CNC machines made in Germany
Development, manufacturing and application expertise based on first-hand experience

For more than ten years, we operated our own EPS foam and foam production business. We carried out nearly every production step ourselves: CNC cutting, milling, coating and painting – from raw material to finished component. Our machines were also used to make large-scale 3D objects, props and advertising displays.

We understand different materials, their processing characteristics and the demands of day-to-day production. We used and tested our machines in our own factory and continuously improved them based on that experience.

Running our own production operation also taught us that a technically sound CNC machine is not enough. What matters is how easy it is to actually manufacture parts with it every day. That includes both operating the machine and preparing cutting programs.

In our view, the CAM solutions then available for CNC wire cutting did not meet the needs of a working EPS production facility. That is why we began developing our own software, styroCAM .

An example from our factory: if we needed to increase the size of a letter from 200 to 234 mm, we did not want to calculate a scaling factor first. We simply wanted to enter the desired size. Likewise, when cutting with a horizontal wire, the software should account for how the cutting direction affects the part's support and dimensional accuracy – without forcing the operator to make unnecessary decisions.

We deliberately left out specialist functions that are rarely needed. This approach continues to shape our machine development and our application engineering and production consulting .

Our beginnings in 2007

It all started with a wish to cut a wing from EPS foam. When we looked at the CNC hot wire cutting machines available at the time, we asked ourselves: Why do these machines have to be so expensive?

So we decided to develop our own compact four-axis machine. That turned out to be much harder than we had initially thought. After many trials and a great deal of development work, the first ST600S was finally ready, with a 600 × 400 mm working area and a 600 mm wire length, designed especially for model-aircraft fuselages and wings.

Once the machine worked and we were happy with it, we thought: Maybe other people will like it too. We offered it as a kit for €999 – exactly the price we had set out to achieve.

The response was positive. More and more customers asked whether we could build larger machines. Those requests led to our first larger CNC hot wire cutting machines.

Our manufacturing in 2019

As we established our own EPS foam and foam production facility, our machines became everyday working tools. We made a wide variety of products: three-dimensional objects, benches, props, advertising displays and countless letters – from small XPS letters to large EPS shapes.

At various times, our production facility operated four CUT1600S machines for XPS cutting, two CUT3200S machines and one CUT4225S for EPS blocks. We did not just cut material: we also milled, coated and painted it. This gave us first-hand knowledge of materials, processing methods and daily production workflows.

Our own production showed us what works in practice – and what does not. Cutting generated large quantities of EPS offcuts. Rather than accept the problem, we developed our own EPS recycler, the predecessor of today's SHD2000S.

We also experimented extensively with coatings. We applied our first polyurethane coatings using a small Graco E10. Sometimes cleaning the equipment afterwards took longer than the actual spraying. We later worked with a Graco XP2 and tested numerous materials and products from different manufacturers. Not every trial succeeded, but we learned a great deal from the experience.

Our manufacturing today

Today, we develop, manufacture, assemble, configure and test CNC machines for a wide range of applications in Ilmenau. Our product range includes CNC hot wire and fastwire cutting machines, CNC milling machines, coating systems and EPS recycling machines.

Over the years, the size of our facility and the diversity of our machines have changed. What has remained is our commitment to developing solutions grounded in practical experience. What we learned in our own factory continues to guide design, assembly, final testing and customer advice.

We combine machine engineering, application engineering and manufacturing expertise and know from experience what matters when it comes to materials, processing methods and day-to-day production workflows.

Custom software and parametric manufacturing

Beyond styroCAM, we develop custom automation software and machine plug-ins for parametric workflowsfor our customers. These make it possible to create or adapt parts based on specified parameters and automate recurring manufacturing tasks.

Our goal is not merely to automate individual machine movements, but to make the entire process – from part creation and program generation through to machining – as simple and efficient as possible.

We combine machine engineering and software development with our knowledge of application engineering and more than ten years of running our own production facility. The result is solutions tailored to real manufacturing workflows, not just technical specifications.