Swiss precision worldwide

Influential high precision metal component manufacturer Cendres+Métaux brings traditional Swiss quality products to global customers. Emma-Jane Batey spoke to CEO Freddy Lei about how the company is continually innovating.

Founded over 125 years ago in Biel, the Swiss capital of watchmaking, Cendres+Métaux initially operated as a small precious metal smelter. The company today has been transformed into a dynamic, globally-operating group, yet still retains its dedication to quality and high precision micromechanical components, albeit on a far wider scale.

Active in dental and medical applications as well as in jewellery, watches and refining, Cendres+Métaux is focused on maintaining and enhancing its ability to turn precious metals into high quality products with the greatest precision. Manufacturing dental prosthetics and interdental products under its own brand name, supplying dental implantology components and supplying highly technical metal components to leading watch and jewellery brands are where Cendres+Métaux particularly excels.

CEO Freddy Lei told Industry Europe how the company’s long history continues to play an important part in its current and future activities. He said, “Over the years we have steadily built up our reputation for delivering high quality micromechanical components that are perfectly in tune with each of our active areas. We have over 400 skilled staff that specialise in areas including engineering and product development to ensure that we are always at the very top of our game.”

A true innovation

An important recent development from Cendres+Métaux is its innovative Pekkton material. Billed as ‘the pinnacle of thermoplastic high-performance polymer’, Pekkton is being launched following many years of both technical and customer-focused research and development.

Mr Lei explained the reasoning behind the development of Pekkton, and the benefits he believes it offers Cendres+Métaux’s customers. He said, “The cost of precious metals has increased considerably over the last three years, and shows no sign of slowing down either. This is proving to be a big issue for the dental industry as it makes suitable products much more expensive. As soon as we were aware of this macrotrend we appointed resources to look for complementary products that would still offer the high quality required for such a specific application.”

Mr Lei continued, “Following our careful R&D and communication with customers worldwide, we have created Pekkton. It’s the future of dentistry because the quality is easily comparable to those dental components made with precious metals, yet the material is a man-made high performance polymer. In terms of price, it is cheaper than an equivalent quality base material too, so there really are no downsides. It is now our intention to focus on exclusively presenting Pekkton across Europe in order to share this development with customers and potential customers.”

In order to bring Pekkton to a wider audience, Cendres+Métaux is attending a number of trade exhibitions across Europe, including the ITI World Symposium in Cologne, Biel’s ITI Congress and the Dental Technology Show in Coventry.

Preparing for launch

Another recent product development to come from Cendres+Métaux is its latest medical device, which has been created by working alongside the University Hospital of Bern. Mr Lei explained, “This new product is also good for the future as it’s targeted at

the blood transfusion sector, which is growing rapidly. Our product is a high precision metal medical device that helps to reduce pain when a blood transfusion is required. It is a titanium implant that goes behind the patient’s ear, reducing both pain and resulting in fewer infections than current options.”

This implant has already seen the mechanical and technical phases completed, with field tests and clinical tests currently underway. Mr Lei predicts this will take around 24 months, with the product then able to go to market.

Cendres+Métaux’s core market is Switzerland, with the rest of Europe following closely behind. It also has a large distribution activity in Japan and is developing a similar channel in China. In addition to the state-of-the-art Swiss manufacturing site in Biel, Cendres+Métaux has sales subsidiaries in Italy, France, Spain, the UK, the USA, Hong Kong and Korea, giving it a considerable global presence and its customers the peace of mind that high quality precision parts can be delivered worldwide.

Mr Lei added, “We are committed to bringing the famous Swiss high quality precision components to our customers worldwide, so we only manufacture in Switzerland. Our global network allows us to quickly and effectively deliver wherever our customers require, but our precision manufacturing is proudly Swiss!”

With such a strong focus on the future, it is clear that Cendres+Métaux is well prepared for continued success in the coming years. Having spent considerable time and money in developing its innovative Pekkton and blood transfusion implant technologies, the company is now even better positioned to utilise the opportunities in its active markets.

Mr Lei concluded, “Of course, I would love to be able to accurately predict the future, but in the absence of a crystal ball I can simply say that I know Cendres+Métaux’s product portfolio is perfectly suited to our customers’ requirements now and in the future. We have been able to make a perfect recipe using our research, our skills and our long experience in our active markets to make products and components that are already being very well received. We also expect to grow by our planned investment in our Swiss facilities, which will see a further 25 million Swiss francs invested and, having acquired two companies in the last few years, we expect to continue to gain from their expertise in the luxury watch and dentistry fields.” n