PRODUCTS & EQUIPMENT


ZUMBACH 60th ANNIVERSARY


Zumbach Electronic AG 1957 – 2017


On-line Measurement, Monitoring and Control Equipment Customised drives –


parameters as diameter, thickness, eccentricity, out-of-round and for physical or electrical parameters like expansion, capacitance, dielectric strength, and more. One or more parameters of a production line can be monitored simultaneously. Zumbach technology is used successfully in these industries by thousands of customers around the world who rely on the quality and reliability of our instruments and systems: In the cable industry – for telecommunication wire, data wire, power cable, electronic and control cable, fiber optic cable – on extrusion lines of singles and jackets, CV-lines, rewinding stations. In the plastic industry – for the extrusion of pipe, tubing, and profiles for plumbing, medical, automotive, and construction products. In the rubber industry – for the manufacture of hose and profiles for the automotive industry, hydraulics and construction industry. In the steel and metal industry – on hot rolling mills as well as in cold processes for steel and other metals.


A How it all began


It was in Biel (the centre of the Swiss and worldwide watch industry), Switzerland, on 1 May 1957. There was Bruno Zumbach, a young electrical engineer, not even thirty. He had come up with the idea of starting his own electronics company because he wanted to build something independently.


Electronics were still in their infancy, relay and vacuum tubes were still the main elements. The transistor was something almost unbelievable; all integrated circuits and microprocessors, the stuff of the future. However, economic development in Switzerland at that time was good and there were many thriving machine factories in Biel.


pioneer of on-line measurement, Zumbach manufactures a comprehensive range of non-contact, on-line measuring and control instruments. Our technology is in use world-wide for such dimensional


the first manufactured products By and by, the first orders, individually or in small quantities, were received


for drive systems in any kind of machine. They concerned machines for watches, optics, sterilisation and instruments of all kinds. Probably the biggest and “most daring” order at the initial stage was automating the butter centre in Gossau near St. Gallen (Switzerland). The whole butter production and distribution system was automated with a completely non-contact drive – at that time still a brand new technology. It was the first such drive in Switzerland.


For cost reasons, all control elements, the so-called logic blocks, were developed and mass-produced at the company’s own factory. Even drives, light barriers and other items were manufactured in-house in Biel.


Automated butter distribution The vision of a new kind of DC motor drive


At the time, there were many manufacturers of cylindrical grinding machines in Biel and Switzerland who required low-vibration and finely adjustable drives. Bruno Zumbach quickly realised that this was a major market. The problem was that a satisfactory solution was not possible with the thyratron technology of the time.


Zumbach’s vision involved developing and building a small and affordable “Ward Leonard” drive with a monoblock inverter and a matching DC motor and controller. This technology was only practicable and affordable for far higher drive outputs at the time. The “Ward Leonard vision” would soon become the basis Zumbach technology for many years.


The first production


The first home of the company was a small, rented studio and office (24 m²) in an old, small factory building in the centre of Biel.


22 IMT June 2017 www.internationalmetaltube.com articles and growing success


The first production orders soon arrived. The new kind of drive proved its worth and became established. Leading grinding machine companies such


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