KM_AHEAD_1_12_E.pdf - Netstal

12 Brand & markets
AHEAD Issue 01.2012
Tool and mold consTrucTion
onE-tHoUsAnDtH PUR molD fRom HARDERbERg
in april of this year, the one-thousandth mold was produced in harderberg and delivered to the
eppendorf company, a loyal customer from germany. The mold was for foaming the steel vessel
interior and exterior for centrifuges.
The business relationship with Eppendorf Zentrifugen GmbH in Leipzig
has been in place since 2008. The company is part of Hamburg-based
Eppendorf Group, which employs more than 2,500 employees world
wide. The biotechnology company was founded in 1945 and deve lops,
produces and sells systems for life science research in laboratories.
The product selection includes pipettes, dispensers and centrifuges
along with consumables such as reaction vessels and pipette tips.
Eppendorf's mission also includes providing high-quality support. In
the sample handling product area, the company deals with heating
and cooling, freezing and mixing and with instruments for photometry.
Eppendorf's high-quality centrifuges are well-known. With their performance
and with the help of a proprietary “epGreen” concept, these
centrifuges have set a new laboratory standard - including in terms of
energy consumption.
Partnership due to quality Up to this point a total of 15 molds have
been delivered to Eppendorf for a wide variety of foaming applications.
This loyalty confirms our customer orientation and the excellent high
quality of the delivered molds. Requirements from laboratories designing
the centrifuges were taken into account in close coordination
with experienced process optimization staff at the heart of production
at Eppendorf. Appropriate production solutions were developed for the
requirements together with the mold specialists from Harderberg.
“We can completely depend on the quality of the molds produced by
KraussMaffei,” confirmed Dr. Matthias Schmidt, Production Manager
of Eppendorf Leipzig. “The molds are delivered as scheduled and they
can always be put right into production, where their longevity and dependability
shine through.” But Eppendorf does not just rely on molds
from KraussMaffei, they also rely on mixing and metering machines
and mixing heads for processing polyurethane.
Successful balance In just the past seven years, tool and mold making
in Harderberg has developed impressively. After starting with
three employees expansion has been constant. By 2010, the production
space had already doubled to 2,700 square meters in order to
meet skyrocketing demand. “The decision for the Harderberg location
due to the specialist expertise available there was the right one
and has proven itself to this day,” confirmed Rainer Janotta, Factory
Director in Harderberg. Today, about 70 employees work at the location
in Harderberg and produce molds for processing polyurethane,
predominantly for the automotive industry. But, as the “anniversary
mold” shows, approximately one-third of the molds go to other industries
such as construction, electrical and medicine.In the process,
two completely separate project rooms in the TechCenter allow
for simultaneous mold proving for different projects with absolute
secrecy. MB
sElEctED EXAmPlEs of tHE PRoDUcts DElIvERED to EPPEnDoRf
• “Anniversary” mold for foaming centrifugal vessels (interior and
exterior wall made of steel)
• Foaming tool for IMC (in-mold coating) semi-rigid structural foam
component with steel insert
• RimStar Compact 16/16 mixing and metering system with outrigger,
barrel station for rigid foam products
• RimStar Compact 40/16 mixing and metering system with outrigger,
barrel station and modular minidos color-metering unit for semi-rigid
structural foam applications
YOUR CONTACT
rainer janotta
harderberg Plant manager
Kraussmaffei Technologies gmbh
rainer.janotta@kraussmaffei.com