Holding

Holding

For almost a quarter of a century, the Waterjet Group has been a name synonymous with guaranteed macro and micro high-value waterjet cutting technology. It is a leading company in the domains of abrasive waterjet cutting technology application and development; a company known not just for its precision products and services.

With its research and development department as a centre of excellence, it is also pointing the way as far as the development of new technologies and methods in the domain of waterjet cutting technology is concerned. This includes the development of new cutting head systems as well as machines and systems which secure Waterjet a better place in the market in co-operation with competent partners.

History

The Waterjet Group is currently managed by its founder and the first successor generation. The company was founded on 1st September 1989 as a general partnership (among other things) by Walter Maurer, its current Chairman.

Five years later, in 1994, he assumed the overall management of the newly founded Waterjet AG and merged the company as part of the newly founded Waterjet Holding AG. The first subsidiary was founded in 1998.

2009
Start-up of Microwaterjet AG. It emerged from Micromachining AG.
2005
Founding of Infrajet AG for maintenance and buildings upkeep, as well as furnishing management and administration activities.
2003
Founding of Micromachining AG for the development of AWJmm® technology.
1998
Abritec AG founded; responsible for the distribution and sale of abrasive and blasting products.
1994
The general partnership "Maurer and Affentranger, Waterjet" is converted into Waterjet AG.
1994
30th December: founding of Waterjet Holding AG.
1989
1st September: founding of general partnership "Maurer and Affentranger, Waterjet".

Policy

Staff

All staff are expected to approach the cornerstone concept of error prevention with a commitment to self-examination, as per their education, duties and responsibilities. Staff satisfaction is monitored and supported via staff interviews.

Partner

The clients and suppliers are partners of Waterjet. Waterjet ensures a partnership relationship during both the sales and the purchasing process.

Environment + security

Waterjet guarantees all its employees work safety and health care as per the SUVA guidelines. Environmentally friendly disposal of all waste and by-products is ensured.

Quality

Defined quality specifications are maintained at minimal cost through a combination of monitoring, measurements, corrections and logging activities. With the use of a management system which complies with the international norm ISO 9001 and ISO 13485, Waterjet prevents errors at source. During management reviews, appropriate measures are introduced and new goals are set in the pursuit of systematic improvement of the company’s activities.

Strategy

The core competence of the company is water jet cutting. With this, it maintains a centre of excellence in the field of water jet cutting. New technologies and methods in the field of water jet cutting are developed with partners from industry and science.

The company ensures its position in the market through venture investments. Its motivated staff keep it profit-driven and guide it well into the future.

Staff members receive periodic training as those with roles in the company.

The management system of the Waterjet Group provides the basis for achievement of the company’s goals. This includes worldwide partner companies involved with Waterjet.

In Switzerland, none of the company‘s own assets were sold to third parties. Abroad, the systems are sold under licence through suitable partners.

The company observes environmentally friendly use and recycling of resources.­­

Board of Directors

Walter Maurer,
Board Chairman

Walter Maurer is the founder and principle shareholder of Waterjet. This trained electrician has spent three years in South Africa. As the founder of Microwaterjet technology, he can justifiably be regarded as an inventor / innovator. Since 2001 he has been President of the association SWC SwissWaterCUT and since 2010 he has been President of the European association EWJCA. Walter Maurer is married and has three children.

Dr. med. Otto Maurer,
Board of Directors

Dr. med. Otto Maurer, brother of the Board Chairman Walter Maurer, is a practicing physician with more than fifteen years of experience as a board of directors member. Otto Maurer is married with two children.

Matthias C. Straubhaar,
Board of Directors

Matthias Straubhaar has more than 20 years of professional experience, including 10 years in various executive and managerial positions, Matthias Straubhaar has in-depth knowledge in the areas of leadership, change management, product management, sales management, engineering and counselling. This trained mechanic has conducted several international projects and complemented his broad experience gained in different companies (start-ups, SMEs and multinational companies), with a degree in business administration from the Aberdeen Business School. Matthias Straubhaar is married and has one daughter.

Group

The Waterjet Group is a conglomerate which has grown steadily. It quasi-depicts the development of Waterjet.

