Balancing technology in the high-tech sector
The PMB Bobertag story of success
The science location Kaiserslautern has influenced numerous companies in recent years. We too laid the foundation for an impressive success story in the Barbarossa city. In research projects of the Chair of Precision Engineering at the Technical University of Kaiserslautern, the required smooth running of high-speed drives and spindles was only achieved after Dr. Manfred Bobertag developed a balancing system for high-precision applications. It quickly became clear that there was a niche for which PMB Bobertag had a superior solution.
When PMB-Präzisionsmaschinenbau Bobertag GmbH was founded in 2008, the goal was clearly formulated: to push the limits of balancing technology in the high-tech sector. The concept worked. Since then, PMB has been growing rapidly and year after year has converted its technological leadership in the field of ultra-precise balancing into growing market shares. In recent years, sales have increased by an average of 40 percent annually and the number of employees is growing steadily. In 2014, we were awarded the Innovation Prize of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate. To mark the company's tenth anniversary, PMB moved into larger premises for contract balancing and plant construction.
The forces caused by unbalance are well known: The steering wheel of a car vibrates due to the unbalance forces on the tyre and the drill in the hand due to the unbalance of the motor. Since these forces increase squarely with the rotational speed, it is necessary to balance four times as well when doubling the rotational speed. Manufacturers of electric motors, spindles, turbochargers or dental turbines need the highest precision. A lower unbalance means greater comfort and a longer service life for the products. If required, our balancing systems balance up to residual unbalance masses in the microgram range and thus halve the sound volume of dental turbines, for example. In other words, that nasty noise caused by the drill at the dentist's becomes much quieter and thus much more pleasant for the patient. When it is balanced on our equipment.
While we initially offered a pure balancing system consisting of balancing measuring technology and software for maximum precision, we implemented the system concept early on. Owner Dr. Manfred Bobertag recognized the development early: "The customers do not only want to instrument development departments, but also complete balancing systems and balancing machines up to full automation for their own production.
PMB is mainly active in the B2B area and supports customers all over the world. The majority of sales are still generated in Europe, but the share in North America and Asia is rising rapidly. Our customers come from almost all industries: Automotive, aerospace, optics, machining and medical technology.
Generally, we support our customers right from the product development stage. We carry out the first prototype balancing manually, and also support the start of series production with semi-automated contract balancing. As the number of units increases, fully automatic PMB systems are used in the customers' production locations worldwide. We see this intensive support as one of the building blocks of our success. No matter whether cars are to run more quietly or dental drills made less frightening.