Interview with Manfred Geiss, Managing Director of Geiss AG
Plastech publishes an interview with Manfred Geiss, Managing Director of Geiss AG. The Geiss company offers worldwide equipment for thermoforming and processing of plastics from one single source and is one of the leaders in the thermoforming market.
Could you please present your company Geiss AG.
World-wide, we are the only specialist to offer complete solutions for plastics processing. Our line includes design and manufacture of thermoforming machines, CNC trimming centres and tool manufacturing and prototyping for vacuum forming. True to our logo “one step ahead” we solve tomorrow’s tasks today. This claim is substantiated by numerous technological developments and patents. Backed up by highly qualified and committed staff we are consistently making headway. A rate of 75 % of company trained personnel and high proportion of engineers well above average, speaks for itself. Our view is that innovation needs people with outstanding technical know-how – and with vision!
What specifically can you offer user of Geiss equipment?
You can rely on our know-how: We can provide customised solutions via advisory meetings, by specification of the technical requirements as well as an investment analysis. We can submit quotations for machines fast and comprehensively in various sizes and options: the parametric design makes it possible to build virtually any size. Halogen heating elements, stepless window plate and clamp frame systems and CNC machining centres for state-of-the-art mould manufacturing complement our flexibility. Development, high performance CAD systems,the in-house pattern and mould manufacturing for vacuum forming and our CNC trimming machines - backed by Computer Integrated Manufacturing – can meet customers' requirements We use 3- and 5-axes milling machines, laser cutting machines, welding robots and state-of-the-art production equipment, and our level of performance is constantly being further developed and optimised. Geiss quality is the "Benchmark" in this industry and we intend to keep it this way to stay "one step ahead" of the competition.
Maschinenfabrik Georg Geiss was established 61 years ago. What was the beginning and why Mr. Georg Geiss chose this branch?
My father started as pattern maker. After the war many machines and factories were demounted and the need for casting patterns was known by my father. During his business he came in contact to the very first thermoformers who tried to manufacture refrigerator liners in thermoplastics. My father made the moulds for them. After several years – in 1962 – he started to make his own machine
When you look into the past which event in Geiss history was the most important?
Most important was the year 1994 when we invented the motorized clamping frame, the window plate, the S7 control, the halogen heater and we understood that by now we were the global leader.
Geiss company develop consequently technology of thermoforming. What is the biggest success in this field?
The biggest success was – and still is – the development of Parametric. This program designs automatically any of our machines in any variant without any manual influence. The customer does not get a prototype but an automatically designed, faultless variant.
What is Geiss position on German market and how it was changing during the years?
On cut sheet forming and on single station thermoformers we are global leader and also in productivity: last year we delivered 75 thermoforming machines at a volume of 22 million EURO. In the past GEISS was a small, local supplier. But we always were known for innovative, groundbreaking ideas.
Motto of your company is „One step ahead”. What does it mean?
Our history shows that for more than 40 years our developments for thermoforming always were one step ahead of our competitors. Many ideas were copied but never we copied another supplier’s idea!
Geiss deal with building thermoforming machines as well as milling machines CNC. Which one activity is more difficult?
CNC machines require other machine elements and require another know how. We do not see that one is more difficult than other. But our customers seem to need more learning and more skill on the CNCs.
What are the biggest challenges in thermoforming sector now? It means what are the biggest technical requirements and the customers’ expectations?
Biggest challenge for our customers is to introduce themselves in composite forming and in twinsheet forming. Both technologies are new but can be managed by modern equipments.
Thanks to cooperation with KMP Plastics you are present on polish market too. How important is polish market for Geiss company?
Poland is one of our neighbour countries. All neighbour countries are most important. But unfortunately we did not find the cooperation partners before which fulfilled our requirements.
Could you compare Polish and German market? Are there some differences?
Sorry, but we are too young in this market. But we still have two of our biggest customers worldwide in Poland!
Germany has a worse situation than Poland because of crisis. What is your plan for this hard time? Is the crisis a big problem for Geiss company?
It is true that the crisis in Germany is harder to see than in Poland. We are working reduced hours since three months. Our employees have an employment guarantee as these specialists are our most important capital. We must keep them to serve our clients all over the world. We reduced our income but we still do not lose money.
We have K exhibition in Dusseldorf next year, are you going to participate in it? If yes, could you please tell us what is the meaning of fairs for enterprise in days of internet and quick touch with the customer?
The most important exhibition for us is “K”, where we will participate as ever. We know about the importance of Internet and Email. But we have increased our presence on international and national exhibitions. Nothing can replace the direct face- to- face contact between our customers and our specialists.
How many Geiss machines is working in the world now?
Nearly 3000 thermoforming machines and more than 600 CNCs.
What stand out Geiss company from other thermoforming machines producers?
The 6 Geiss highlights are: infinitely adjustable clamping frame, infinitely adjustable window plate, parametric, the halogen heaters, the product range thermoformers and CNCs, the TT-in-on, the online connection of thermoforming and trimming machine.
What are your plans for the future?
After our greatest success, the model “T8” we are now developing the “T9” which will concentrate on high speed, thin wall, twinsheet products. On the CNCs we want to develop a stronger presence on mould making and aircraft applications.
Thank you for the interview
