HG GRIMME SysTech – swissplast group

Success with Machined Thermoformed Parts and Fully Assembled Components

The swissplast group has quickly grown by focusing on high-quality thermoformed parts and a strong emphasis on service, quality, and delivery speed. In addition to thermoforming itself, key success factors include the machining and assembly of parts. The company relies on machining centers from HG GRIMME SysTech, among others, due to their quality, precision, and dynamics. The similar mentality of the two family-owned businesses also plays a role, as demonstrated at the Gotha site.

HG GRIMME SysTech – swissplast
By F. Stephan Auch, freelance technical journalist, Nuremberg

“We combine comprehensive service with a high level of machining and assembly – and all of this at high speed,” summarizes Ninyan Bieri, COO of the swissplast group, the company’s promise. The company, led by his father Barac S. Bieri, specializes in functional, design-oriented components and workpiece carriers made of all types of thermoplastic materials. Its range of services extends from design and thermoforming to the machining of parts and the assembly of entire components.

This includes many body and interior parts, some in Class-A quality, for motorhomes, semi-trailers, buses, and trains, among others. Customers also come from plant and mechanical engineering, the construction and packaging industries, medical technology, and heating system manufacturing. For the latter, swissplast supplies, for example, covers for heat pumps and boilers.

“The machining of thermoformed parts is a very important part of our range of services,” emphasizes Bieri. The group manufactures trays and workpiece carriers as well as technical parts in roughly equal proportions. Almost 90 percent of the latter are milled. “Since milling and drilling play such a large role, we at swissplast have also relied on machining centers from HG GRIMME SysTech for many years.”

Large and Voluminous Thermoformed Parts Manufactured in Gotha

The approximately 200 employees of the Swiss group of companies are spread across four locations: in Gotha, Thuringia; Diedorf and Ichenhausen in Bavaria; and at the Swiss company headquarters in Sargans. Although the legally independent companies have different strengths and profiles, they work closely together. The focus is on thermoforming pre-configured purchased sheet material. It consists mainly of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene copolymer (ABS), polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), and polystyrene (PS) – if possible, with a high recycled content – and is processed in batch sizes between 10 and 250 pieces. Only in the Diedorf plant is the focus on film production for technical packaging.

In Gotha, sheets up to 2,500 x 1,300 x 800 mm in size with material thicknesses between 2 and 13 mm can be processed; pure thermoforming would even be possible up to 3,000 x 2,000 x 1,000 mm.

The approximately 25 employees at the site, some of whom work in two shifts, primarily manufacture larger parts, including voluminous side wall panels or gas tank doors for motorhomes. These are then milled to create cutouts, for example, for windows or vents, and holes are drilled. This is followed by assembly, during which ventilation grilles and entire lighting and locking systems, among other things, are mounted, bonded, and ultrasonically welded.

Premium CNC Machines from Bavaria

Across the various locations, the thermoforming company has a series of 5-axis CNC milling machines from the Bavarian premium manufacturer in operation. In Gotha, three different models are currently in use. In 2018, swissplast acquired an RT-F 1400 rotary table system, followed two years later by a single-table gantry system and a machine in gantry design.

The highly compact rotary table system is particularly designed for workpieces with cubic dimensions in X/Y/Z of 1000 x 800 x 400 mm and a maximum total weight of 200 kg.

swissplast primarily uses this machine to produce small covers and panels that are completely machined in a single clamping.

In the RT-F 1400, the rotary table performs the C-axis movement, allowing the workpieces to be milled with exceptional dynamics and high precision. High productivity is also achieved through minimal traversing movements and a water-cooled milling spindle with two shaft ends, each of which can accommodate a milling tool. With a simple rotation to the other shaft end, the spindle can use a second tool.

The closed design with a protective cabin prevents chips from leaving the cabin. Thanks to two manually opening doors, the operator has easy access to the workpiece. The operator also benefits from simple handling via the integrated, swiveling control panel with a NUM controller.

