Zimmermann Hosts Open House

By Bernard & Company Tags: 5-axis gantry milling machine, company news, open house, Zimmermann No Comments

Machine tool builder of various mills introduces new moldmaking machine

Sit down area of the open house Wixom, Michigan-On July 24-25, Zimmermann Inc., the North American affiliate of Zimmermann GmbH in Germany, hosted an open house at its headquarters here for its customers and prospects in North America. Among the crowd were many major suppliers to aerospace and automotive, as well as other large part producers for the OEM, media from the industry, suppliers and other associates of Zimmermann. Machines were on display, highlighted by the company’s FZ33, a compact and highly flexible 5-axis gantry mill designed specifically for moldmaking.

Presentations were given throughout the event, which also featured displays from a number of Zimmermann business partners, including Mapal, Keller, Siemens, Zoller, Heidenhain, Fischer, Tebis, Unisorb, Weiss and Haimer.

The open house was hosted by Zimmermann GmbH President Frieder Gänzle, as well as Zimmermann, Inc. President Cornelius Kiesel and his team for North American engineering, sales and service.

Gänzle commented, “We are very committed to success in the American moldmaking market, as we have experienced good results in aerospace and other large component production for years here.” Kiesel echoed that sentiment, “Our customers are growing in number in the moldmaking industry, owing to the solid stability of our machines, with their highly flexible programming capability and swivel 5-axis head, that allow very fine finishing on the mold surfaces, as well as intricate pocket machining with a high degree of accuracy and repeatability.”

One of the main suppliers to Zimmermann for CNC is Heidenhain and Gisbert Ledvon, the company’s marketing manager who attended the event, observed, “Zimmermann is a very good customer, as they work closely with us and their customers to produce CNC programs for application-specific purposes. They also put on a very fun event!”

As a testimony to the long-lasting quality of Zimmermann milling machines, a unit built over 20 years ago was also on display. This machine is currently being retrofitted for resale to an interested customer. (Interested parties may contact Cornelius Kiesel at Zimmermann for details.) The machine is well suited to the aerospace industry, where Zimmermann offers its portal milling machines for spars and stringers for all commercial aircraft currently in use.

All attendees enjoyed the food, evening entertainment and collegiality at the event.