Editorial

 Grah Automotive group started collecting experience with solutions for the automotive industry more than 15 years ago. Following a clear vision, it has managed to set solid foundations for the production and development of high-quality lights. Today it is the trendsetter in its industry and spreads its activity to new business fields, especially interior lighting and street lighting.
Company SG Automotive, d. o. o. is a member of the Grah Automotive group. The company beginnings date back to 1997, when the company CMP started manufacturing cable harnesses for the automotive industry. In 1998, a joint venture was formed with company Schefenacker, to become a part of the global Schefenacker Group. After 12 years in the corporation, the company left in 2010 to form the Grah Automotive group.   

 The city of roses once again hosted the central professional event of Slovenian industry - the Industrial Forum of Innovation, R&D and Technology 2013. This time, the jubilee 5. Industrial forum IRT spanned over three days, hosting under its umbrella the 4. ISTMA Europe international forum.
More than 400 attendees at the three-day professional event in Portorož listened to 38 invited and registered lectures presenting the novelties, achievements, viewpoints and opinions, as well as hidden and less hidden stories from the domestic and foreign industry. The vivid pulse at the three day event was supplemented by a professional exhibition with more than 40 exhibitors, including Slovenian toolshops on Tuesday and Wednesday. Miran Varga

 New GateFramer robotic car body framing system can frame multiple car models on the same line while maintaining short cycle times, incredible accuracy, unsurpassed reliability and ease of operation.
Over the past decade the auto industry has changed at a blistering pace. Where once it was common to build one car on one line, manufacturers are now moving to a flexible production concept where multiple cars can be produced on the same line. The new GateFramer robotic car body framing system builds on ABB’s nearly 20 years of framing experience by providing the industry with the flexible, accurate, expandable and fast solution that today’s car manufacturers demand resulting in less investment over the lifetime of the system. 

 Sensing with reflective sensors is often made difficult by several different factors. The sensing performance depends on the target object colour, material, surface coating, environment and above all the background distance. LR-Z series laser sensor makes away with several problems. Integrated internal control function controls and automatically adapts the sensitivity with factors up to 350 000x.
The control is made possible by a combination of a CMOS receiving element and a laser light source ensuring stable sensing regardless of the colour, reflection or angle. The LR-Z series sensor is the only sensor in the market with the background suppression function (BGS) and the foreground suppression function (FGS), significantly reducing the disturbances coming from the sensing environment. In addition, the DATUM function determines the sensing conditions and the target detection regardless of the changes in surface or form, even with a large observing angle (80B°). 

 At the Competence Days, WITTMANN BATTENFELD did justice to its motto “Power for the Future”. This is what some 1100 visitors, who found their way to Kottingbrunn, Lower Austria on April 24 and 25, were able to witness and experience first hand.
With 17 machines, more than 30 exhibits from the automation and peripheral equipment sector, as well as interesting applications and processes, WITTMANN BATTENFELD demonstrated its competence and power on these two days. But not only the exhibits met with lively interest. The new assembly hall for large machines, which was officially opened during this event, also attracted the visitors’ attention. 

 The properties of polymer materials can also be improved with fillers and reinforcement materials - organic or inorganic materials of natural or man-made origin.
Fillers improve the material stiffness, reduce the shrinkage, ensure the composite is fire retardant and improve the processing/reduce the wear. Organic fillers include e.g. cellulose flour and natural rubber. The usual inorganic fillers are silicates (magnesium silicate - talc, glass spheres), carbonates, as well as aluminium and barium compounds.
Reinforcement materials improve the physical, mechanical and thermal properties. Organic reinforcements often include wood and polyester fibre. Glass, carbon or metal fibre of all lengths are used as inorganic reinforcements. The longer the fiber, the better the strength, toughness and stiffness. 

 It has been proven once again that Slovenia needs new knowledge in the field of metrology and quality. We may therefore ascertain that the 4. M&Q Conference, organised by LOTRIČ Meroslovje, d. o. o., in the Golf hotel in Bled on May 22 and 23 was even more successful than the previous conferences. The spirits among the numerous attendees were lifted both by the introductory speakers and the plenary session speakers.
Marko Lotrič, manager of LOTRIČ Meroslovje, dr. Samo Kopač, director of Metrology Institute of the Republic of Slovenia, and Marko Kompare from Iskraemeco underscored the importance of metrology and spreading good measuring practices. The atmosphere was heated by assist. prof. dr. Primož Pelicon from the Jožef Stefan Institute with his accelerated ion rays, Miran Ališič took the listeners to the world of Formula 1, Marjan Lah introduced good TV broadcasts and Petra Majdič presented her philosophy of success. 

 Many new technologies are created in scope of international projects, in partnership between universities, research institutes and companies. International networks also help the manufacturers to discover what it is that users and companies need the most.
We are living in dynamic times when the globalisation steps up the competition at the world level. Both companies and countries face great challenges. The previous balance in the field of research and development worldwide is changing as less money is invested in developed countries and more money is dedicated to investments in the developing countries. To stay competitive with their innovation on the international level, big companies must become more efficient in using their global networks of knowledge.   

 Only the summer separates us from the world‘s leading trade show for consumer electronics and home appliances - IFA 2013. The fair organisers Deutsche Messe and the Society for consumer electronics and communications (gfu) have already revealed the new trends in the field for the following months. The invasion of screens connected to ever smarter electronics into households will continue.
Despite the falling European and world GPD, some industries are doing considerably better than the others. The consumer electronics industry perhaps couldn't escape the diminishing trade margins, but consistent innovations and sales approaches make sure to ignite the appetite for new digital toys and appliances in the consumers.  

 Beginning in 1983, WET has designed over two hundred fountains and water features all over the world, including the famous 9-acre Fountains of Bellagio in Las Vegas. Experienced in designing high-pressure “waterjets,” it’s only natural that WET’s first machine tool was a UHP waterjet cutting system from Flow International.
Outsourcing work is an excellent way to get started in your fabricating business without a substantial capital investment. However, outsourcing can also limit your freedom of design and your ability to control quality. “We were outsourcing a lot of our work but we couldn’t maintain quality control and it was difficult to meet tight schedules,” says Mark Fuller, CEO of WET.

 September 16 - 21 2013 is the time for the EMO Hannover fair, the world's leading trade fair for metalworking where the production equipment manufacturers from all over the world present their products, solutions and services under the motto Intelligence in Production.
"EMO Hannover's Intelligence in Production presents to the trade visitors from all over the world the best solutions for the challenges in production of today and tomorrow,« said Christoph Miller, general director of EMO Hannover with the EMO fair organiser VDW (German Machine Tool Builder's Association) from Frankfurt on the Main at the EMO press conference on April 22 2013 in Ljubljana. EMO is a window to the world."