A new test center for wet chemical cleaning processes
A leading manufacturer of cleaning systems has expanded its production and development site by around 1,300 square meters. A building adjacent to the parent company was sustainably renovated and converted into a customer center. The centerpiece of the site expansion is the technical center, which has increased capacity in the areas of service, research and training. The investment volume for the redesign amounted to around 2.5 million euros. The technical center was officially inaugurated in 2021 and has since been actively used by customers to identify specific solutions for specific cleaning tasks.
Mafac, based in Alpirsbach in the Black Forest, is one of the leading international manufacturers in aqueous parts cleaning. The family-owned company was founded in 1968 and today produces a wide range of compact parts cleaning machines with over 100 employees at its Alpirsbach site. The family-owned company focuses on innovative processes and versatile products. Among other things, Mafac is known for its patented cleaning process, which is based on the principle of counter-rotation of the spray and basket pick-up system.
The Mafac portfolio is all about process-safe removal of filmic and particulate contaminants and technical cleanliness of components. The selection of Mafac standard machines for aqueous cleaning ranges from single-bath systems, represented by the Pura and Kea models, to two-bath systems such as Mafac Elba and Java, and the Malta and Palma three-bath systems. The company also offers a transfer system that allows Mafac washers to operate with up to five baskets or workpiece carriers in the loading and unloading area, as well as Vacuum Activated Purification (VAP) technology for effective cleaning of capillary structures. The system works with selectively applied, controlled alternating pressures that intensify the cleaning effect of spray or deluge cleaning.
Learning and model factory for energy-efficient production
Since 2021, customers have had the opportunity to determine the right machine for their component-specific cleaning tasks at the Mafac Customer Center (MCC) on site in Alpirsbach. With the new Mafac Customer Center, the company has been able to expand its capacities for marketing and sales, service, and training. At the same time, the MCC is a future-oriented example ofCO2-reduced operation of building, supply and production technology.
An important component of the new building is the elaborately designed technical center with adjoining training area, where test cleanings, customer consultations and seminars take place. The pilot plant was designed as a learning and model factory for the production of the future. The aim is to demonstrate the machines and technologies in a live process and to enable our employees and customers to experience the energy-saving potential of each individual technology module. For this purpose, the machines were networked hydraulically, electrically and in terms of information technology with each other and with the building. More than 500 measuring points provide the necessary data, which are evaluated centrally and made available to an energy control center in real time. On the basis of these measured variables, it is possible to see immediately on the monitoring monitor what energetic influence the individual modules have on the cleaning process. This in turn is a valuable decision-making aid for customers.
Likewise, the pilot plant serves both customers and employees as a platform for determining and clarifying how industrial component cleaning can be conceived and designed forCO2-reduced production and how strategies can be planned accordingly in production chains.
Holistic energy concept for future climate neutrality
For the basic idea of operating and producing as climate-neutrally as possible, the building and the machines were subjected to planning under the aspects of the greatest possible energy efficiency. The project planners were engineers and technicians from Mafac and ETA-Solutions from Bensheim, a spin-off of the ETA factory in Darmstadt. After two years of planning, a state-of-the-art new building was created in which building services and machinery are networked and communicate with each other in a centrally controlled manner. The central energy management system regulates and controls excess process heat by means of a central process water storage tank and makes it available for building, supply and production technology.
What is new about the concept is the holistic understanding of energy efficiency, in which buildings and machines are viewed as an entire system and energy dependencies are identified. It ensures that residual and waste heat can be fed into the building and production cycle and reused by networking building, supply and production technology. This enables energy savings of up to 70 percent. Mafac intends to continue tightening this screw in order to uncover additional savings potential and implement it effectively. The aim is not to save energy dogmatically, but to break new ground inCO2 savings and discover new potential. With interlocking measures, Mafac wants to increasingly dispense with conventionally generated electricity and cover its future energy requirements self-sufficiently in the medium term.
This climate-friendly course also determines the development of products at Mafac. Processes and technologies are constantly being developed to increase energy efficiency. In addition, the company offers modules and accessories that support resource-saving operation in production.
