This summer, by acquiring 90 percent of the Croatian company, the CHIRON Group once again made positive headlines in the industry media, following on from the integration of GREIDENWEIS in January. Both cases were of course about growth. But also about the questions: How do we want to grow? How can we offer our customers even more expertise and thus become even more attractive as a partner for our customers, tapping new business fields and markets?

For Dr. Jens König, responsible for the technical integration of the spindle business of HSTEC in his role as Head of Mechatronics, the advantages are obvious: »By insourcing motor spindles, which are a key component, we are strengthening three fields of expertise at once: We are taking on responsibility for the entire process inhouse – development, production and assembly. Using these devices for workpiece clamping, we can design turnkey projects, such as for the Automotive industry, even more in line with customer requirements. And we are expanding our services globally, regardless of manufacturer, to include part repair, refurbishing and optimizing of motor spindles in existing machines of the CHIRON Group.«

For Mladen Šarlija, former CEO and now Managing Director of the new subsidiary CHIRON Croatia, there is also a big plus to the takeover: »We gain a significant degree of engineering skill and global presence. In return, we are only too happy to give up the previous suffix in our name ›High Speed Technique‹ and are delighted to now be called ›HSTEC – Brand of the CHIRON Group‹.«

The teams from Tuttlingen, Germany, and Zadar, Croatia, have been in close communication since August and have combined their respective expertise in the development of motor spindles and in the production of CHIRON Group machines. The first spindles arrived in Tuttlingen at the beginning of 2023 and have since been put their paces in various machining scenarios. For example, in a test machine in R&D, in assembly and, in continuous use, in our own production process. According to Dr. König, the spindles »have been jointly optimized in terms of costs and technology, based on our field experience with customers and decades of expertise in development of HSTEC and are more than capable of holding their own in a comparison with competitor spindles. In particular, their maximum stability during high-performance milling as well as maximum electrical power density are impressive.«

The market launch is planned for June and the first machining centers with the new high-speed motor spindles »designed and made by the CHIRON Group« will be delivered over the course of the year. The OPEN HOUSE event in May will offer the opportunity to see a spindle live in action on a 16 Series machining center.

HSTEC will continue to maintain its representations in Germany and China and will continue is previous activities in the field of industrial automation, for example. The representation of Balluff, Bosch Rexroth, Hofmann, Wittenstein Alphagetriebe and Mitutoyo will also be retained for the Croatian market.

You can find more information about HSTEC as a »Brand of the CHIRON Group« on the new Corporate Website , and more on the new subsidiary CHIRON Croatia in the Newsticker »News from the CHIRON Group«.