Company / Performances
Specialist for industrial customers
We see ourselves as a system supplier in different areas of the automation industry. Our service includes planning (conception), mechanical and electrical design and the manufacture of complete production or assembly lines, robot cells, measuring, testing and special devices.
- We fully understand the specifications and framework conditions of our customers.
- We attach particular importance to the service for our customers.
- We are certified according to ISO 9001: 2015.
- We can carry out an MTM analysis (time study) as part of the conception or construction of our devices
Concept and design
For our customers, all devices are designed three-dimensionally in the CAD system Inventor. We have knowledge and experience from the design of hundreds of different devices. In-depth knowledge of the legal safety requirements and the principles of ergonomic workplace design are also taken into account accordingly. We know what the EC Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC means for manufacturers of machines. The created 3D-CAD design guarantees our customers the best possible quality and can be verified by FEM simulations if necessary.
Once the design has been approved by our customers, this is the basis for production and procurement. At the same time, they also form the basis of the order documentation. This also includes a powerful revision management. In this way, our customers can be sure that the delivered status of the machine also corresponds to the documented CAD status.
If necessary, we carry out a system-based MTM analysis of the activities in advance - also within the framework of the submission of offers to confirm the customers' specifications. We are certified according to ISO 9001: 2015.
Manufacturing
The geometries generated in CAD are passed on directly to the machine control system via a continuous CAD / CAM chain. In this way, geometries derived from a customer product can also be manufactured with very high accuracy. Our machine park includes Machining centers, CNC lathes and CNC milling machines with up to 5 parallel axes, wire and die-sinking EDM machines and measuring machines.
We offer our customers the machining of individual, prototype or pre-series parts as a service.
Assembly
1500 square meters of assembly area are available for the assembly and setup of devices and systems. All assembly work is carried out by employed skilled workers. We ensure the high quality of our products through close cooperation between assembly and design.
Programming
Based on the mechanical design, we select the electrical components and create the associated circuit diagrams. Based on this electrical design, our specialists program various controls. We are primarily qualified and equipped for Siemens S7 controls. We teach many common robots with our own programmers.
We design the surfaces of the touch panels and panel PCs - as well as the program structure - entirely according to the specifications of our customers. On request, we will be happy to use one of our ergonomic Westphal surfaces.
Setup and acceptance
As part of the acceptance process, we carry out serial tests at the customer's request (machine capabilities with correspondingly stored Cpk and/or Cpm values). In this way, we can already demonstrate the full efficiency of the new systems to our customers in-house. Of course we pay careful attention to the disassembly and transportability of our systems. In this way we guarantee the shortest possible commissioning times for the customer.
Service
Repairs are particularly short-term. Westphal has a corresponding capacity of employees who can be made available to our customers at very short notice in the event of damage.
Modifications are characterized by the shortest possible production downtime. With an appropriate organization, we are also able to carry out the conversions "overnight".
In the area of maintenance, we offer our customers service contracts for our devices that ensure maximum machine availability through regular machine maintenance.
Company / today
Who we are
Westphal Präzisionstechnik was founded in 1860. Over the years we have developed from a small mechanical engineering company to a specialist in the automation industry. Today we employ more than a hundred specialists in the areas of design, project management, manufacturing, assembly, programming, setup and administration.
Every year we offer 3-4 young people the opportunity to begin apprenticeship in the areas of mechatronics, electronics, manufacturing or as a technical product designer.
Vertical integration
As a system supplier, we offer our customers everything from a single source: We design the mechanical and electrical solution, manufacture, assemble and program our systems with our own specialists. This high level of vertical integration enables us to carry out the demanding automation tasks within the very tight deadlines of our customers.
Company / history
Westphal Präzisionstechnik/ history
1860 the company Westphal Präzisionstechnik GmbH & Co KG was founded under the name: "Georg Westphal Präzisionstechnik" by the inventor Georg Wilhelm Westphal in Celle.
Westphal mainly made scales, weights and some glasses. With his workshop for precision instruments, he was soon able to make a name for himself beyond the borders of Germany. The constant growth resulted in numerous moves in Celle.
1896 the company experienced its economic climax: 3,000 specific scales left the "Mechanical Workshops and the Georg Westphal Optical Institute". Numerous merit medals, awards and prizes were won at exhibitions in Vienna, Berlin, London, Paris, Celle, Hanover and Bremen.
1902, after the death of Georg Westphal, his then employee Ernst Raute initially became a partner together with Westphal's widow,
1908 Ernst Raute became sole owner of the company "Mechanical and Optical Institute G. Westphal".
Raute could not continue the business in the sense of Georg Westphal. The orders fell and the number of employees shrank to four journeymen and four apprentices by 1943. When Ernst Raute died in 1946 at the age of 89, he took the secret of adjusting specific scales with him to his grave.
1946 His son Fritz became his successor, but died of a brain tumor at the age of 37. His wife Helene Raute took over the business. Her second husband, Max Weller, ran the business with big business ideas until shortly before the bankruptcy in 1950 and disappeared to Canada with an unknown address.
1950 the mechanical engineer Rudolf Strohauer became the owner. With improved scales for pharmacy needs, he succeeded - supported by numerous pharmacy foundations - in expanding the scale production considerably. He built a new building especially for opticians to separate the productions from each other.
1976 With the death of Rudolf Strohauer, his widow and son took over the company, which had meanwhile been converted into a limited partnership. A year later, the commercial law separation into optics and precision mechanics followed. Precision mechanics was now under the direction of Günter Lemke and Hanna Sandau.
Scale production was getting worse and worse due to technical advances in electronics and the resulting weak demand. Günter Lemke took the decisive step in a new direction. He established contact with large companies in Lower Saxony that placed external machining orders with the precision engineering workshops. Lemke also introduced NC production at Westphal-Mechanik in 1981, thereby confirming the company's realignment.
1985 Relocation to Westercelle (today's headquarters). In the same year, the new building was expanded to include an extension. At the beginning of the 80s, Westphal increasingly produced blood mixing devices for hospitals and blood donation services. Due to supplier problems, this product had to be completely discontinued.
The machining service was expanded to include design, so that complete devices could subsequently be produced.
Initially, only "a handful of customers" from the automotive industry were supplied with devices for automating production processes. Despite this dependency, the company expanded again in 1991.
2000 the company was sold to Dr. Hans Heintzelmann. Dr. Heintzelmann invested in new machines and a CAD system. He gave the company a consistent focus on the design and manufacturing of devices for the automation of many different manufacturing processes. The customer base was expanded considerably and customers were also acquired in new industries.
2007 Dr. Heintzelmann handed the company over to Michael Harstorff, today's managing director. In 2007, a new assembly hall of around 400 square meters was built. New NC machines were purchased and a continuous CAD/CAM chain was implemented.
2009, 2011, 2014 and 2017 expansions of the office and assembly area took place.
2015 Z-TEC Zerspanungs- und Zuführtechnik GmbH was founded.