From a garage company to a medium-sized systems provider
Anyone who wants to manage something big has to start small: Dipl.-Ing. Thomas Rehfeldttook the adage literally. In 1996 he, together with two employees, started construction on the first lapping machines and testing for the first orders in the proverbial garage.
Within the space of a few years, FLP Microfinishing GmbH has developed rapidly and has risen to become one of the major medium-sized manufacturers of precision grinding, lapping and polishing machines in Europe. Today, Thomas Rehfeldt is the sole proprietor and managing director and employs a staff of more than 60 people. In October 2016, the Saxony-Anhalt-based company with its headquarters in Zörbig near Halle/Saale celebrated its 20th anniversary.
HIGH END machining of flat surfaces
FLP Microfinishing is the only provider in Germany to offer the full range of products for the industrial precision grinding, lapping and polishing of flat surfaces all in one place. In addition to mechanical engineering, the company also specialises in commissioned work on high-precision surfaces and wholesale of consumables in the service sector. Special machines for planar and plan-parallel machining of components in micro and nanomachining are a highlight. “We are particularly proud of our patent-pending twin-disc machines in the FLP HIGH PRECISION series,” explains Thomas Rehfeldt. “In recent years, we have developed into a systems provider for complex precision surface finishing.” In addition to the automotive industry, the broad range of applications also includes aerospace technology and mechanical and medical apparatus engineering. The high-precision finished parts are components in hydraulic and turbo units, for example. They are installed in medical equipment and are used in precision optics or as components in optical assemblies in the semiconductor industry.
FLP Microfinishing GmbH, the name is protected as a trademark by the way, is very active in the field of research and development and works together with various universities. In 2012, a robot-assisted automation for FLP SINGLE PRECISION was presented for the first time. Thomas Rehfeldt and his team won the Bitterfeld-Wolfen region innovation prize in 2004, and in 2012 they won the Saxony Anhalt innovation prize.
Text source: REDaktion, Elvira Döscher
