Charlotte, NC--Star Linear Systems commands respect after surviving its passage from one parent company to the next during the 1970s and 1980s. Deutsche Star GmbH--a company founded in 1904 and today a division of the international industrial corporation Mannesmann Rexroth--acquired the company in 1991. With a full range of linear-motion products including ball-rail linear guides, high-precision ball screws, linear actuators, linear bushings, X-Y stages, custom systems, ball transfers, and computerized motion control, Star Linear System's product offering continues to expand.
Since the 1991 acquisition of Tychoway Bearings Company, a market leader in linear roller-bearing technology, a name change to Star Linear Systems and a new 106,000-sq-ft manufacturing facility have helped Star grow the bearing business. It also is the first time in the company's history that it's part of an organization that understands the technology and its potential for growth, explains Star's President and General Manager Dennis Barnes.
The result has been 30% growth per year for the last five years. According to Barnes, the new parent nurtures Star's growth by bringing three key elements to the table:
- Advanced profile grinding and sealing technology.
- Established guideway products that complement Star's existing product mix.
- Investment in domestic manufacturing, automation systems, and R&D.
With production locations in Schweinfurt (corporate office) and Volkach, Germany, and additional manufacturing locations in France, the Republic of Ireland, Taiwan, and the U.S., Star is truly a global company. "Global manufacturing offers corporate flexibility to cope with changing worldwide economic conditions," explains Barnes. "It also means making products in the markets where they are critical. To help meet customer demands quickly and efficiently, I run a real service-oriented business," he adds.
"Precision grinding techniques, developed in Germany, give our guideways accuracy and tolerances that keep us a step ahead of the competition," says Barnes. "But even with one of the best products out there, initial market penetration was slow," explains Barnes. "To get to market faster, U.S. engineers demand short lead times. If they can't wait for products that are assembled in Germany, they choose a competitor's product. Bringing the assembly process to Charlotte cut lead times and made us much more competitive."
At the Charlotte facility Star operates a fully integrated manufacturing operation. Modern technology in CNC machining centers, manufacturing and material-handling equipment, and assembly techniques produces a wide range of high-quality, linear-motion products. According to Barnes, customer service is what differentiates Star from the competition. And interchangeable linear guides make it a service leader. "With plastic and steel components produced and assembled on site, we can quickly implement product enhancements in house, without being at the mercy of suppliers. It also enables tighter quality control," he says.
"Cross-functional teams foster customer service and technical support in another way," says Barnes. Each product team, heavily armed with office, sales, and automation software, is responsible for everything from purchasing raw materials to getting the product out the door and installed at the customer's site. "The investment in office automation gets information quickly to the hands of people interfacing with the customers. Customers usually get the answer they want, the first time they call," touts Barnes. One small group of people sitting in the same area have all the information required to answer questions from technical information and calculations to pricing, ordering, production, and even delivery.
Swap trucks, boost stiffness. Key to Star's success is its standard rail profile. No doubt about it, the track record of Star's Tychoway(reg) roller slide product speaks for itself among many major machine-tool manufacturers. Its time-tested design endures harsh machine-tool environments. The fast-growing product line features a range of runner block or truck designs that all run on a standard rail profile. Several accuracy and pre-load classes enable the pre-packaged, ready-to-go guides to handle static loads ranging from 4,000 to 122,000 lbs. "Engineers take it out of the box, align the machine, bolt it on, and forget about it," brags Star's Director of Linear Products Scott Spangler.
"Our interchangeable designs offer engineers flexibility unique in the industry," adds Spangler. "A standard rail profile for all precision classes ensures compatibility with any pre-load class truck." This helps engineers fine-tune prototype machines, and cuts repair time on factory floors. "Our recently expanded national distribution system has greatly improved our ability to service the customer. By stocking interchangeable components as close as possible to the customer, downtime is reduced and technical assistance is immediately available. This local system of distributors, supported by our national sales organization of trained engineers and interchangeable components, gives our customers the freedom to choose the right product for every application," says Spangler.
