Commitment to innovation Oerlikon Balzers

COMMITMENT TO INNOVATION

With operations in 36 countries, Oerlikon Balzers is a major supplier of surface technologies and tools for the metal and plastics processing industries. In 2021, the company has introduced a range of new products and further expanded its global presence to better meet its customers’ needs.

For 75 years, Oerlikon Balzers has stood for pioneering developments and global technology leadership in thin-film coatings. Established in 1946 as ‘Gerätebauanstalt Balzers’ by Professor Max Auwärter, the first objective was to make the then largely unknown vacuum thin-film technology usable on an industrial scale. Since no thin-film coating systems or production were available at that time, the company developed and produced them in-house.

A lot has changed since the company’s early days. Today the former “Gerätebauanstalt Balzers” is called Oerlikon Balzers, employs around 4,600 people, and is a part of the Surface Solutions division of the Oerlikon Group. The company’s headquarters are still located in the small town of Balzers in the Principality of Liechtenstein. Pioneering surface improvements

The passion for innovation of the company’s founder is still reflected in the business today: more than 100 employees, most of them in Liechtenstein, are engaged solely in research and development activities, and over the years have helped the company to launch ground-breaking innovations.

These include the BALINIT brand of coatings introduced in 1978, which remains a mainstay of Oerlikon Balzers to this day. Markedly improved tool and component performance is achieved with Balzers’ thin-film coatings. BALINIT coatings are just a few thousandths of a millimetre thick, but harder than steel. The composition and properties of BALINIT coatings can also be tailored specifically to the customer’s needs.

A further technological breakthrough was introduced in 2011 with the patented S3p technology, a high-tech process that revolutionized the coating market under the brand name BALIQ™. Even plastics can be coated using innovations developed by Oerlikon Balzers.

Balzers’ solutions are always about combining reduced wear with increased efficiency – whether for Formula 1 engines, aircraft turbines, piston rings for the automotive industry, precision instruments, or for tools used by the plastics or metalworking industries. The full strength of Oerlikon Balzers’ high-end surface treatments is especially apparent when process acceleration is required, difficult materials must be cut, or when high-grade optics are important.

Revolutionary properties

Product launches continued during pandemic-ridden 2020. Just before the start of the lockdowns, Oerlikon Balzers introduced its new BALORA portfolio of coatings which offer revolutionary properties for applications in high-temperature environments, such as in the aerospace and power generation markets. The first coating from the new portfolio, BALORA PVD MCrAlY, represents the next generation of high-density MCrAlY coatings, which use Oerlikon Balzers’ proven PVD Arc surface and equipment technologies to form an outstanding barrier against oxidation and hot corrosion inside the hot section of turbines.

In May 2021, Oerlikon Balzers introduces its new BALDIA portfolio of diamond coatings. Diamond provides special properties: it is extremely wear-resistant due to its unsurpassed hardness, offers thermal conductivity and is chemically inert, making it the best choice for machining highly abrasive base materials. The diamond coatings from the BALDIA portfolio improve cutting performance and allow parts to be manufactured with tightest tolerances for the best possible finishing accuracy.

Close to customers

The company’s global expansion has not been substantially affected by the difficulties of the pandemic-ridden year. Quite the contrary - in the first half of 2021 investments have been made to reinforce Oerlikon Balzers’ position in several markets. In March, the company expanded service offerings in the US with its largest customer centre in the western USA.

Steve Crowley, President of Oerlikon Balzers North America, said: “At Oerlikon Balzers, we’re expecting a post-Covid upturn in the US economy. A new era of service and productivity has just begun on the West Coast! The Los Angeles coating centre is another important milestone for Oerlikon Balzers, being the largest in the western USA. Opening this new centre allows us to take our strong relationships to the next level by being as close as we can to our customers and providing the best possible service with top-quality coatings.”

GfE Metalle und Materialien GmbH

GfE is a world leading manufacturer and supplier of high quality PVD coating materials including planar and rotatable arc cathodes, sputtering targets and evaporation materials. With more than 100 years experience in materials science, technology, engineering and manufacturing, our core competencies include melting, powder processing and thermal spraying. These capabilities enable us to supply elemental metals, metal alloys, oxides and cermets for wear resistant, solar/photovoltaics, large area, optic and display application. Beside various products, GfE is a market leader for e.g. vacuum arc melted TiAl arc cathodes for wear resistant coatings. New products are continuously developed according to customer requirements.

On the other side of the globe, Oerlikon Balzers further expanded coating operations with its first customer centre in Vietnam in April. The new coating centre is an important milestone in the company’s expansion strategy in Asia and will create new opportunities for Oerlikon Balzers to offer its high-quality and well-established coating services in Vietnam’s emerging economy.

And, last but not least, in May 2021 the company opened a new regrinding centre in Russia to expand its range of services for cutting tools. With the new regrinding centre in Moscow, Oerlikon Balzers has responded to the demand from global and local customers for reconditioning services for high-end cutting tools, including re-coating and express delivery on demand.

The expansion reinforces Oerlikon Balzer’s long-term objective: to help customers to reach their goals while achieving more with less: using less fuel, facilitating future mobility, extending the lifetime of tools and saving energy in processing polymers and beyond. n