I went to interview Pierre-André and Etienne Meylan in a company called Piguet Frères at Le Brassus, Switzerland and I didn’t stop thinking about nexialism. In that company, the skills are cleary interdisciplinary and transverse. You need some technique from highly specialised polishing of watch industry to finish a part for a medical device? No problem, functioning in the company allow the specialists to share all these skills and apply them on the right place, even if that’s not "the usual (…)

Peter Wolters GmbH, a manufacturer of high-precision machine tools headquartered in Rendsburg, Germany, today announced the acquisition of the Micron precision CNC grinder range, which is currently manufactured in West Springfield, MA (USA). Peter Wolters boasts a 200-year history of supplying market-leading lapping, grinding, polishing and deburring products for fine-surface optimization of metal, glass, ceramics, plastics and nano-range semiconductor materials for computer chips and LED (…)

Exhibition Grounds fully booked: the world’s leading technology event presents 13 leading trade shows at a single venue. This year, Korea, Asia’s economic powerhouse, is the Partner Country. Boom in wind power continues: premiere of the new flagship fair «Wind». Spotlight on energy efficiency in industrial processes. The show unveils the future The ideas and solutions on show at the 13 flagship shows that make up Hannover Messe will combine to create a unique platform for innovation. Key (…)

The demand for ever smaller components in industry is constantly rising. Yet micromachining follows its own laws. Tolerances must be very tight. This places high demands on the machining tools. An exact run-out and repeatability of the processes are the keys to success. The user can achieve this with the new Rego-Fix ER microsystem. This innovative tool clamping system offers the overall system very high run-out accuracy and optimum vibration dampening. A decisive effect The Rego-Fix ER (…)

It is like a birth, the delivery will be done on time! This new issue is not completely different than the previous ones, but we worked a lot to change things for more simplicity and user friendliness. The content is as follow: Medical General information about the market Medical Cluster Success stories in Switzerland and USA Cleaning Tooling Lubrication In this part of the magazine we emphasize the fact that medical is not that different than any other field... nevertheless, some (…)

Small, compact, energy-efficient, fast, vibration-free, precise .... the high-frequency spindles deliver a hand full of trump cards as they take their place on the precision machining marketplace. Why use spindles of this kind? A meeting at Meyrat SA with Mireille Barras, the Head of Marketing and Christian Walther, the Director of this company. Particular conditions Use of the high-frequency spindle is frequently determined by usage conditions. First case to highlight: machining which (…)

According to a widespread profitability analysis for CNC machining, the value of tooling represents up to 3% of the total value (see chart). Yet, a simple change at this level may have consequences worth several dozen percentage points in profitability. For a better grasp of this phenomenon, we spoke to Didier Auderset, CEO of PX-Tools, located in La Chaux-de-Fonds, home of microtechnology (Switzerland). Calculable consequences To illustrate the example which is the title of this article, (…)

The trend towards miniaturization is advancing with ever increasing speed, and this also applies in medical technology applications. Ophthalmic surgery, neurosurgery and ENT surgery have long played a pioneering role in the use of microsurgical instruments. In ophthalmic surgery, especially retinal operations, microforceps 0.3 millimetres in diameter have been successfully used for a considerable time. Significant technical and personal investment Due to the demanding requirements, both (…)

According to some widely shared results (no matter for what kind of products) the 10 products that will be the most sold in 10 years simply do not exist nowadays. Where are they? In the head of the public and private researchers. The role of the Pôle des microtechniques of Besançon (France) is to make connections between production capacities in the country and people who can innovate. The golden triangle Industry, researches and training are the three core axes of the Pôle des (…)

Titanium (Ti) is one of those metals which, by virtue of its properties, is all the rage in different sectors. Its numerous benefits are highly appreciated for parts in the aeronautics, medical or leisure sectors. However, machining this metal is tricky and often requires quite substantial machining times and expensive tooling. Extinguisher required Titanium is considered a metal with a high mechanical resistance and a good ductility in standard temperature conditions. Its specific (…)