RoboJob realises first sale of a Turn-Assist in Australia

RoboJob - a Belgian company specialising in the automatic loading and unloading of CNC machines - started its activities in Australia and New Zealand this year, where it reached an agreement with machine builder Okuma. This partnership has also resulted in a first sale.

Okuma Australia and Okuma New Zealand are both subsidiaries of the Okuma Corporation, based in Japan, and worldwide leader in the production, sales and service of highly productive CNC machine tools, factory automation and support services.

Earlier this year, both parties reached an agreement whereby Okuma is selling, installing and servicing RoboJob automation solutions in Australia and New Zealand. Okuma is now selling the RoboJob Turn-Assist and Mill-Assist Series.

Turn-Assist and Mill-Assist are integrated solutions which enable the automatic loading and unloading of turning and milling machines. Both systems can be used for a wide range of dimensions (standard diameters from 5 to 400 mm) and weights (up to 700 kg).

Only a few months after the partnership was made official, Okuma has already managed to sell its first Turn-Assist in Australia.

“We have certified the Okuma Service Team after their technical team received extensive training at RoboJob,” Helmut De Roovere, co-founder and CEO of RoboJob, explains. “Our installation specialist travelled to Melbourne this autumn to install a Turn-Assist 250 on an Okuma CNC lathe in the showroom of Okuma Australia. That installation was performed together with the service team of Okuma. We are therefore convinced that the installation at Okuma’s customer will run as smoothly as the installation at Okuma.”

Phil Hayes, managing director of Okuma Australia, sees this first sale as the start of a series of sales. “This confirms our belief that also ‘down under’ there is a rapidly expanding demand for automation of small and medium parts production. Our customer quickly understood how flexible the Turn-Assist is. RoboJob has seen to it that the programming only takes a few minutes, which allows for an easy switch from one job to the next. Since we have also installed a Turn-Assist in our own showroom, it’s even easier to convince customers of the qualities of this flexible and compact solution.

“Our customer is a typical technical parts supplier,” Hayes explains. “A family business in Adelaide, South Australia, that specialises in high-quality and very precise parts, which are applied in various industries. With nearly 50 years’ experience, they have excellent machinery, which they use to offer turning and milling services. Flexibility, quality and short delivery times are very important to them, which has led them to invest in their machinery to further improve those strengths. So we will now install a Turn-Assist 250 at an Okuma LB4000 EX x 1500.”