Hoytom boosts capabilities by integrating a load cells into its machines, which ensure maximum accuracy throughout its measurement process
Quality control equipment specialist, Hoytom has boosted its capabilities by integrating a range of load cells into its machines, which ensure maximum accuracy throughout its measurement process.
The Spanish based company manufactures quality control machines, testing equipment and provides calibration services on customer sites, issuing the appropriate certificates on the condition of the machines, including all ranges of force, stress, strain and hardness.
The range of test equipment that Hoytom makes includes electromechanical and electrohydraulic machines for material tests. The capacities of its machines range from 5 kN up to 2000 kN for tensile tests and even more for compression testing.
The Hoytom laboratory has been certified by the ENAC (Spanish National Accreditation Body) since 1996 and provides calibration services on the customer’s premises, issuing the relevant certificates on the condition of their machines, including all areas of force, stress, strain, and hardness. Hoytom’s test machines are the hidden guarantee that ensures that many products on the market meet the function for which they were designed. Test machines are used throughout the manufacturing process of a product − from raw materials to the many intermediate parts that go to make up an assembly.
Founded in 1961, Hoytom is based in the Basque town of Leioa, near Bilbao, with a staff consisting of experts in the field of static destructive testing, where they stretch or compress devices under test until breakage. A family company going back three generations, ever since the early days back in the 60s, Hoytom has acknowledged and understood that quality, drive and the best equipment are key factors to being competitive in the complex world of testing at national and international levels.
This pervasive activity guarantees the quality of virtually any item in any sector with an incredibly wide range of testing procedures. Hoytom equipment has always been involved in this field and continues to do so and have tested many different items – from nuts, bolts and different types of steel, to composites, automotive structures, aircraft parts, cables and concrete.
The managers say they feel most comfortable when dealing with large machines and tests with a certain degree of complexity. Of course, the functionality of the machines is the most important requirement, but for several years now, the company has also offered attractive designs to equip their customers’’ facilities and the company now exports 50% of its machines.
The equipment and testing machines that are supplied also include hardness testers and pendulums used to determine the hardness and toughness of materials.
Load Cells
For their universal and hardness testing machines, which carry out Rockwell and Brinell hardness tests, Hoytom has always relied on HBK’s HBM brand products, namely load cells, and integrates them in all their equipment, to the point where they have become one of HBK’s main customers in Spain. This is mainly due to the confidence they have in the accuracy and reliability of HBM U10M force transducers, ensuring the minimum values of linearity deviation, hysteresis and reversibility error, together with a high degree of reproducibility.
This commitment increased in 2015, when the current management of Hoytom took over. In order to improve the machines, one of the key factors that they identified was that the load cell was a key element in the equipment and that they would continue with HBM as their first choice. Their previous experience backed up this decision, since HBM had a long history of supplying them with calibration standards and calibration measurement equipment. This allowed working times and disruptions to be reduced, improving the image of Hoytom equipment on the market. It now offers test machines with integrated top-quality cells, which gives customers assurance. All in all, equipping all test machines with HBM U10M was a strategic decision for the company.
Hoytom test equipment with HBM cells can operate in Class 05 in accordance with the relevant international standard, offering a greater measurement range, a demand that is increasing among companies that conduct tests. But, above all, it is a guarantee of a properly conducted test. In the testing sector, it is essential to invest in top-of-the-range products from renowned suppliers in order to ensure that reliable data is gathered. And it’s essential to guarantee that the cells will continue to provide reliable data over time, and that corresponding adjustments can be made quickly and easily.
Material Testing
Although material testing has been a fundamental aspect of engineering for centuries, the precision of products available today and the expectations of quality in every industrial sector have made the testing processes that are performed more rigorous. Previous expectations of failures have been replaced with complete expectations of continued product performance and reliability. The guarantee of failures not occurring due to material failure is the countless tests performed on materials and components. And these tests and controls are carried out with machines such as those manufactured by Hoytom, and which incorporate top-quality equipment to ensure reliable and accurate results. All this is done in line with the needs of profitability, lead times, costs and other requirements set by the users of these machines.
Hoytom has always demanded top quality load cells for their machines because this is the only way to ensure that the most important aspect of this activity – the data – is totally reliable. Equipping their machines with HBK load cells is a way of offering the standards that are expected in the sector, that way machines can be sold with a three-year warranty. What’s more, incorporating the HBK brand in their testing machines and hardness testers is an extra marketing tool, as the market values the assurance and quality that this equipment offers.
The load cells integrated into the Hoytom test machines ensure maximum accuracy throughout the measurement ranges. Combined with Hoytom’s own test control software and with custom-designed electronics, maximum performance, and accuracy are achieved with simple and intuitive use. This level of quality allows Hoytom to enter the international market, to export 50% of their machines and to count on the loyalty of customers that rely not only on the experience and knowledge that Hoytom has to offer, but also on the underlying technology of their machines.
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