high-precision micro-jet technology. however, in its core business, the company is a cutting job shop, or as walter maurer puts it, “a specialist for the production of parts using waterjet cutting.” the complete range of machines has been selected to ensure that each part can always be cut on the most suitable machine. the spectrum ranges from what is currently the largest waterjet cutting sys-tem in switzerland, a Byjet l 8030 with an 8-by-3-meter cutting table, to several Bystronic ma-chines for standard formats that are predominantly equipped with two cutting heads. in the appren-tice workshop, the apprentices gain their first wa-terjet cutting experience on one of Bystronic’s very

first production machines, a Byjet 3322. systems for 2.5d and 3d cutting round off the spectrum, together with several microwaterjet machines for cutting in the micro range.

relieve the customer’s WorKload

“when a customer contacts us, they immediately receive confirmation and can count on their parts being ready by the requested deadline,” states walter maurer. this claim is backed by a sophisti-cated work organization. walter maurer provides a first impression of this during the guided tour through the materials warehouse. large quantities of aluminum, copper, high-alloyed steels, and spe-cialist materials in a range of thicknesses are stocked by the company at its own expense and at its own risk with a view to possible customer orders, to the extent that, from time to time, large quantities of titanium are purchased on the world market in anticipation of future developments. switzerland is not a country with large series production; hence, with around 6,000 to 7,000 orders per year and an average order value of some 1,700 swiss francs, the materials warehouse remains within reason-able bounds. the good prices and returns that can be achieved thanks to the short delivery times compensate for the additional expense.the second impression is provided, quite unplanned, by the machine shop. At the time of our visit, the dome-like roof segments were being renovated to repair damage caused by moisture. scaffolding had been put up and parts of the shop were pro-tected using plastic sheets. the waterjet cutting systems were operating regardless.it is a part of the special challenge in walter maurer’s concept that, although overcapacities exist on pa-per, the machines are nevertheless used efficiently. with personnel costs running at 60 percent, the objective is to produce as much as possible with only a few people. the workforce is used optimally. this starts with a sort of clocking of the order pro-cessing, so that the work steps of the employees and the cutting times mesh with each other. this means that two operators can control three ma-chines. they are supported in part through process auto-mation components. for example, one Byjet 3015 is equipped with a shuttle table, and the Byjet l uses a unique concept consisting of separate cut-ting zones. thanks to the latter, cutting can take place in one zone of the cutting table, while load-ing or unloading is carried out in another area. furthermore, exchangeable cassettes that can be lifted out using a crane facilitate the removal of the cut parts.in spite of its vast cutting area, the Byjet l’s capacity is used for more than just large parts, especially

Walter Maurer, President and co-owner of the Swiss Waterjet AG.

The Byjet L 8030 is one of Waterjet AG’s 22 machines. With its cutting area of

8 x 3 meters, it is the largest waterjet cutting installation in Switzerland.

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during the night and at weekends. At these times, the machine is loaded with multiple sheets and operated in the lightly manned mode. if an unex-pected problem should arise, the process monitor-ing reliably switches the machine off. And since one employee has his apartment above the work-shop, faults are quickly remedied, even at the weekend. furthermore, the company uses auxiliary devices such as the Bystronic fixmaster, which holds the cut parts in place in the skeleton using dots of easily removable glue. hence, there is no longer a need for micro tabs which would subse-quently have to be ground away.walter maurer thinks in terms of industrial solu-tions, and these are aimed at the continuous im-provement of the processes. one example is “clog-ging,” which refers to the accumulation of abrasive in the cutting head. this cannot be completely elimi-nated with waterjet cutting – but it can be mini-mized by using, as walter maurer does, high-qual-ity abrasives and clean water and carrying out regular maintenance on the high-pressure pumps. the fact that the cutting nozzles are changed every two days ensures additional reliability in the work processes.walter maurer invests regularly in new machines. “from a commercial point of view, this could per-haps be viewed as an error of judgment, but we earn money with the excess capacity,” he says. Ad-ditionally, he keeps the machines at the highest technical level, and gaps in the machine portfolio can be filled. he assumes that every investment adds additional competence and hence creates added value. And of course, any new machines must be cost-effective and deliver quality.

