Kovovýroba Hoffmann, a privately owned Czech supplier of automotive sheet metal prototyping, has expanded capacity with a modern high-pressure fluid cell press from Sweden’s Quintus Technologies. Acquisition of the Flexform press is driven by the company’s aggressive growth strategy, under the leadership of two generations of the Hoffmann family.
“The industry has a never-ending requirement for shorter and shorter lead times in the car model development process,” comments Marek Hoffmann, son of company founder Lubomír Hoffmann, who is still an active owner in the business. “The lead time for formed parts used to be months, but now parts are required in weeks, putting a very different demand on capacity and technologies. The high-pressure Flexform technology is ideal in the prototyping phase, since it allow us to work with low-cost forming dies and minimizes time spent in the milling process.”