Im Laufe seiner mehr als 100-jährigen Firmengeschichte hat sich das Unternehmen Krämer+Grebe mehrfach neu erfunden. Gegründet wurde es zu Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts zusammen mit einer Reihe anderer Spezialunternehmen im Umfeld bedeutender Eisenhütten im oberen Lahntal. In den Anfangsjahren stand dabei der klassische Modellbau im Mittelpunkt. Im Laufe der Zeit spielte dann der Maschinenbau eine immer größere Rolle. Das Unternehmen stellte Gießereimaschinen her und war mit der Produktion von Fleischereimaschinen erfolgreich. 

In den 1980er-Jahren verkaufte Krämer+Grebe den Maschinenbau und konzentrierte sich wieder ganz auf seine Kernkompetenz, den Modellbau. Daraus entstand schließlich der heutige Werkzeug- und Formenbau, der ausschließlich für den Automotive-Bereich tätig ist. Kunden sind große Automobilhersteller, Zulieferer und Gießereien. Um auch deren internationale Standorte bedienen zu können, ging Krämer+Grebe den Weg der Globalisierung mit und ist auch im Ausland präsent. 
 

As part of process optimisation, Krämer+Grebe parted company with some of its former tool suppliers – of which there were many. Dominik Gessner, Mechanical Manufacturing Process Optimiser, describes their selection criteria: “Today, the price of the tool is no longer the deciding factor. Instead, it comes down to a sensible collaborative partnership and above all application engineering. This is the alpha and omega for us and the knock-out criterion for a supplier. I don’t just want a tool, I also want added value that I can apply to my processes.” Gessner asserts that close cooperation with a partner is very important for continuous improvement.

After the good experience with the reamers, MAPAL also made his shortlist when it came to improving processes with high-feed milling cutters. Tools were needed with long tool lives that could generate large chip volumes during roughing, thus reducing production times. The milling cutters had to be extremely reliable to allow for multi-machine operation. “Usually one employee is responsible for two machines in our company – at best, they might be in charge of three”, Schneider explains. Through optimisation, staff numbers were reduced from 200 to 130 within five years.
 

The results were pretty clear: the NeoMill milling cutter achieved the highest material removal rate and longest tool life. The mould makers noted uniform wear on the tool cutting edges without macroscopic flaws. “We found out that you can easily operate the machine for an hour and a half unmanned with MAPAL. This offers us the big advantage that staff can be deployed at another machine during this time”, Schneider sums up. And so the mould makers found the high-feed milling cutter they were looking for and picked MAPAL.

Uwe Rein, Business Development Manager Die & Mould at MAPAL, really appreciates the strategy Krämer+Grebe has chosen: “Companies that make dies and moulds don’t have a lot of leeway nowadays to reduce their lead time. However, this is precisely the deciding factor as to whether a company makes money or not. There is only a fine line in between. That’s why every opportunity to increase productivity must be grasped.” “It is also particularly important in individual part manufacturing to use the right strategy with the right parameters and the right tool from the start”, Schneider adds. In his opinion, pertinent experience is key here. “We now focus on partners that also offer good application engineering and CAM support”, Schneider says. “This continues to be our objective and we want to push this forward. We want to work with as few steady partners as possible. MAPAL is one of them.”