A proud heritage and a bright future
Published: | Fritz Studer AG
At the recent press conference, Fritz Studer AG, CEO Jens Bleher welcomed representatives to the historic site where exactly 111 years ago, Fritz Studer founded his company in Steffisburg. Since then, the pioneer in cylindrical grinding has presented countless technological innovations. “This long tradition is our obligation for the future. We are therefore particularly pleased that STUDER succeeded in continuing its growth course in 2022 and significantly increase sales.
Jens Bleher is also very positive about the outlook for 2023: “After a remarkable final spurt at the end of the year, STUDER started 2023 with full momentum and a large order backlog.”
"Overall, it was the third best year in our company history for order intake," said CSO Sandro Bottazzo. “Êxpectations were exceeded by far in all sales regions. Some countries, such as Turkey, recorded the highest order intake in company history. As a global manufacturer of high-precision grinding machines, STUDER is active worldwide. All in all, in 2022 we once again succeeded in expanding our position in the most important markets in the world and increasing our market share.”
In 2022, almost all markets showed growth in orders, with new customers responsible for 37 percent of the orders. December was also the second-best individual month in the company’s history. The aerospace and energy sectors significantly contributed to this positive development, while the tooling, die & mould and machine manufacturing segments remained stable at a very high level. Meanwhile, precision engineering with the small and medium-sized supplier companies and contract manufacturers remains the largest individual segment. Unfortunately, the automotive sector was in decline, which specifically affected demand for production machines. “However, our good positioning and broad portfolio are helping us greatly,” emphasised Sandro Bottazzo.
Broad portfolio as key to success
In the 2022 business year, universal and internal cylindrical grinding machines showed a positive trend, in both standard and system businesses. The bestseller among the STUDER machines was once again the versatile S33 CNC universal cylindrical grinding machine, which is capable of producing small and large workpieces in both single and series production. Other machines that sold very well were the favorit, the S31, and the S41. In the sales of internal cylindrical grinding machines, STUDER achieved its second-best annual result ever. Another area that reached a record high was the WireDress® technology, which enables the precise dressing of metal-bonded grinding wheels possible and thus boosts productivity to extremely high levels.
Customer Care sees record sales
The 2022 business year also brought numerous new developments and an expanded product range. “With our product offensive, innovative, and application-specific solutions, we can even better address the needs of our customers,” says Daniel Huber, CTO at STUDER. In the Chinese market, the new generation of the well-proved KC33 CNC universal cylindrical grinding machine, was presented, while with the ecoGrinder, Chinese customers now have an economical entry-level solution available and it has already found numerous buyers.
“In 2022, we presented an innovation at almost every large trade show,” says Daniel Huber. This includes the S36 production machine first shown at GrindingHub in Stuttgart. It closes a gap in the portfolio between the S11 and S22 and is particularly well-suited to applications and components in the field of electromobility. Now the S36 is also available with an innovative energy monitoring concept. Meanwhile, the new S100 presented at the BIMU in Milan is a perfect entry-level option in the field of CNC universal internal cylindrical grinding machines.
More machines with C.O.R.E.
The revolutionary and cross-brand hardware and software architecture of the UNITED GRINDING Group can also be found on an ever-increasing number of machines. C.O.R.E. offers smart networking of several machines, freely configurable and user-friendly operation and latest generation contact sensors. C.O.R.E. also features a modern, large-scale multitouch display with intuitive operation and numerous visualisation options for more efficient production. In 2022, STUDER was already able to convert four machine types to C.O.R.E. and will continue the rollout on the internal cylindrical grinding machines in the coming year. “Only manufacturers that offer intelligent machines with intuitive operation, digital assistance, and monitoring systems, automation options, as well as efficient process management will be successful in the future,” adds Daniel Huber.
Investment in the future
Regular and systematic investments in all areas of the company are part of STUDER’s company philosophy. STUDER COO Stephan Stoll says: “We are convinced that this will keep our locations competitive and that STUDER machines ‘Made in Switzerland’ will have a strong foothold on the world market in the long term.” Following the redesign and modernisation of the assembly area, the focus was on manufacturing over the past few years. In 2022, several projects contributed to ensuring that the production resources remain state-of-the-art, with a special focus on automation and digitisation. In the coming year, spindle shaft production will be renewed and expanded, and the warehouse and logistics infrastructure comprehensively modernised by 2025.
Sandro Bottazzo shared more good news from the area of customer care. Here STUDER achieved a new revenue record in 2022. “All business areas did very well, with service, maintenance, and individual business all setting new records. In overhauling, it was the second-best year in our company history,” Due to good business development, STUDER has further expanded its service organisation. Customers thus profit from even better availability and faster problem-solving. Additionally, numerous business processes have been digitised and optimised. “We will continue to grow our Customer Care to provide even better performance and to be closer to our customers,” announced Sandro Bottazzo.
Fritz Studer AG Tel: 0041 33 439 111 Email:
