Core competencies
PM is an independent business with over 50 years of highly specialised experience in the design and manufacturing of precision linear bearings, frictionless slides and positioning systems.
Since 1966 when PM opened its doors as a manufacturer of crossed roller linear bearings, they have continually increased their portfolio size where they now manufacture a broad range of linear components, rotation bearings and positioning systems. This extensive product range is used across a large selection of industries including semi-conductor, analytical, optical and metrology.
We are masters in solving complex technical problems. We apply deep mechatronic expertise and the latest manufacturing know-how to our clients’ specific industry challenges.
Serving a global client base on the cutting edge of high-tech industries, our products are an integral part of the market’s constant push to develop the most innovative solutions. We are proud of our continued success in attaining our position as a trusted partner and architect of high-performance linear bearing systems, crossed roller configuration technologies, motion systems and integrated solutions.
Product Lifetime Management
PM has adopted a Product Lifetime Management (PLM) system supported by Siemens NX and Teamcenter, that helps us deliver on our core values of structured development and continuous product support. Our mechanical and mechatronic system engineers use the latest 3D CAD and FEA tools, and design revision management is at the heart of our approach. In close cooperation with the customer, we can therefore quickly and effectively modify existing products or develop entirely new products.
Catalogue-listed and custom made
Over time, PM has developed an impressive range of standard catalogue-listed products which are readily available to order. The product catalogue lists a wide range of crossed roller bearing types as well as circular and recirculating precision bearings. In addition, our standard inventory includes motorised stages driven by a variety of different types of motors. By stacking these modules, cost-effective stages can be configured.
PM offers customisation of standard models or a complete product redesign to meet unique customer specifications.
Motion system development
Custom motion system development is available for PM customers with demanding product specifications or unique application requirements. From the conceptual idea to design and production, it can all be taken care of by our expert in-house team.
To ensure our products perform according to specification, we adopted the well-known V-model in which system concepts are evaluated and customer specifications are translated into engineering specifications through our Multibody Dynamics Model which was developed in-house. Subsequent designs for sub-systems are validated ensuring they all work in synergy when assembled as a whole.
Manufacturing expertise
PM facilities can accommodate production at various levels of magnitude: from prototyping or sampling batches to moderate or high-volume production. With production models like Kanban and J-I-T integrated into our ERP system, we remain resilient in the face of demand fluctuations. Having our own production plant gives us full control of manufacturing processes like high precision grinding, milling and material hardening, which ultimately improves the overall product quality.
Large machining
With our large machining department, we are able to produce complex and large parts for the semiconductor, aerospace and defense industry. The climate-controlled facilities are built to the latest standards (newly built in 2018). Our largest CNC milling machine, the Matec-40P, has a working area of 10.500 x 3.400 x 1.350 mm.
We are able to produce parts in several types of materials, e.g. titanium, ceramics, stainless steel, composites, aluminium and more.
Vacuum technology
PM has extensive experience in the design and manufacture of HV and UHV chambers and components. Working with specific design tools for vacuum applications and applying our know-how of materials optimised for vacuum applications, we can offer a complete, cost-effective solution, perfectly suited to the customer’s specific needs.
Cleanroom facilities
With our ISO 6 certified cleanroom facilities, PM is well equipped to meet industry’s requirements of today and tomorrow. In our 1500m2 (15,000 sq. ft.) cleanroom we can assemble, test and package components and systems, making them ready for cleanroom application at the customer.
Development of computational tools
As an integral part of our R&D activities, PM continuously develops new computational tools as they are needed in current or future design and qualification efforts. Among the major benefits of developing these tools in-house are being in full control over the process and outcomes, a naturally obtained thorough understanding of various model outputs and the assurance of suitability to PM’s specific needs. Many of these models are MATLAB-based. A few examples of tools we developed are:
Nonlinear bearing stiffness calculator
Topology optimisation routine
Constrained multibody dynamics simulation programme
Qualification and testing
We possess a variety of equipment for qualification and testing of our wide product range. On a component level our profilers, coordinate measurement machines and optical instruments provide valuable insights, while on the system level our dynamic testing equipment allows us to identify machine frequency responses, to identify mode shapes and to specify operational parameters - even at the customer’s location if so desired.
Quality control
High product quality is a key goal for PM, which we achieve and safeguard through the application of risk mitigation and process control methods throughout the entire production chain, from conceptual design to final testing and qualification. Specifically, we make use of statistical process control, FMEA, 8D and constant multi-level internal reviews to maintain our high standard of product quality.
