news & facts A further
news & facts A further design award They not only meet the highest demands in terms of quality and function, but their design has also won numerous awards: the hydraulic chucks for the UNIQ series from MAPAL. Following the IF Design Award in 2020 and the Good Design Award in 2021, the Aalenbased tool manufacturer at last received the sustainability-oriented Green Design Award in 2024. When the precision tool manufacturer and technology partner MAPAL completely revised its hydraulic chucks in 2020, the focus was on making the entire product range even more efficient and durable in daily use. The new hydraulic chucks were to be given a uniform appearance – the requirement being that the design should guarantee the greatest possible stability with optimum use of resources. In collaboration with the design agency Ottenwälder and Ottenwälder from Schwaebisch Gmuend, the product managers at MAPAL developed a new design concept for the product family. In order to emphasize the uniqueness of the revised chucks, the naming was based on the English word “unique”. The two hydraulic chuck series – the UNIQ mill chuck and the UNIQ DReaM chuck – combine MAPAL’s performance promise of quality and function, in particular through an optimum interplay of geometric and functional properties. Thanks to a polishing process newly developed for the UNIQ series, the high-gloss surface of the chuck is more resistant to dirt and corrosion. MAPAL also attached great importance to the use of the hydraulic chucks process reliability. The blue coloring of the actuating screw contributes to this. Specially created signatures also contain handling instructions. “The MAPAL chucks have a significantly unique design language”, says Petra Kurz-Ottenwälder, managing director of the design agency Ottenwälder and Ottenwälder. A special design element on the UNIQ chuck is the blue actuating screw UNIQ mill chuck: reliable. dynamic. agile The UNIQ mill chuck is specially designed for clamping milling tools with HA shanks. Thanks to its high temperature resistance of 80° C, even with very long milling cycles, it impresses in highly dynamic milling applications, such as SPM (Structural Part Machining), HSC (High Speed Cutting) or HPC (High Performance Cutting), for high-quality components with excellent process reliability and high metal removal rates. It is universally suitable for roughing, semi-finishing and finishing operations. UNIQ DReaM chuck, 4.5°: visionary. flexible. economic The UNIQ DReaM chuck, 4.5° is optimized for reaming and drilling applications as well as for use with finishing cutters. It enables maximum rigidity with minimum interference contour thanks to the clamping introduction in the HSK collar and low material usage. The outer contour of the UNIQ DReaM chuck is based one-to-one on DIN 69882-8 for heat shrink chucks. This makes it very easy to switch from shrink-fit technology to hydraulic chucks. What makes the UNIQ series particularly sustainable A hydraulic chuck is suitable for reconditioning. If the hydraulic oil is refilled during servicing, the chuck is as good as new and ready for a second service life. A UNIQ hydraulic chuck can handle up to 15,000 clamping cycles, which is well above the average value of a shrink fit chuck. Shrink fit chucks are energy guzzlers, consuming up to 12,000 kilowatt hours and 3.6 tons of CO 2 per year. This is saved by using a UNIQ hydraulic chuck. In addition, a hydraulic chuck can be changed much quicker. Shrink fit chucks take between four and six minutes longer, which adds up over time. Hydraulic chucks are also much safer to handle. With shrink chucks, almost every operator burns its fingers at least once during the hectic of a working day. With hydraulic chucks there is no risk of burns. 22 no. 2, May 2025
news & facts Green Good Design Award honors sustainable design ideas The latest award for MAPAL and the Gmuend-based agency Ottenwälder and Ottenwälder is the Green Good Design Award, which the Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design presents annually to companies and individuals who pay particular attention to sustainable design. The two companies were honored for the new design of the UNIQ hydraulic chuck. Already three times award-winning – the UNIQ hydraulic chucks from MAPAL; the most recent award was the Green Design Award for sustainable design When the first chucks were available after the development, the agency submitted the UNIQ hydraulic chucks to the iF Award in 2020 and was honored. This was followed in 2021 by the Good Design Award and most recently, at the end of 2024, the sustainability-oriented Green Design Award, which focuses on sustainability. “We are proud that we have won several internationally recognized awards with UNIQ”, says Tobias Bayerle. The development of the UNIQ series proves that one can not only win through practicality, but also that product design can offer customers added value. “If you can impress with performance and design, then you’ve done a lot of things right.” However, it is even more important for Bayerle to emphasize that the UNIQ chucks have been very well received by existing and new customers from day one. “Since the introduction of the UNIQ series, we have always seen exponential growth in this area”,he says. further information: www.mapal.com “Smart manufacturing company of the year” SMARTECH, a global leader in AI-powered industrial solutions, was named “Smart Manufacturing Company of the Year” at the prestigious 2025 IoT Breakthrough Awards. This recognition underscores SMARTECH’s pioneering role in advancing autonomous manufacturing through AI and IoT-driven innovation. The IoT Breakthrough Awards program celebrates the world’s most innovative companies, technologies and products transforming the Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem. With thousands of nominations across categories such as Industrial IoT, Smart Cities and AI-driven automation, the awards highlight groundbreaking contributions shaping the future of digital transformation. Revolutionizing manufacturing with AI/ML technologies SMARTECH’s proprietary AI/ML-powered autonomous manufacturing technology seamlessly integrates real-time IoT data with advanced analytics, enabling manufacturers to: optimize production processes for increased efficiency and reduced downtime enhance precision and quality control through real-time decision-making drive sustainability and resource efficiency with intelligent automation “This award reinforces SMARTECH’s position as a key player in shaping the future of smart manufacturing”, said Hanoch Magid, CEO. “Our AI-driven solutions empower manufacturers to stay competitive in a rapidly evolving industry by unlocking new levels of efficiency, productivity and sustainability.” further information: www.smartech.com no. 2, May 2025 23
