Manufacturing Showcase
ZOLLER Inc. By Russ Willcutt
Z
OLLER was founded just outside of Stuttgart, Germany in 1945. Alfred Zoller realized that recovering from the devastation of World War II would require a great deal of remanufacturing, repairs, and re-engineering involving everything from household appliances to automotive parts. The company developed and manufactured its first presetter in 1963, which quickly gained market acceptance throughout Europe and soon accompanied the machine tools that were sold into the United States, paving the way for ZOLLER to establish its North American headquarter in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1997, led by Alexander Zoller. It is now a thirdgeneration family-owned global enterprise. Recognizing the need to be near its customers, wherever they are located, ZOLLER has 20 dedicated facilities providing service and stocking parts around the world. Along with a mix of authorized distributors and sales agents, it enjoys a global footprint, always sensitive to the societal expectations that might call for a locally based staff familiar with the surrounding dialect and customs. According to Dietmar Moll, director of business development, automation, and smart factory solutions, the company has four distinct product lines. “Tool Presetting is our number-one category, especially since it was really the basis of our original
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20 IMD SEPTEMBER 2020
