06/13/2022|GRONINGER USA L.L.C

Local Production For Increased Resilience

Since 1980, groninger has stood for innovation, quality and service in special machine construction for the pharmaceutical, cosmetics and consumer healthcare industries. In 1997, the company opened a subsidiary in the USA, which moved in 2012 to a new location in Charlotte, North Carolina. From there, nearly 70 employees provide customers in the North American region with best-in-class local services: remote service support, field service, in-house made parts and warehousing for spare parts sourced locally and in Germany. With a new DMU 75 monoBLOCK, groninger USA is able to double their in-house production. This latest acquisition is the result of good experiences with DMG MORI, especially at their headquarters in Germany.

Transportation star wheel

groninger has become a technology leader in building customized machines, and decades of experience ensures high quality production processes and excellent results for their customers. “To remain successful, we must not only know our customers and their industries, but we must also understand all plant interfaces of our machines,” says Heiner Dornburg, CEO of groninger USA. “The competence and enthusiasm of our employees is the basis of the extremely successful development of our company.” As the only authorized service provider for groninger machines in North America, groninger USA makes sure that customers are given the functionality, quality, agility and short lead-time that they need to meet and exceed their goals.

"Adding the DMU 75 monoBLOCK is a great opportunity for groninger USA to supply our customers even faster and increase service agility."

Heiner Dornburg, CEO groninger USA

Doubling in-house production with the DMU 75 monoBLOCK

At a time when local production has become critical for resiliency and stability, groninger USA has strengthened local capabilities by expanding their own manufacturing. “As we already knew from our headquarters in Germany, DMG MORI is a strong support in finding an optimal manufacturing solution,” explains Heiner Dornburg. “Adding the DMU 75 monoBLOCK is a great opportunity for groninger USA to supply our customers even faster and increase service agility.” By manufacturing lots of parts in-house on the 5-axis machining center, the company can react quicker to customer needs and achieve shorter lead times compared to overseas and U.S. third party parts vendors. “This ensures a faster spare part and format set availability for our customers.”

The 5-axis capability of the DMU 75 monoBLOCK is an essential factor, as it is used for the production of increasingly complex workpieces that groninger machines require. Manufacturing a part like a transportation star wheel would normally require several steps. The new machine is not only faster, but also decreases the number of operations, thus reducing the risk of errors and resulting part rejection. Most parts are for the pharmaceutical industry and are made of stainless steel, aluminum, or plastic.

The DMU 75 monoBLOCK has the same machine configuration as models at the headquarters in Germany. “In this way, we can adopt the numeric control programs one-to-one,” says Heiner Dornburg about one of the decision drivers. The company benefits tremendously from the experience it has already gained with this machining center in Germany. He is impressed by the high accuracy of the DMU 75 monoBLOCK as well as its repeatable quality. Additionally, the 5-axis capability and automatic tool changer with 60 pockets for standard and specialized tools, reduces set-up times and increases speed of production.

Close cooperation with DMG MORI

“DMG MORI confirmed the impression that our company philosophies, cultures and values – e. g. high quality, excellence in service, responsiveness etc. – align very well,” Heiner Dornburg recalls the close cooperation. “They did a fantastic job in consulting us with the machine.” The installation of the machine went smooth and the machine was up and running within less than 24 hours. “The service technicians are very knowledgeable and helpful by explaining the things that we need to do to keep the machine maintained throughout the year.” If necessary, local service support is nearby.

Looking at the market development, Heiner Dornburg is very optimistic: “Service revenue has seen significant growth in the past year. This trend is going to continue in the future as well.” He is confident that further machine tools will be needed. “As groninger USA continues to grow, our internal manufacturing will grow with us.”

The competence and enthusiasm of groninger’s employees is the basis of the extremely successful development of the company.

The DMU 75 monoBLOCK has the same machine configuration as models at the headquarters, therefore, the numeric control programs can be adopted one-to-one.