MFN had the opportunity to talk to Mr. Koestenbauer, CEO of Nicolis Technology AG.

This is NICOLIS's first appearance in our magazine, can you please tell us more about your company?

The company was established in 1973 by Mr Raffaello NICOLIS. NICOLIS develops, produces and distributes sandblasting equipment worldwide. In the course of decades, NICOLIS has developed more and more into a specialist for application-specific solutions.
Mr Gerald Schwarz purchased the company from the company founder in 2003, and continued the tradition of specialisation in applications engineering.
In mid-2014, international investors were gained so that NICOLIS could further strengthen its research and development activities.

NICOLIS achieves annual sales of CHF 6 million with approximately 25 staff members. During the next two years, growth in turnover to CHF 10 million is planned.

Please give us some examples of your company's products.

NICOLIS develops, produces and distributes blasting systems in the following areas:
tool engineering, medical engineering, surface preparation, gears & engine technology, and turbine blades.

The following applications are carried out with NICOLIS-systems in these areas:
cleaning, removing, deburring, rounding, roughing, honing, and shot-peening.

What are your company's major industry services?

With the diversification of blasting to include other types of processing as well as just surface cleaning in recent years, NICOLIS has specialised in some particular areas. NICOLIS nowadays offers very low maintenance, very high-quality, high-tech equipment for blasting small numbers of pieces or for fully automated processing of large volume production with automatic loading and unloading for round-the-clock operation.

NICOLIS offers equipment that is precisely customised to the individual customer and the customer's applications. Particularly in the areas of reversible cutting inserts, medical applications and vehicles, NICOLIS has new technological developments at its disposal.
When NICOLIS machines are used, for example, for reversible cutting inserts, the cutting edges are rounded, the coating is partially removed, and a surface tension is introduced into the reversible cutting inserts by means of what is called "hot peening"; all of these factors extend the working life of the inserts by up to 100%.
In the field of medical implants such as dental and orthopaedic implants (knee and hip joints as well as screws and plates) NICOLIS offers machines which have been specifically developed for these products.

How is NICOLIS's manufacturing structured?

NICOLIS manufacturing structure:
Designing - Engineering - Procurement - Assembling - Electric installation - Software installation - Testing

NICOLIS has more than 40 years of history, what does your company insist on, in terms of its products or service?

100% percent process monitoring for perfect blasting results:
complete recording of all relevant signals and parameters during the blasting process,
programmable blasting pressure regulation,
precise dosing and flow control by means of special sensors,
automatic settings (barcode) of the blasting parameters and thus 100 percent process reproducibility possibility,
precise blasting of complex parts through targeted controllable nozzle movements.
automatic loading and unloading of work pieces,
several surface treatments can be carried out in one machine through the facility of the simultaneous use of different blasting means and grain sizes, and
small series can also be economically processed through full automation.

In terms of technology, what are your goals for the future?

Shot-peening machines for different applications are a NICOLIS core competence. Through research projects in co-operation with technical universities in Germany and Austria, new applications of shot-peening are to be developed for the tool industry.
In one project, the effects of shot-peening are to be documented better and thus made precisely reproducible.
The further development of existing measuring technologies plays a big part.

How does NICOLIS see its position in three years?

NICOLIS will have significantly strengthened its international distribution network. Through this, NICOLIS's ability for individual, customer-specific solutions for high-quality blasting applications will be made accessible to a big group of customers.
NICOLIS is aiming for technology leadership in its market segments and sees itself as a problem-solver for its customers.

For Information:
Nicolis Technology AG
Bramenstrasse 9
8184 Bachenbülach, Switzerland
Tel. +41.43.411 31 40
Fax +41.43.411 31 49
E-mail: info@nictech.ch
www.nictech.ch