The first company to develop CBN-plated grinding wheels for gear and form grinding, KAPP Technologies is now offering CBN-plated wheels to be used with or without a KAPP form-grinding machine.

"We are excited to be able to supply CBN-plated grinding wheels to the entire gear and form grinding industry," says Tom Lang, vice president and general manager of KAPP Technologies. "This opens up new markets to us and gives us the opportunity to work with customers who before now couldn't use our wheels because they didn't use KAPP machines."

KAPP is considered one of the world's largest manufacturers of high-precision galvanically plated CBN and diamond tools. In the past, KAPP sold its tools together with its machines to provide a complete customer-focused turnkey machining process. KAPP's products include CBN-plated form grinding wheels for discontinuous profile grinding of involute gears, rotors, and other special profiles. KAPP form-grinding wheels can produce both internal and external profiles.

KAPP also manufactures CBN-plated cylindrical worms and diamond-plated CoroningÅ tools. The worms are used for continuous generating grinding of involute gears. The Coroning rings are used for continuous honing of involute gears.

"Now all gear manufacturers, regardless of machine type, can take advantage of our quality and delivery," says Lang. "Others advertise delivery of CBN wheels within weeks, but our standard is 10 days."

KAPP is a family enterprise with multilingual offspring. Its machines are developed and produced exclusively in Coburg and Berlin, Germany; and more than half are shipped abroad. In addition to the European continent, its major markets are North America, South America, Japan, and China.

KAPP's strategically placed branches are a physical demonstration of its personalized customer service. In Boulder, Colorado, KAPP tools are manufactured, re-engineered, and re-plated. In Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Nagoya, Japan, grinding wheels are re-plated. This global presence enables the company to supply its customers rapidly and provide superior on-site support. Above all, its goal is to guarantee the same consistent standard of excellence worldwide.

The KAPP Group consists of; KAPP GmbH in Coburg, NILES GmbH in Berlin, and three KAPP plants in Brazil, Japan, and the United States. Group headquarters are in Coburg. Worldwide, the company has nearly 800 employees, with more than 600 in Germany. These numbers have grown markedly in recent years, and the company consistently finds itself needing more skilled specialists than are available.