Flowforming: Metal Working | Winkelmann Group

High precision working and machining for metal components

Worldwide, companies rely on the components Winkelmann Group produces from metal forming and machining. Our Flowforming division develops and manufactures high-precision products characterized by high strength and low weight. They are used in a wide range of applications – including automotive, aerospace, oil & gas, medical technology, and other industries. Our emphasis lies on high precision, resource-saving and cost-effective manufacturing and the never-ending development of our machining and cutting metal processes.

We are your manufacturer of highly complex parts and components from forming to machining to assembly.

Our products: Metal components and subassemblies

Person, die einen Messschieber benutzt, um einen Metallzylinder in einer Werkstatt zu messen, mit Werkzeugen und Maschinen im Hintergrund.

Drive elements for vehicle technology

We develop and manufacture ready-to-install drive elements for the automotive industry, including lamellar carriers, gears, hubs, and subassemblies. We use a wide range of processes to produce low-carbon, low-alloy, and stainless steels. The forming techniques used include pressure rolling, metal pressing, coarse rolling, and deep drawing. They are complimented by metal cutting and completed by joining technology. And of course, the pure machining of components is also part of our portfolio.

Precision tubes for industrial applications

We manufacture housings, precision tubes, and rotationally symmetrical components using flowforming – from small quantities of just one piece to annual quantities of several hundred pieces, depending on requirements. Our products are used, among other things, in machine and plant engineering, but also in medical, pressure and pump technology, or in hydraulic and pneumatic cylinders.

Controls for aerospace technology

In the aerospace technology sector, we not only manufacture products such as drive shafts for aircraft engines and helicopters as well as control nozzles for satellite engines, but also housings, accumulators, hydraulic cylinders, and more. Our manufacturing processes have been at the cutting edge for years, as they require a high level of material utilization and weight reduction.

Flowformed pipes for the oil and gas industry

To produce pipes and other rotationally symmetrical components for the oil and gas industry, we find flowforming particularly suitable for metal processing. Why? Because it enables high-strength materials to be processed extremely precisely, so we achieve the low tolerances, high strength, and surface quality needed.

High-strength components for safety technology

For the defense and security sector, we supply motor housings for rocket engines, launch tubes, and battle head sleeves. Flowforming allows us to manufacture thin yet particularly light components that are high-strength for use in defense technology. What’s more, we produce high-strength, light-weight steel rollers for track vehicles through flowforming.

Älterer Mann im Overall hält ein Steuergerät in der Nähe eines großen gelben Industrieroboters in einer Fabrikumgebung.

Flowforming production sites worldwide

Winkelmann MSR Technology in Ahlen, Germany

To Winkelmann Flowforming

Ein Roboterarm arbeitet in einer industriellen Umgebung, umgeben von großen Metallmaschinen und Bauteilen, bei heller Deckenbeleuchtung.

Our manufacturing processes: Metal working and metal forming

The Winkelmann Group is a global leader in cutting-edge technologies for metal working. Depending on the area of application, our Flowforming division produces ready-to-install products using various chipless, cold forming processes as well as machining.

In cold forming processes, a preform is fixed on or in front of a tool and is set to a turning motion. The wall thickness of the preform is then reduced through flowforming and applied to the component by means of a plastic deformation. When cutting metal, the focus is on turning. We use the following methods:

Flowforming

In flowforming, the preform of the component is applied to a flowforming mandrel. This enables workpieces to be equipped with internal or external profiles, which they transfer directly from the thrust roller mandrel. Precision tubes can also be produced in this way.

Shear forming

In shear forming, conical components can be produced by rolling them onto a corresponding shear forming tool.

Metal spinning

Metal spinning involves applying the material to a spinning roller and forming it over multiple passes.

Cold rolling

GROB cold rolling on ERNST GROB AG systems enables the production of internally and externally toothed components.

Profiling

Forming rollers with different external profiles are used when profiling, shaping the workpiece into the profile required.

Metal cutting

Machining with turning technology is mainly used for rotationally symmetrical workpieces such as axes, shafts, and flanges. We always use the latest standards to meet the requirements of our customers with high processing speeds and high precision.

Nahaufnahme einer Laserschneidmaschine, die beim Schneiden eines Blechs helle Funken sprüht und Präzision und industrielle Technologie demonstriert.

Laser welding: During this welding process, energy is supplied via a laser without the need for additional material. The process is particularly suitable for welding components that need be joined using high welding speeds with narrow and slender weld forms and low thermal distortion.