For example, after testing a prototype, an engineer may want to increase bearing stiffness. Most linear guides require replacing the block and rail as a set, a time-consuming endeavor because the rail must be realigned. "Increasing bearing stiffness with our system may only involve mounting a higher pre-load truck on the existing rail," explains Spangler. Industrial crashes may ruin the truck, but leave the rail intact. "While competitive guides often require rail replacement, even if only the truck is damaged, our interchangeable trucks make repairs quick," explains Spangler. Likewise, users can expect quicker repairs, even if the exact replacement truck isn't available. Interchangeable blocks and rails in five accuracy classes and four pre-load classes not only foster customer satisfaction, but also help Star offer full service with minimum inventory.
The new parent company also brought additional products with established channels that help Star satisfy its customers in new ways and open up new applications such as chemical wash stations, materials handling, and pick-and-place robots used in computer hard-disk manufacturing. Moreover, products such as rail-guide screws and linear modules find application in large CNC routers for woodworking and plastic machining.
"Our goal is to introduce five to ten new products each year," says Spangler. "We are always pushing the technology to new levels in terms of design or performance," he adds. For example, as a result of some technological advancements on the manufacturing side, the CKK Compact Module is the latest expansion in Star Linear Systems' actuator product line.
The module integrates the benefits of a ball-screw drive and a dual-ball rail system into one of Star's most compact designs yet. Applications include pick-and-place systems, material-handling operations, and compact multi-axis gantry systems. Star's runner blocks ride on two parallel ball rails that are mounted in the extrusion. The dynamic roll moment capacity is over 6 times greater than that of a single rail module, and the module has a dynamic load capacity over 10,500 lbs.
Three sizes and many options provide versatility for applications with heavy loads and aggressive speed requirements, or conversely, applications with light loads requiring high repeatability. These modules have a repeatability of up to 0.0002 inch and a travel accuracy of 0.001 inch per foot of travel. The ball screw options provide various thread pitches attaining speeds of over 4 ft/s.
Clean-room compatible. The Compact Module, a sealed unit with circulating seal strips, is Class-100 clean-room compatible. Single-point lubrication ports provide grease to both the ball screw and the runner blocks. Lube ports, located in the center of the unit, are accessible from either side of the module. Motor mounts, multi-axis connectors, and mounting accessories help make system integration easy.
The MKR/MKZ 25-145 Linear Modules are new additions to the linear actuator line that use a carriage with four runner blocks riding on a dual ball-rail system. They provide outstanding moment load capacities up to 8 times greater than the ratings of a standard 25-110 module. The rack and pinion drive unit on the MKZ 25-145 is comparable to a ball screw's thrust load capacity, without the same length restrictions. With multiple gearing options, the MKZ 25-145 H can be used in horizontal operations for moving heavy weights over long distances at demanding speeds.
In contrast, the MKZ 25-145 V will safely lift heavy weights in a vertical motion and is mounted with the carriage stationary, allowing the extrusion to provide the motion. The helical gearing on the hardened and ground rack-and-pinion ensures low operating noise levels. The MKR 25-145 belt-driven actuator handles speeds up to 5m/s and is available with internal gear reduction. This unit expands the MKR series to handle even higher loads.
Specifically designed for heavy-duty applications, the larger carriage surface has ample room for any mounting configuration. In addition to the 2% preloaded linear bearings, the new extrusion design provides a frame with superb stiffness for horizontal, vertical, and multi-axis applications.
When it comes to economical linear-motion solutions, the Star Systems team has added linear motion slides to the product mix. The slides have high load and moment capacities, a broad range of ball screws, and geometric interchangeability with previous versions. All incorporate two precision steel shafts and four Type 'A' Super Linear Bushings that result in smoother running, higher load capacities and longer life than slides using conventional bushings. The Super Linear Bushing also compensates for alignment errors from mounting or shaft deflection.
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