“We know what we’re looking for.”

Without mentioning sales figures, we’re doing well economically and currently employ about 240 people. The order situation is good; firstly because we are quite broadly positioned in terms of target groups, and secondly because we manufacture our customers’ products here in Sinsheim on their behalf. We not only have the full range of expertise in-house, but also the technical prerequisites for toolmaking, production and assembly. And we’ve invested a great deal in the expansion of this capacity in recent years.

In assembly, we finish, combine and install components on various assembly machines and systems using a variety of technologies, such as reel-to-reel processes, inline moulding, ultrasonic welding and so forth. In production we operate 70 injection moulding machines. This is where most of the preliminary products for these components are produced. In the toolshop, where the tools and moulds for these injection mouldings are produced, we have five wire EDM systems in addition to various CNC-controlled machining centres.

We mainly looked around at metalworking trade fairs. In principle all well-known manufacturers are represented there with their machines and there you can get the best information. In more than 20 years we have acquired a lot of expertise in wire EDM. We know what we’re looking for.

The decisive factors for us were above all an optimum price/performance ratio, ease of operation and rapid service – should we ever need it. And so far, I really have to say we’ve taken the right decision.

Of course. We can even verify it pretty accurately: depending on the complexity of a component and the machining parameters, the cutting speed of Mitsubishi Electric machines is higher than that of other suppliers. However, taking the entire range of products that we have so far cut on these machines into account, this value is not quite as high. Nevertheless, there is a very nice side effect: compared to our old machines, we save up to 30 % of the energy otherwise required during machining.

That depends on the complexity of the parts being cut. The good thing is that you can cut those whose machining is very time-consuming overnight or over the weekend. All we have to do is make sure there’s enough wire for cutting.

From tool steel we mainly cut the functional elements typical of injection moulds such as dies, mould inserts, punches and so on. Less often, we also cut copper and aluminium parts.

We are currently actually considering whether to purchase another machine; ideally one with a rotary table as an additional axis. There is, for example, the KfW Energy Efficiency Programme, under which investments in energy-efficient production facilities and processes are financially assisted with an extremely low-interest loan.