KD Busch/compamedia/Kern Microtechnik GmbH
After 2019 and 2021 Kern Microtechnik GmbH, Eschenlohe, Germany, won another award at the innovation competition TOP 100 in 2024. Both CEOs, Simon Eickholt and Sebastian Guggenmos are particularly pleased about the top innovator award because it clearly demonstrates that Kern does not only continue to invest in innovation management but also achieves success on the market and helps customers gain competitive advantages.
The TOP 100 competition, hosted by Prof. Dr. Nikolaus Franke, investigates on an independent scientific level the power of innovation in different companies. The focus is: Are innovations a coincidence or are they the result of a strategic approach? And how successfully are ideas turned into success on the market?
Speaking about coincident – Simon Eickholt explains that Kern Microtechnik works on innovations with a very strong focus: "On a yearly basis we invest approximately 20 percent of our turnover in development and innovation. In addition, we are in close contact with our customers and work on approximately 60 co-operations with international universities and colleges. This is a very important basis for inspiration going both ways."
According to Sebastian Guggenmos the fact that these investments are worthwhile and that innovative ideas result in market success can be seen in products such as the high precision machining centers in the Kern Micro series, which are well established in many industries and companies "In the last years we succeeded in making these high-tech machines even better. Many single detailed developments contributed to this success." As an example he explains the world’s first implementation of wear-free micro-gap hydrostatics in rotary axes, which represents an enormous improvement in the production of high-precision parts. Furthermore, Guggenmos introduces a newly developed system for the optical measurement of parts in the machining center and for optical zero-point setting. The development of a speed-depending temperature control of the spindle shaft is also unique.
"And there’s also the laser-machining center Kern Femto E3", adds Simon Eickholt, which we introduced 2020. “With the know-how and strong efforts of our engineering team it was possible to improve many parameters in laser processing like pulse energy, pulse duration, scan speed in the past year.” This makes machining very productive, especially when producing carbide press punches. Also the removal rate and surface quality improve significantly."