Important changes in the management team have taken place at metal processing machine manufacturer Lissmac Maschinenbau GmbH. Its long-standing employee and managing director Daniel Keller has left the company, replaced by Thomas Hoffmeister. Hoffmeister has already been in office since earlier this year and is now managing the company together with Dr Hinrich Dohrmann.
 
“In 2024, after careful consideration, I made the decision to reorient myself professionally after more than 25 years at Lissmac and take up a position outside the company,” said Keller. “The decision was not easy for me, as Lissmac has always been a matter close to my heart. We achieved a lot together. Our successes are the result of joint efforts and the tireless commitment of all employees.”

Added Hoffmeister: “At 53 years old, I bring not only experience but, above all, passion and an entrepreneurial spirit. Coming from a family of entrepreneurs, I was taught from a young age the importance of entrepreneurial thinking, responsibility and sustainable action. After studying Manufacturing Engineering at Boston University and earning an MBA from the London Business School, my career took me around the globe – from Thailand to Egypt to China. Positions at ABB and Dresdner Bank provided me with valuable insights before I founded my own company in 2016, which I have since sold.

“Now, I’m excited to drive Lissmac forward with full energy together with an outstanding team. Our company is excellently positioned to not only meet the challenges of the future but to set new standards. With strong employees, a solid market position and strategic investments in our site in Bad Wurzach, we have everything needed for enduring success.”

More information www.lismac.com

The expansion of the product range with knee implants made from titanium at a leading implant manufacturer required the purchase of new surface finishing equipment. With the RMSF 4/800 multi-surf finisher, Rösler developed a solution which, compared to typically utilised drag finishing machines, produces the required results in two separate process stages about four times faster.

Depending on the initial surface roughness readings of the raw components, the grinding operation with plastic processing media – specially developed for medical engineering applications – produces surface roughness readings of less than Ra 0.1 µm in cycle times of about 20 minutes. Moreover,  the critical ‘box’ surface area, frequently requiring a manual  grinding operation, can be fully automatically ground and polished.

This was made possible with the novel surf-finishing system, an intensive mass finishing technology. Surf finishing was developed for treating high-value workpieces with complex shapes requiring the targeted finishing of precisely defined surface areas. Similar to drag finishing, the knee femurs are mounted to a rotary spindle equipped with a servomotor. The actual treatment of the work pieces takes place in a rotating processing bowl filled with grinding, respectively, polishing media.

Individually adjustable tilting and rotary motions guarantee the highly precise and absolutely repeatable surface treatment of the various implant components on precisely defined surface areas. Process parameters, such as cycle time, rotary speed and direction, are stored in the equipment PLC as part of workpiece-specific processing programs. Pneumatic clamping of the work piece fixtures and a loading window, as part of the standard machine version, allow easy automation of the loading operation with an industrial robot.

More information www.rosler.com