Because of its holistic energy concept and future-oriented conversion measures, the Mafac Customer Center was classified as a pioneering example of highly efficient industrial energy systems. Against this background, these system approaches were supported by programs of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) and subsidized by the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) with a 40 percent grant as well as innovation loans for the energy-efficient equipment of buildings and machinery. The implementation of the demanding construction project was completed within almost 18 months.
As early as 1963, Mafac founder Ernst Schwarz carried out contract work in his cellar and, from 1965, produced belt grinding wheels in the rented premises of an old carpenter's workshop. These were then manufactured at the Mafac machine factory from 1968 until the beginning of the 1970s. For the K100 model, Mafac was awarded the IF Prize (Design Prize for Good Industrial Form). In the seventies the demand in industrial parts cleaning increased - Ernst Schwarz recognized the potential and built the first cleaning machines.
Today, all Mafac machines are still manufactured at the Alpirsbach site. In addition to standard cleaning machines of various sizes, the portfolio also includes the Mafac Continuo transfer system and a heat exchange module for heating the cleaning media by feeding in externally available heat.
A sense of tradition means a sense of the future
Since April 2022, the mechanical engineering company Mafac has been in the hands of the new shareholders Stefan Schaal and Armand Oostendorp. This generational change was planned long in advance by the former owners, Joachim and Rainer Schwarz, and has now resulted in the management buy-out by the subsequent managing directors.
Already in 2019, Stefan Schaal succeeded Joachim Schwarz as technical managing director and from then on managed the company together with Rainer Schwarz, while Joachim Schwarz withdrew from the operational management as a shareholder in order to devote himself to the strategic development of the company. In 2021, Armand Oostendorp took over the business areas of marketing, sales and customer support. In this position, the native Dutchman acted as Managing Director alongside Rainer Schwarz and Stefan Schaal, thus giving the company a new top three. In the same year, the Mafac Continuo transfer system developed by Mafac was introduced to the market, as was the vacuum technology Vacuum Activated Purification (VAP) for the efficient cleaning of capillary structures.
2022 saw the handover of the business. Stefan Schaal and Armand Oostendorp followed in the footsteps of Joachim and Rainer Schwarz as new owners and managing directors. The latter, however, continue to be available to the company in an advisory capacity. Stefan Schaal is in charge of research and development, production, human resources and finance. Armand Oostendorp is responsible for marketing, sales, customer support and product management.
The new management follows a five-year plan that is intended to position Mafac securely for the future. As everywhere, the topic of cost savings plays a central role in this. Against this background, in addition to energy recovery on the factory premises, the standardization of components is being driven forward in particular. In addition, the company is increasingly manufacturing in-house. For example, a CNC machine was purchased that supplies ready-to-install parts.
Mafac sells 100 to 120 machines a year, depending on the manufacturing effort of each machine. "The trend is for customers to prefer better-equipped machines due to increasing demands," says Stefan Schaal.
The new managing directors and owners are building on the previous business idea and are focusing on organic growth of the company. In doing so, the following priorities will be set: securing the location and jobs, measures to reduce costs, increasing added value, expanding and diversifying employee know-how, investing in the expansion of production capacities and increasing the vertical range of manufacture. In addition, the continuation and expansion of research activities and the topic of sustainable production.
Challenges facing the industry
As before, one of the most significant challenges facing the industry is the ongoing miniaturization of components and their increasing complexity. The functional tasks of the components are also increasing. Manufacturing technologies are also becoming more sensitive, which means that cleaning requirements are continuously increasing. In general, manufacturing companies need cleaning machines that can be used flexibly and widely. In addition, rising material and energy costs require economical, standardized and resource-saving cleaning solutions.
Due to the generally prevailing structural change, Mafac wants to position itself more independently in relation to the automotive industry, or rather to adapt to other cleaning tasks in the automotive sector. To compensate for this, the company has set itself the goal of opening up new markets with higher-quality requirements. Important components of the market strategy are the adaptation of products and technologies to new applications and the opening of related markets in order to generate synergy effects.
Research and development
In order to always secure its leading position in technology, Mafac places great emphasis on research and development. The company aims to continue the distinctive development competence of the last 50 years and to engage itself as a research and development partner of renowned universities and research institutions. Currently, Mafac is involved in projects of ZAE Bayern, Fraunhofer ISE as well as the University of Darmstadt (ETA factory).
MAFAC - E. Schwarz GmbH & Co. KG www.mafac.de