Discover Germany | Special Theme | EMO Hannover 2017
Historic XXL lathe, Schiess carousel 1925. Photo: © Deutsches Museum
Turning around to modern times Highs and lows through history and politics: the tradition-steeped SCHIESS GmbH has seen it all. Today, the Aschersleben-based company is proud of their customised machines and products, paving the way to ‘Industrie 4.0’, a new industrial age tailored to modern, sustainable times.
ry workshop includes an air-conditioned measurement laboratory and test stands for both components and machines, guaranteeing a 100 per cent measurement of all manufactured components.
TEXT: CORNELIA BRELOWSKI I PHOTOS: SCHIESS GMBH
Production optimisation The SCHIESS GmbH enterprise originally stems from two companies – the Schiess AG, founded in 1866 by Ernst Schiess in Düsseldorf, and the machine construction company Aschersleben (Saxony-Anhalt), founded in 1857 by Heinrich Billeter and Wilhelm Klunz. By merging the two, today’s SCHIESS GmbH came into existence in 1991. Heavyweight champion The best known SCHIESS product is their ‘VertiMaster XXL’ machine; a heavyweight multitasker, with a maximum turning diametre of 22,000 millimetres. The machine can be used for almost any industrial task you can imagine (turning, 42 | Issue 53 | August 2017
milling, grinding, drilling, gear-cutting). The original Aschersleben branch in turn brought expertise for portal milling and sideway grinding ‘XL machines’. Together, the two sectors of XXL and XL machines today form the product portfolio basis at SCHIESS GmbH, lately extended by machines for the aerospace sector – an ‘old’ but newly explored field for SCHIESS. Last but not least, SCHIESS offers an all-encompassing retrofit service. ‘Handmade in Germany’ Of both high production depth and quality, the SCHIESS GmbH guarantees high-precision manufacturing as well as complete in-house assembly. The facto-
Also a given at SCHIESS GmbH is an extensive analysis and support of the production process itself, for example by creating stability diagrams as a basis for new technology proposals. Other optimising methods include modal and dynamic analysis and supporting the customer with tool selection, components design and a detailed working time analysis. That way, the SCHIESS customer service includes an individual process adjustment – through to a complete process support, if necessary. Deeply rooted in industrial history Around 150 years ago, Heinrich Billeter and Wilhelm Klunz started their enterprise