Trumpf open dedicated showroom in South Africa

High-tech German family-owned company the Trumpf Group, with its head office in Ditzingen near Stuttgart and one of the world’s biggest manufacturers of machine tools has recently opened a dedicated showroom at the premises of its long-term South African representative Retecon Machine Tools.

“Trumpf’s mission is to further develop production technology and shape it to be efficient, precise, future-proof, and networked. As a market and technology leader in machine tools and lasers for industrial manufacturing Trumpf works with innovations in almost every sector. Software solutions pave the way to the Smart Factory, enabling companies to implement high-tech processes in industrial electronics. Around 13 400 employees around the globe represent the achievements and philosophy of the family company Trumpf,” said Philipp Zwirner, International Sales Manager at Trumpf responsible for Africa and the Middle East while he was out for the official opening of the showroom in July 2019.

High-tech German family-owned company the Trumpf Group, with its head office in Ditzingen near Stuttgart and one of the world’s biggest manufacturers of machine tools has recently opened a dedicated showroom at the premises of its long-term South African representative Retecon Machine Tools

“In these fast-changing times of digital connectivity in the manufacturing industry a fabricator still wants to see how and what he is going to spend his money on. We now have a dedicated facility where we can showcase what our machines are capable of, in the 38 years that we have been associated with Retecon Machine Tools,” added Zwirner.

“Besides the investment implications a fabricator wants to be able to be reassured that his components can actually be produced on our equipment before he actually commits. The dedicated showroom will house a fiber laser, a press brake and marking equipment all as though they are in a working environment to cover the complete process chain in sheet metal production,” continued Zwirner.

“In future a fabricator can supply a file and we will show them the production processes on our equipment. We will feed that into our software, finalise the part modelling and then have the job order, work instructions, nesting, material requisition, scheduling, and get it ready for production, all automatically done with that original input of data.”

The new dedicated showroom is regarded as a technology centre for Trumpf products and processes. The showroom includes one of Trumpf’s latest fiber lasers

“When it’s ready to hit the production floor, the customer can keep tabs on the manufacture of his component or components in a real live situation while at the same time discuss what might be the best way to fabricate a particular component.”

“This is all because we now have dedicated machines and Retecon engineers on hand in a showroom that actually constitutes a working environment.”

“We have also made provision for our customers’ machine operators to have on-the-job technical training in all aspects of these machines and we are also equipped to run application seminars, again in a live situation.”

Technology centre
“Ultimately we regard the new showroom as a technology centre for Trumpf products and processes. A customer will be able to run tests on the machines as well as have one-on-one discussions to formulate a solution to suit the customer’s needs,” said Graham Rome of Retecon Machine Tools.

The showroom also includes a Trumpf press brake. All machines are setup as though they are in a working environment and customers will be able to experience the complete process chain in sheet metal production

“We have direct links to the Trumpf engineers in Germany who will provide the latest technology in an instant. While the capital equipment investment cycle for metal fabricators is much shorter in Europe, where those companies have been early adopters of automation, when compared to our South African companies, we want to be able to show them how the latest technology will benefit their businesses without having to make an expensive trip to Europe.”

“It is a win-win situation for the South African fabrication industry and it reveals how serious Trumpf regards the South African market.”

With more than 70 operative subsidiaries and 30 sales representatives, the Trumpf Group is represented in all important markets worldwide. Its production facilities are based in China, Germany, France, the UK, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Austria, Poland, Switzerland, the Czech Republic and the US.

For more information contact Retecon Machine Tools on TEL: 011 976 8600 or visit www.retecon.co.za