When someone is good at what they do, they are often trusted with a lot in other areas as well. REX Maschinenfabrik from Pinneberg in northern Germany, for example, is a recognized and renowned manufacturer of planing machines. And especially when it comes to their automation, Pinneberg is at the forefront. This has not stopped many customers from encouraging the planing specialists to try their hand at other machines.

"Time and time again we were asked if we could build a sawing machine. Our customers said that they knew we could do it. We would prove it to them with our planing machines," recalls Joachim Schwarzbeck, Managing Director at REX, explaining, "We were always well utilized in our company. Such a product development would not have been so easy in terms of time." The fact that it finally came about is thanks to a nasty freak of nature, i.e. the Corona virus. Like so many others, REX also felt the negative effects of the pandemic - but saw no reason to mope about it: "Every crisis also offers opportunities. And we took advantage of them. The saw idea has become a machine," explains Schwarzbeck, not without pride. More precisely, a cross-cut saw that REX developed together with a northern German sawmill company. "We have been working with this customer for many years. Now we are implementing his wish in modern technology," says Schwarzbeck, praising the good relationship of trust: "That's important to get something like this up and running."

"There have been saws like this built before, but we've brought it into the 21st century," answers the REX managing director when asked why it became a crosscut saw. Almost nothing is done manually on the fully automated innovation; control is largely online. "The machine is stable and robust. It corresponds to the state of our technology," emphasizes Schwarzbeck, referring to the extensive equipment. The new saw prefers to process beams into boards or cross-cut them into battens, with a maximum possible beam cross-section of 220 by 200 millimeters. The saw blades, which are driven with 90 kilowatts, are expected to achieve around 50 meters per minute. The final design details are currently being worked out, for example the optimization of chip guidance or the positioning of the cover plates. The concept of the cross-cut saw will be on display at LIGNA 2023 in Hanover, and the first delivery is planned for the end of 2023.

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