July 24th 2024
Our Swiss distributor, Hunkeler Systeme AG, has been successfully selling RUF briquetting presses for many years. With their expertise and excellent customer service, Hunkeler Systeme AG significantly contributes to the dissemination and recognition of our briquetting presses in the region.
Alu Menziken Extrusion AG compacts shavings from aluminium processing on a briquetting press from Hunkeler Systeme AG. An older press, which has been operating perfectly for the past twenty years, was a major contributing factor in the purchase decision. When Alu Menziken Extrusion AG invests, quality is the byword. The company has just installed a new briquetting press and chose a product from Hunkeler Systeme AG. It supplements an older press, which went into operation twenty years ago.
Shavings which occur during aluminium processing are turned into briquettes with a density of 2.3 kilograms per cubic decimetre on this new press. In this very compact form, the aluminium is melted down and returned to the recycling
circuit. For each cycle, up to 99.5 percent of the original material quantity can be re-used. The quantity of reclaimed aluminium is about 170 tons a year.
Valuable cooling lubricant is returned
In the press at Alu Menziken Extrusion AG, both dry and lubricant covered aluminium shavings are compacted. The liquid constituents are removed during the pressing process. Pressure is slowly increased to a maximum of 3,000 kilograms.
This slow compaction allows the lubricant enough time to drain and the briquettes leave the press in a relatively dry condition. Valuable cooling lubricant is once again ready for use in aluminium processing.
Production reliability and low maintenance
The briquetting presses from Hunkeler Systeme AG are solidly built. They function automatically and are characterised by great reliability in 24-hour continuous operation. Marc Tschudin, Commercial Manager at Alu Menziken Extrusion
AG, confirms this. Twenty years ago, the company purchased their first briquetting press from Hunkeler Systeme AG. Today it is still working perfectly. From a technical viewpoint, production reliability and low maintenance service led to the
decision to buy another press from the same manufacturer, says Marc Tschudin.
Many qualities count
But it is not only the good mechanical characteristics of the technology the speak for further collaboration with Hunkeler Systeme AG. “We noticed which qualities were shown by a good partner during the installation and commissioning of
the system as well as the service features,” says Marc Tschudin. He has come to know Hunkeler Systeme AG as a company for which customer requirements and interests take the central position. This argument was just as important for the
purchase decision as the robust technology of the briquetting press itself.
Working with aluminium since 1897
The story began in 1897 in the Jura municipality of Fleurier. Alfred Gautschi, then a 26-year-old businessman, began to experiment with the light metal aluminium. At the turn of the century, this pioneer moved his business first to Gontenschwil
and then to Menziken in the canton of Aargau, the birthplace of today’s Alu Menziken Extrusion AG.
In 1960 the company built a modern factory workshop in the neighbouring municipality of Reinach, with a self-supporting roof spanning an area of 23,000 square meters (photo right). For a long time, this factory hall was the largest of its kind in Europe.
Since 2007, Alu Menziken Extrusion AG has belonged to Montana Tech Components AG. This globally active industrial group was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Reinach. Currently, Alu Menziken Extrusion AG, located in Reinach and Menziken, has 200 employees.
