SKS and Engel celebrate 25 years of partnership

About 25 years ago, Engel delivered an injection molding machine to SKS in Laupen, Switzerland. As a result, a close partnership was developed between the two family-owned businesses that is still strong today. Peter Neumann, CEO of Engel Holding, recently thanked the two entrepreneurs Karl and Michael Steiner for this relationship during their visit to the Engel facilities in Schwertberg. 

"The cooperation with SKS is something special for us," Neumann said. "SKS, just like Engel, is strongly innovative and has the courage to take new paths with its partners again and again. Thus we have already worked together to develop several advancements, and the Steiner family has always been open with their feedback. It is precisely this kind of close and honest cooperation that is an important pillar of success for medium-sized companies in western Europe like us."   

Honoring the partnership between the two companies.

SKS specializes in high-precision small components made of high-performance materials. "Products that require very specific know-how and therefore cannot be produced by just anyone," said company founder and Managing Director Karl Steiner. The gears and other technically demanding precision injection molded parts made in Switzerland are found in use around the world. Their customers include small and medium-sized businesses as well as large international companies. For many of them, SKS puts together comprehensive packages: from product design and development to mold fabrication and series manufacturing, including assembly and logistics. SKS has also been working with many of its customers for several decades. 

The average age of the machines at SKS is relatively low. Three new Engel machines will be taken in operation still within this year. Among them is an Engel e-motion 30 TL. For the company in Laupen, this will already be the second machine from the new all-electric and tie-bar-less small-scale model series from Engel. "This new development is ideal for small but complex precision components," Steiner said. "When the shot weights are small, but the molds are bulky because of the sliders, the tie-bar-less design helps us to keep the hourly rate stable even when costs are increasing." Because the tie-bar-less machines allow for the platen surface to be used up to the edge or even beyond, much larger molds can be mounted than on machines of the same clamping force with tie bars. This saves expenditures for investments and running costs and also reduces floor space requirements.  

Steiner has a great deal of experience with tie-bar-less machines from Engel. SKS was one of the first customers in Switzerland that implemented the new machine design in its operations 25 years ago. Besides the large mold area, Steiner particularly appreciates the high precision of the machines and the flexibility for automation that the tie-bar-less technology offers. 

"Over the many years of our cooperation, we have always been provided with excellent support from Engel," Steiner said. "It is above all the close contact that is important for us when it comes to support. The prompt responses demonstrate again and again that Engel is truly very close to its customers."