The four largest specialised fairs Forma Tool, Plagkem, Foundry and Graf&Pack have presented to the Slovenian audience all the novelties and the directions of development of technologies, which are coming to the market or are currently still in the phase of development. The fairs attracted a very large number of visitors, proving these branches of industry are very strong and the flagship of Slovenian industry. Especially in the toolmakers’ part of the fair, presenting all of our best tool shops and their products: tools manufactured for very demanding customers in the automotive industry.

It was emphasised in the opening ceremony that Slovenia can only stay competitive in the global market by making intense investments into the promotion of entrepreneurship, research and development, as well as by promoting high value-added job positions. It is very important that we intensely promote the development of innovation – for the new as well as the existing technologies.

With Slovenia being as small as it is, such specialised fairs are very welcomed, since they enable the exchange of experience between the industry and the academic circles. In addition to being a platform to present novelties, the fair is an important element of promotion of these industrial branches to the youth. This role was carried out with excellence this year by an employment fair that presented numerous job opportunities, since there is a chronic lack of these profiles in the companies. And as the study programmes fail to address this issue, many companies are unable to contract business due to the lack of manpower in development. One of such cases is Revoz, which is looking for approx. 500 employees for the production of the new Twingo.

Other events occurring in this period are also showing the role of Slovenian industry as a supplier to the large automotive concerns. It is very important to keep this orientation, but it is going to require a coherence of industry, R&D-institutions and the academic circles. All these players have to promote job positions and product with a high value-added. Only high value-added products will be able to keep Slovenia at this level and enable further development.

Darko Švetak
IRT3000 Editor-In-Chief

From the content:

Interview: Boris Klančnik, director of RITS

dr. Peter Panjan

KASTO Maschinenbau is one of the leading manufacturers of hacksaws, bandsaws and circular saws for cutting metal, sawing systems, sawing centres and storage and retrieval systems for bar stock and sheet metal, as well as combined sawing-storage solutions. From May 9 to 11 Kasto hosted its house fair titled KASTO Future Days 07 in Achern-Gamshurst, presenting new technical solutions for rational cutting and storing metals, intended for companies of all sizes.


Thematic unit:

The modern industrial practice experiences an increasing need for the production of very complex components and products. The growth of prices of energy sources and material costs drives the professionals to seek and develop technologies that will make it possible to manufacture products using minimum energy and material.

The Celje fairgrounds hosted four specialised fairs from 17. to 20. April 2007: 9. Forma Tool toolmaking fair, 7. Plagkem plastics, rubber and chemistry fair, 3. Graf&Pack graphics and packaging fair and 2. Foundry fair. 294 direct and 488 represented exhibitors from 25 countries presented themselves during the four-day fair.

Sonja Sara Lunder, photo: Blaž Košak in Nataša Müller

Company Motoman Robotec from Ribnica is a daughter company of Japanese corporation Yaskawa Motoman, the world’s largest manufacturer of robots. The Japanese-manufactured robots are fitted and prepared in Ribnica for certain technological operations for a known customer. Annually they manufacture on average 130 robotic cells, integrating some 450 industrial robots. The largest part of this production is dedicated to the automotive industry, but the company is oriented on different market niches, not betting on a single technology.

Sonja Sara Lunder, photo: Blaž Košak

Franc Krevzel from Šoštanj was voted craftsman of the year. He was awarded this highest prize from the Chamber of Craft of Slovenia for successful craftsmen, this year awarded for the fifth time, in scope of the Days of Slovenian craft. Franc Krevzel owns the company Krevzel instalacije that employs 32 workers and is the leading provider of machine installations in the Savinjsko-Šaleška region.

Photo: Marko Kern

Sonja Sara Lunder, photo: Blaž Košak

RITS – the developmental, innovation and technological center of Savinjska region is a business-information center / interface for many partners, using the synergy of networking and common logistics in foreign markets and in international projects. Two central projects of RITS are the implementation of a network of technological centres in the region and the project RITS South-Eastern Europe, which strives to apply this model to the region of South-Eastern Europe.

dr. Bojan Podgornik, dr. Jože Vižintin

Boštjan Berginc, Matjaž Rot

The task of production logistics is to provide an efficient flow of material, sources and services through the whole production process and between the companies. There is no lean production without a lean production logistics, and there is no lean production logistics without a good knowledge of the basic production processes, efficient planning, supported by contemporary tools for dynamic analyses and optimisation, equipment that is selected according to the real needs, and the automation and informatisation as an upgrade to all of the above.


Non-metals:

Dr. Tomaž Perme

Martin Frank, Hans-Gerd Fuss


Automation and informatisation:

dr. Wolfgang Waldhauser

The development of new products with a high value-added must be the goal of every Slovenian company that wants to survive in the global market. One of the possible courses of action is the implementation of new technologies, which bring numerous advantages in comparison with the conventional procedures. One of them is the powder injection moulding process, which combines the forming capabilities of polymer injection moulding process with the mechanical properties of harder metal and non-metal materials.


Napredne tehnologije:

Esad Jakupović