PRINZ continues to be a leading automotive specialist in the fastener industry as a visit from Torque magazine sheds light on the manufacturer’s success since it was established nearly 150 years ago...
Founded in 1875, PRINZ is one of the leading manufacturers of fasteners for the automotive industry, the household appliance industry, window construction and the tool industry. With a production area of 16,000 m2, the company use the cold forming methods to process more than 8,000 t of steel per year directly from the coil into high‐quality connecting elements.
PRINZ manufactures fasteners almost exclusively to customers drawings and works with companies such as BMW, Mercedes Benz, Bosch and more and as its mission statement contests, products that leave PRINZ are of the highest quality and meet all customer requirements 100%.
PRINZ has more than 180 employees and more than 10 apprentices who work to continuously develop optimisation processes to ensure the best quality of fasteners leave the warehouse. Additionally, all products are carefully checked for their internal, metallurgical quality. To do this, PRINZ uses the latest digital image processing as well as microscopic and macroscopic examinations of the finished parts.
Last year saw the fastener manufacturer sell approximately 137 million parts with an annual turnover of €32.5 million and its exports at 50% worldwide. It is therefore no surprise that PRINZ remains one of the leading fastener suppliers for the automotive industry.
Now in its fifth generation, PRINZ continues to work under the motto: “Preserve tradition and shape the future”. This is done through continuous renewal and expansion of the machine park. Its preliminary rounding is done by the commissioning of two six‐stage presses for the production of products with a diameter of up to 20mm and the construction of a 100% test using automated testing technology. The addition of a new production hall of more than 1,500m2 serves to optimise processes and increase efficiency.
2012 saw the company expand as it added approximately 1,000m2 of production to its portfolio to improve the area process flows in shipping and to expand automated testing and analysis. Additionally, the company also expanded its production capacities in 2014 through a major investment of almost five million euros for a machine package with two multi‐stage presses, two thread rolling machines and one testing machine. Technology used at the company includes upsetting (forming), rollers, straightening and cutting, flattening and punching, toolmaking.
Cold forming technologies carried out at PRINZ include:
- Upsetting
- Bending
- Flat die thread rolling
- Round die thread rolling
- Stamping
- Machining welding
- Surfaces/ hardening and tempering
- Assemblies
- Further project specific features
It is difficult to predict what the future holds during such unprecedented times as many industries experience one of the hardest economical challenges in the last decade, however, it seems likely that PRINZ will continue to produce fasteners of the highest quality whilst keeping a solid foothold in the automotive sectors and more.
This article was first published in Torque Magazine. Don’t get the mag? You can apply for a free subscription online today. Or take a look at back issues in the Torque Magazine archive.
