Chevalier – Intelligent Grinding Machines
Published on : Monday 30-11--0001
Grinding-Turning-Milling is the speciality of Chevalier, the brand name of Falcon Machine Tools Co Ltd, which, established in 1978 as a specialist manufacturer of precision surface grinders, has gone from strength to strength since, making it a habit to pick up accolades and certifications on the way. “Machine tool is a crazy business,” says Brian Chen, Manager – European Sales, and a veteran at Chevalier, who is known as ‘Office Papa’ at the sprawling company headquarters in Taichung. Quality is of paramount importance as is the norm with all leading machine tool manufacturers and precision measurement and temperature control are maintained to ensure micron-s and nano accuracies with equipment like Zeiss CMMs. Castings are machined in-house for the same reason. Similarly high end Toshiba five face double column machining centres and other machines, besides its own CNC surface grinders are used in production.
On the shopfloor, Chevalier follows the policy of effective delegation of work to ensure optimum efficiency. There is effective coordination and good communication between the different working groups, the parts assembly and electrical assembly departments work in conjunction with sub-contractors to coordinate smooth production. “The Grinding machine business is very good at the moment,” says Chen. With four decades of legacy Chevalier has good demand for its grinding machines and SPMs, besides SPMs like the aluminium wheel grinding line. However, Chen mentioned supplier constraints in critical components like linear guideways which are sourced from Japan and other countries, besides those sourced locally.
The company is also leading in Industrial 4.0 implementation, the Falcon Group having participated in the “Aerospace Team 4.0”, which was executed by Corporate Synergy Development Centre and the Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation. The production process is monitored 24/7 with very good BI/ERP/MES system.
The company has a global footprint in nearly 60 countries spanning China, the Americas and Australia, besides Europe, where the main export markets for Chevalier are Italy, Germany, Spain UK and in recent years, Russia. India is also a good market major automotive players like Tata Motors and Bajaj Auto among its customers.
(Chevalier is one of the machine tool manufacturers visited during the TMTS 2018 Preview Press Conference Programme. TMTS 2018 is scheduled from November 7th to November 11th, at Taichung High Speed Rail Zone, Taichung, Taiwan)