Today, 6 different companies belong to the Waterjet Group. Waterjet Holding AG is itself a part of the Waterjet Group and it regulates the financing of the various companies in the group, all of which provide services in the domain of water jet cutting.

Waterjet AG

The company „Maurer and Affentranger, Waterjet“, founded in 1989, commissioned its first water jet cutting machine in September of the same year. In 1992 it became Waterjet AG. By focusing on water jet technology, expertise and know-how could be steadily increased. In addition to the improvement of existing machines, cutting systems and concepts, this includes, more than anything else, the development of new ones.

The building of the research and development laboratory for abrasive waterjet micro technology and the development of AWJmm® precision waterjet technology were crucial steps in this continued development. Today the research / development laboratory is an independent company and a member of the Waterjet Group (Micromachining AG).

The company Waterjet AG today employs around 40 staff and possesses 28 machines from leading manufacturers in this field, in a large machine park dedicated to 2D, 2.5D and 3D and all micro-cutting processes. The micro-cutting processes were transferred to a separate company which is a part of the Waterjet Group (Microwaterjet AG).

Today, Waterjet AG is a world-renowned specialist for individual solutions and process and machine developments.

Infrajet AG

Infrajet AG was founded in 2005 by Waterjet Holding AG. To this day, Infrajet AG is responsible for maintenance and upkeep of the buildings, and the furniture and its management.

In addition, it buys, sells and rents infrastructure, systems, vehicles and buildings for various material processing methods. It provides infrastructure for the water jet technologies and maintains it. Furthermore, it provides all kinds of service, maintenance and consultancy services in the domain of waterjet technology.

Micromachining AG / AWJmm®

Micromachining AG was founded in 2003 and can be traced back to Walter Maurer‘s initiative, when a client was looking for a product which could not be produced up until that time: never before had cutting in such small dimensions been accomplished – with this being the case, the fact that there was no machine up to the task, spoke for itself.

After intensive research and development work toward the manufacture of a precision water jet cutting machine, the initial prototype was able to be commissioned. The newly developed procedure, which uses precision water jet technology AWJmm®, uses a high-precision water jet with a cutting accuracy of +/- 0.01mm and a positioning accuracy of ±0.005mm. In oder to ensure precise tolerances and surface finishes, a specially equipped testing laboratory for Microwaterjet was built.

The result of this innovation is a technology which bridges the gap between known technologies such as abrasive water jet cutting (macro range) as well as traditional methods such as EMD and laser fare.

Micromachining AG is a centre of excellence for research and development work in the domain of waterjet cutting. It develops both new cutting methods and new cutting systems for all the companies of the Waterjet Group.

Today, the machines developed for the micro waterjet cutting process are manufactured and sold, under licence, under the name Microwaterjet®. Micromachining AG remains the owner of the patents and the trademarks.

Microwaterjet AG

Microwaterjet AG was founded in 2009 and specialises in the domain of micro waterjet cutting. After Micromachining AG developed the precision waterjet cutting technology AWJmm®, its own company (Microwaterjet AG) came into being; a product of its self-developed technique and the subsequent orders with ever more sophisticed specification features.

The company is a European leader in the application of abrasive waterjet cutting technology and it operates 10 cutting machines. With the consistent application of its proprietary precision waterjet technology AWJmm®, which increases accuracy tenfold and reduces the cutting gap by a factor of 5, Microwaterjet is an essential partner to Micromachining AG as far as research and further development of AWJmm ® are concerned.

Abritec AG

Abritec AG is responsible for the distribution and sales of all types of abrasive and blasting means, as well as that of all waterjet cutting-related wearing parts e.g. tubing.

Abritec AG has many years of experience in the field of surface cleaning and surface treatment. It positions itself as a provider of optimal process results services in the domain of high-pressure water cutting. This service focuses on process optimisations which are tailored to individual customers. In particular, this includes the consideration that optimal abrasive material is used for each application.

Furthermore, Abritec is a specialist in the disposal of cutting means and technical support as well as the recycling of abrasive materials.

WS-Tech

The company WS-Tech in St. Gallen is a partner of Waterjet AG and part of Waterjet Holding AG. It is a specialist in 2D water jet cutting and, by extension, a specialist in foam insertion solutions and similar special products.

Located in St. Gallen, it covers the market for clients in East Switzerland.