Byjet smart tested successfully

the Byjet smart, the latest Bystronic innovation in waterjet cutting, is just such a machine: a compact, favorably priced, and nevertheless high-quality system. As a test customer, walter maurer checked out the practical application of the Byjet smart over a trial period of several months. his conclu-sion is unambiguous: “i’m a bit worried about the machine,” he declares with a twinkle in his eye. “After all, now everybody will be able to afford a good machine.” what he likes in particular, for ex-ample, is that instead of a cutting bridge, the Byjet smart has a cantilever. this ensures extremely good access to the machine from three sides. And, if necessary, his operators can lay a sheet on the machine that exceeds the designated width of the 3-by-1.5-meter rectangular cutting table. walter maurer especially appreciates that in contrast to all other cantilever machines on the market, the Byjet smart can be equipped with two cutting heads.

Small, smaller, Microwaterjet: Micro-level waterjet cutting is one of the specialties of Waterjet AG.

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his initial doubts in respect of possible vibrations of the cantilever were allayed during trial opera-tion. “with the weights and dimensions of the cantilever construction, this is not an issue,” he states. not only the precision, but also the speed and the acceleration of the Byjet smart convinced the experienced practitioner. however, walter maurer would not allow himself to be drawn into comparing the accuracy of the Byjet smart and a bridge-based machine. with its much more accu-rate linear drive, the Byjet smart simply cannot be compared to conventional machines with rack and pinion drive. “overall, the Byjet smart causes no uncertainties during operation.”in addition, what convinced him was “the unbe-lievably long expected lifetime of the seals on the new high-pressure pump.” the fact that he chose a Byjet classic 4030 as his last purchase also has nothing to do with the performance characteristics of the Byjet smart. instead, the priority objective for him was to fill a format gap in his factory be-tween his 8-meter machine and those for standard formats.

money is made With the complicated

“waterjet cutting is a technology that can do every-thing,“ says walter maurer. thus, as a waterjet cut-ter, one has to remain open to everything and be creative. Based on his experience, the added value lies with the complicated jobs. “when we have to consider how something can be done, good prices are usually paid,” says walter maurer. very elegant solutions are to be found, for example, in medical technology or in the aerospace industry, or in gen-eral wherever the material has to be cut without thermal stress. lightweight construction materials such as carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics (cfrp) are also increasingly being used. And waterjet cutting is almost predestined for these. walter maurer also sees ample potential in the micro sector. he is con-vinced that anyone who is able to position them-selves in good time in this sector can differentiate themselves from the competition and earn good money.walter maurer also sees growing opportunities in combined processing, which means in the subse-quent processing of the cut parts. As an example, he shows us a brass gauge in which a 0.3-millime-ter slot had to be cut. using waterjet cutting, this is no problem. such processing of finished parts to-day already accounts for 25 percent of the orders at waterjet Ag. walter maurer’s approach of cutting high-quality parts quickly and delivering at short notice pays off. thus, for example, he has been successful in competing with laser cutting in the cutting of alu-minum sheets. his company also processes large quantities of copper, high-alloy steels, and thick stainless steel, as well as titanium and what are known as high-tech materials such as cfrp. to pro-cess these, five of his machines are equipped with

mechanical drilling axes. these prevent individual layers from peeling off during piercing. in walter maurer’s opinion, the drilling axes clearly illustrate why his concept is so successful: “for the last twenty years, i have been completely spoiled as far as the machines are concerned.” he notes that his first production machine from Bystronic already had everything that many other manufacturers only recognized as being important at a much later stage. no wonder he is still fully convinced by Bystronic systems. “they have everything you need: from the clamping fixtures to the height of the Z axis, and right through to the height sensing.”the correct production facilities and the successful focus on industrial solutions have allowed waterjet Ag to become the leading waterjet cutting shop. essentially, this is walter maurer’s claim: As the head of the company, he wants to actively pro-mote the technique, and he points with pride to the microwaterjet, which his group of companies developed. incidentally, this system is distributed by Bystronic and is the only third-party product in its portfolio. the fact that during his experiments walter maurer has questioned the use of water or abrasives as the cutting medium shall only be mentioned here in passing. for instance, raclette cheese is cut using pure water and salt, or chocolate and nuts using chocolate oil and nut splinters. well, such experi-ments can only be integrated in the daily produc-tion routine if the necessary capacity is available. it’s another reason why walter maurer would rather have one machine too many in the production than one too few.

Walter Maurer seeks industrial solutions and finds them with Bystronic.

“ Waterjet cutting is a technology that can do everything.”

walter maurer, president, waterjet Ag