With Wild & Küpfer (Schmerikon, Germany), the Lossburg, Germany-based manufacturer has chosen a processor who operates in the high end of the markets it pursues. Miniature or complex gears, lenses, tribological parts, and other complex applications fill the molds on the company's machines, which include 21 from Arburg, including the manufacturer's first-ever all-electric machine, delivered in 2002. The company also was the first Arburg customer to push multi-component molding on an electric press from the Lossburg-based OEM.
During a presentation on Wednesday evening, March 16, Tobias Wild, one of the processor's founders and managing partners, accepted the award for his firm and made clear that energy efficiency in all matters is part of his company's DNA, and noted that the mantle of sustainability has helped his firm on its accounting ledger as well as with customers, who increasingly ask to see a processor's sustainability claims backed up in more than writing.
Injection molder Wild & Küpfer has appeared in MPW's pages in the past. It is one of the few European processors to own its own LaserCusing unit, used to form contour-following cooling channels in molds, and has had great success with that technology. The company is also a regular at the Medtec show in Stuttgart, Germany, as reported here. The next Medtec event will be held next week; it is organized by MPW parent Canon Communications LLC. —Matt Defosse