Dynamics and Agility

s swissplast was very satisfied with the rotary table system and needed machines for its continuous growth, HG GRIMME SysTech was able to deliver two more CNC machining centers in 2020. Both milling machines are designed for significantly larger and heavier parts. The G-S-F(24-13)/B in gantry design is conceived for workpieces with external dimensions up to 2,400 x 1,300 x 600 mm (X/Y/Z), while the portal machine P-S-F(25-13) offers 100 mm more space in the X-axis with otherwise identical cubic dimensions. Their tables can be loaded with up to 800 kg.

“We quickly realized,” says Ninyan Bieri, “that HG GRIMME SysTech is a reliable partner, very easy to reach, and quick to react.

Moreover, like us, they are a family-owned company and correspondingly dynamic.” Martin Sombrowski, Sales Manager Europe at the Bavarian company, agrees and cites an example: “Many appreciate that our service always responds very quickly to inquiries. We are also proud that many of our machining centers are ready for operation and producing chips just two days after delivery.”

COO Bieri also places great value on the agility and flexibility of his group of companies: “We act and grow quickly. We live our motto ‘swissplast – easy to deal with.’ If necessary, we can also handle projects with thirty new tools in one go and in an incomparable time.”

Highly Productive CNC Machining Centers

He cites the focus on thermoforming, the young and very flexible team, and the modern machinery as factors for success. Moreover, the thermoforming systems at the locations are usually available in duplicate, and the machining centers are highly productive. “Therefore, we can handle very urgent orders at two locations simultaneously if needed. Our employees go along with this and work wherever they are needed,” Bieri raves.

Since 2020, the newly added CNC machining centers have also contributed to the rapid machining of parts.

Like all systems from HG GRIMME SysTech, they score points with a particularly solid design that absorbs vibrations to the greatest possible extent. The result is impressive, finds Sales Manager Sombrowski: “With this, we achieve high precision in milling and drilling with positioning accuracies of ± 0.045 mm. This leads to excellent surface qualities.”

In addition, the machines feature powerful high-frequency milling spindles with up to 15 kW of power in continuous operation (S6).

These deliver speeds of up to 36,000 rpm on the portal machine. Dynamic accelerations and cutting speeds also ensure highly productive high-speed machining.

Prepared for the Future

The machining centers are also prepared for further growth at swissplast: Although they are currently in use as single-table machines in Gotha, there is the option for the future to divide the working area and then produce even more productively in tandem operation.

The machines can also be easily adapted to changing requirements.

In addition to a wide range of accessories, numerous options are available for individual configuration. These include, among others, magazines for additional tools, measuring probes for breakage and length control, workpiece measuring systems, special packages for dust-free CFRP machining, and an alternative Siemens control system.

Ninyan Bieri’s conclusion on the machining centers from HG GRIMME SysTech: “We are satisfied with the quality of the machines and also with the price-performance ratio.”

Future Automation

However, this does not mean that the COO wants to stand still with what has been achieved. The topic of automation ranks at the top of the agenda. He is already in discussions with HG GRIMME SysTech and other partner companies and is jointly searching for solutions.

ABOUT HG GRIMME SYSTECH GMBH:

HG GRIMME SysTech GmbH develops and manufactures CNC machining centers and fixtures for the demanding machining of plastics, composites, aluminum, wood, and other model-making materials. The compact high-tech machines are characterized by durable, high-precision technology and powerful dynamics. All systems are manufactured exclusively at the company headquarters in Wiedergeltingen in the Lower Allgäu region, from conception to completion. They are specifically configured for customers and adapted to industry, space, and material requirements. HG GRIMME SysTech delivers the machines to customers all over the world.

The translation uses simple, clear language and short sentences to ensure understanding for non-native English speakers. The company name and location are left in their original form for authenticity. The text is structured as a single paragraph, as in the original text, providing an overview of the company’s activities and strengths.

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An in-house technical customer service supports users centrally from the company headquarters and decentrally via various national and international bases in all matters.

Wolfgang Grimme is the managing director of the family-owned company, which he co-founded in 1987 and employs around 80 people.

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