Machine building

The customer the product, IMA the machine

IMA: a leader in machine building

Three specific business units

IMA, with its headquarters in Houthalen-Helchteren and offices in Maldegem, has evolved into a

leading player in the machine building industry. To date, IMA has completed approximately 4,000

projects in all areas of the industry, both at home and abroad.

By offering customers access to knowledge and industrial technology, IMA can transform a

customer’s ideas into a tangible result. In other words, IMA creates a physical model of their

idea of added value. Using high-quality components and outstanding technical services, IMA is

committed to developing innovative machines that contribute to their customers’ added value. For

this, the company relies on three business units: Tooling, Automation and Prototyping.

The Tooling business unit revolves around the development of specific components tailored to

different types of machines. IMA creates the mechanical components using advanced CNC

machinery. Because of this, the company is able to machine and process the most diverse

metals and materials, in combination with conventional drilling, turning and milling. The IMA

Automation division takes care of the design and implementation of automated systems. By

using our many years of experience and extensive knowledge, a team of electrical engineers,

software engineers and technicians effortlessly manage to integrate a wide range of industrial

technologies. And finally, the IMA Prototyping business unit builds bespoke machines. From

research and pre-engineering, mechanical design, manufacturing, assembly and installation,

to successful commissioning. Especially in this area, IMA focuses on a modular approach to

projects.

Modularisation pivotal

Like any other business, IMA today faces a constant challenge: an increased focus on quality set against cost and time savings.

“Because of this contradiction, we cannot start a project from scratch,” says Joris Ceyssens, Sales Director at IMA. “This

is certainly the case in prototyping. Our customers face the same challenges that we do. This means that the entire supply

chain is under pressure, and nowadays the end customer has no time to wait for a solution. Over the years, backed by our

experience, we have increasingly begun to build our projects modularly and mechatronically. Today, we reap the benefits of this

approach. By modular reuse of proven technologies, IMA is able to meet its own challenges and those of the end customer.”

From prototyping to retrofit and revamps

As a result of loyal customer relationships, IMA has been able to develop numerous machines for large and smaller companies

over the past 29 years. “Today, older machines often no longer meet the current norms and standards in the areas of safety and

automation,” Joris explains. “On top of that, the customer also wants to increase the capacity of the machines. The mechanical

structure of these machines is usually perfectly adequate, which creates the need for our customers to retrofit or revamp the

machines. With plenty of experience in the automation side of mechanical engineering, we were perfectly capable of meeting

these customer requirements. Updating existing machines, in addition to prototyping, has now become a speciality for us.”

Automation

This approach enabled IMA to build up a huge amount of expertise in the field of automation. “The combined experience of

prototyping, retrofits and revamps, resulted in our being asked to integrate the different machines with one another,” says Joris

Ceyssens. “For this type of project, we return to the same approach: mechatronic modularization. We have now integrated

the modular approach, which had already proved its efficiency in engineering, into the system integration. Meanwhile, system

integration has become an integral part of our activities. This made the establishment of the Automation business unit a must.”

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Machine building

A modular approach pays off

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Structuring and standardization

The huge demand that followed made the expansion of the IMA Automation business unit a logical next step. “Both in

terms of people and technology,” Joris explains. “With that, I mean that besides investing in the recruitment of specialized

colleagues, we also needed to look at the implementation of new technologies in our work processes. In the area of

hardware engineering, we took inspiration from the EPLAN Expert Dialogues. This is where we learned to look beyond

solely mechanical modularization. For example, the importance of structuring and standardization of the modules

emerged. Together with an EPLAN expert, we looked at how we could use this for our application, so our hardware

engineers went to EPLAN for training. Investment in knowledge and people is a priority for IMA. Today, we have found

the right balance in combining modularization, structuring and standardization of our projects. We are convinced that this

combination always brings the same result: that we work even more efficiently.”

Industry 4.0

The new work method has an impact on the entire engineering culture within our company. “This solid foundation to our

approach enables us to better integrate all the engineering domains,“ says Joris Ceyssens. “Fuelled by the ‘Industry 4.0

way of thinking’, we see total integration, both within our engineering and our machines, as well as within our customers‘

IT infrastructure. This enables both us and our customers to remain competitive. ‘Industry 4.0’ is not an empty ‘container

concept’, but the vision is integrated into the daily operation of our business.”

Machine building

IMA and Duvel: collaborating for additional production capacity

EPLAN Software & Services NV/SA

Bosstraat 54 ∙ B-3560 Lummen

Tel +32 (0) 13 53 96 96 ∙ Fax +32 (0) 13 53 96 99

E-mail: sales@eplan.be ∙ www.eplan.be

Duvel Project

“Belgium is the land of beer,” Joris Ceyssens laughs. “Brewery Moortgat, known worldwide for their Duvel beer, faced

a logistical challenge. The brewery wanted to make optimum use of the available refrigerated space. To do this, they

came to us. Based on various applications, such as precise positioning, vacuum techniques, a custom-developed XZ

manipulator with long range and servo technology, we were able to build a specific, fully automated pallet stacking

machine, which enabled an increase of 25 percent capacity to be created. We provided a complete mechatronic concept:

from mechanical design, through electric and pneumatic engineering, to software. We even took care of manufacturing,

assembly and safety,” concludes Joris Ceyssens.

For more information, visit www.machinebouw.be

02.2

016

EPLAN Software & Services B.V.

Hengelder 56 · Postbus 246 · NL-6900 AE Zevenaar

Tel: +31 (0) 316 591 770 · Fax: +31 (0) 316 591 749

E-Mail: sales@eplan.nl · www.eplan.nl