Fabrication, Industrial Plant

Equipment focus: Hermle machining centres

Hermle machining centres have played a pivotal role in the creation and success of a German company which manufactures made-to-spec surgical instruments and medical technology components.


Buy now

Tuttlingen-based Fetzer Medical today runs five Hermle machining centres.

The first to be bought – a Hermle C 40 U high-performance five-axis CNC machine – was initially used to cement the business’s manufacturing expertise and add valuable additional know-how, and is now primarily used for pre-fabrication and for machining prototypes, samples and short runs.

Two further C 22 U five-axis machining centres are equipped with PW 150 11-pallet changers/magazines and are used for the automated flexible production of a wide range of components in runs of up to 300 pieces.

A further automation level is provided by a C 12 U five-axis unit combined with an RS 05 robot cell for the production of modular designed scissors.

Finally, a C 800 V CNC centre was added to the range of Hermle machines to provide flexibility in pre-production, including making reference surfaces and jigs and fixtures.

 

From left: Fetzer Medical sales manager Sascha Riesinger, managing director Jürgen Stickel and production manager Bernd Zepf

 

Peter Fetzer created Fetzer Medical in 2008 with the aim of offering a flexible and swift approach to varying product and batch sizes. The company machines a wide variety of materials, including titanium, to supply its customers with ready-to-use products from prototypes and individual parts to large production runs and complete systems.

The company now employs 45 staff, and roughly 75 percent of their work involves complex milling/drilling operations.

“The Hermle machines feature a robust gantry design, use three axes in the tool and two axes in the workpiece, which results in optimum tool accuracy, and have excellent accessibility,” Fetzer Medical production manager Bernd Zepf says.

Hermle is represented in Australia by Applied Machinery.

 

Previous ArticleNext Article