The Tailor-Made Specialists

The global machine tool industry is currently facing major challenges. Not only is its most important customer base – the automotive industry and its suppliers – under considerable pressure, but the international economic and political environment is also creating significant headwinds. From unpredictable U.S. tariff policies to ongoing wars and their far-reaching consequences, the industry is operating under increasingly difficult conditions. Yet despite these circumstances, a handful of companies are achieving record-breaking results.

One of the very few companies currently experiencing exceptional growth is the Austrian manufacturer Weingärtner Maschinenbau GmbH. Managing Director Dominik Weingärtner explains the reasons behind this success: “We are not a machine supplier in the traditional sense. We provide our customers with a complete package consisting of the machine tool, tooling, automation, software, and customer support – all combined with a machining strategy specifically developed by us for their individual application.” A view fully shared by Technical Director Klaus Geissler: “We don’t simply deliver a machine. We provide the complete manufacturing process – from geometry design and process engineering to automatically generated CNC programs, including a full 3D simulation of every machining step and the entire machine kinematics.”

How much this philosophy has become a key success factor, particularly in challenging times, is clearly reflected in the company’s performance. Dominik Weingärtner continues: “Despite the demanding market environment, our company continues to experience healthy growth, and we are confident about maintaining this positive development throughout 2026. At the same time, we are expanding our production facilities with a new 2,000 m² manufacturing hall and approximately 500 m² of additional office space. We look forward to presenting both to our customers during our Autumn Festival in 2027, celebrating the company’s 60th anniversary.”

A perfect example of how this philosophy translates into real-world machine technology is the mpmc 1400S (Multi Product Machining Center), delivered in May 2026. As is typical for Weingärtner, the machine forms part of an integrated production solution together with several other machining systems “Made in Kirchham.” The customer, Zhejiang Huaye Plastics Machinery Co., Ltd., is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of components for the plastics industry, producing high-precision parts for injection molding and extrusion machines. The installation, featuring a bed length of almost 24 meters, has primarily been designed for machining tie bars for aluminum die-casting machines. While this may not sound particularly spectacular at first glance, the workpieces involved weigh up to 60 tons, measure up to 16 meters in length, and reach diameters of up to 800 mm. Moreover – this being one of Weingärtner’s core strengths -the same machine is equally capable of fully machining large extrusion screws whenever required. Klaus Geissler explains: “The mpmc 1400S was designed to provide highly precise machining of large rotational components while simultaneously enabling the complete machining of large extrusion screws.”

The sheer dimensions of these components are impressive enough, but that tells only half the story. The tie bars must meet extremely demanding accuracy requirements, maintaining tolerances of just a few microns over their entire length despite their enormous size. In addition, the project presented manufacturing challenges that may be relatively straightforward in conventional machining applications but required extensive know-how and entirely new developments in this case. Klaus Geissler explains: “It’s not only the demanding cylindricity requirements. Both ends of the workpiece feature large threads, whose machining inevitably produces long, continuous chips that cannot simply be prevented through cutting tool selection. At the same time, the threads require an exceptionally high surface finish, which rules out many conventional chip-breaking techniques. Special machining cycles are therefore necessary to reliably break the chips and ensure fully automated finishing under closed machine doors.”

Dominik Weingärtner adds: “We equipped the machine with a counter spindle, enabling the customer to completely machine the component in a single setup. Considering the workpiece length, weight, and required precision, we believe we are currently the only manufacturer worldwide capable of offering such a solution.” He continues: “Even for machines of this size, we rely on a one-piece machine bed that is finish-machined entirely in-house. Only this approach allows us to guarantee the required quality and long-term accuracy.”

Developing such a machine also required an entirely new drive concept. Klaus Geissler explains: “The exceptional requirements regarding installation space, dynamics, and precision made a completely new solution necessary. The result is a drive system specifically developed for this machine, ensuring maximum accuracy and process reliability even under the extraordinary loads of this application.” Dominik Weingärtner adds: “Projects of this scale clearly demonstrate why machine concepts cannot simply be taken off the shelf. Every machine must be consistently engineered around its specific application.”

This development philosophy also extends to other machine components. The newly developed X-axis features an active tilt compensation system, utilizing an innovative drive concept to actively compensate for the effects of gravity. Dominik Weingärtner explains: “The entire traveling column, including the ram, is a completely new design. Compared to conventional systems available on the market, it delivers significantly improved long-term accuracy while simultaneously reducing wear on critical components. This increases process reliability and lowers maintenance requirements for our customers over the machine’s lifetime. At the same time, this development forms the technological foundation for future generations of our large machine platforms.”

Naturally, the mpmc 1400S also incorporates several proprietary Weingärtner technologies. Klaus Geissler comments: “Applications like this would, in my opinion, simply not be possible without our self-developed, freely programmable three-axis steady rests. For workpiece diameters of this magnitude combined with such demanding accuracy requirements, there are no comparable solutions available on the market.”

Another major competitive advantage is Weingärtner’s proprietary weinCAD® software suite. It covers the complete workflow – from process engineering and geometry design to automatically generated CNC programs and full 3D simulation of every machining operation. Even highly complex workpiece and screw geometries can be designed entirely in the digital environment before being automatically converted into finished machining programs. All of the company’s latest technological developments are integrated directly into this programming platform, making them immediately available to customers. Klaus Geissler explains: “We used the COVID years intensively to refine our machine designs down to the smallest detail while continuously advancing our software. Today, both our customers and we ourselves benefit greatly from these developments.”

Returning to the mpmc 1400S, the machine is capable of machining workpieces weighing up to 60 tons, with diameters of approximately 1,400 mm and lengths exceeding 16 meters, while maintaining an accuracy of around 10 µm. Meeting such demanding requirements calls for far more than exceptional machine design. Above all, it requires the perfect interaction between mechanics, software, machining strategy, and application expertise. Dominik Weingärtner concludes: “Our objective is to provide customers with a complete solution in which every component is perfectly coordinated – from software, workholding, and machining strategy to workpiece logistics. It is precisely this interaction that makes the decisive difference for many of our customers.”

For more information visit: weingartner.com

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