The new 7,000 square metre site was inaugurated in Mainburg, Bavaria, in May.
Since completing an internship during his physics studies, Olaf Rautner has been fascinated by laser technology – its flexibility, precision and versatility. Today, the 55-year-old runs Schnittpunkt GmbH Laserschneidtechnik together with Erwin Stuiber, a former car body builder. Stuiber also recognised early on the potential of laser cutting to revolutionise sheet metal part production.
From their two-man business, founded in 2000, they have created a manufacturing specialist with around 140 employees, which has repeatedly received the ‘Bayerns-Best-50’ award as one of the fastest-growing companies in Bavaria. At Schnittpunkt, fingernail-sized components are manufactured with the laser just as reliably and precisely as large-format parts.
The problem with ‘friction losses’
In keeping with its 25th anniversary, the company took the next step this summer: moving to a new production site, planned on the drawing board and built on a greenfield site.
It is a great opportunity to restructure the business and all processes.
At its old location, Schnittpunkt had to contend with the consequences of growth: over the years, new halls were gradually added, a new cutting system here, a sheet metal rack there, and storage was located wherever there was space available. The result: long forklift journeys, frequent searches, machines waiting for material instead of cutting. ‘Friction losses,’ as Rautner calls them. Schnittpunkt wanted to reduce these.
The new warehouse: flexibility is the top priority
The solution was developed in collaboration with warehouse builder Grundner. An innovative production hall, the concept of which is reminiscent of a historical model: a church.
The centrepiece is the flat storage area in the ‘nave’. Steel, aluminium and stainless steel sheets are stacked directly on the floor. Compared to racking systems, this has the advantage that the floor is not subjected to point loads. This reduced the requirements and costs for hall construction and makes effective use of the available space, as the sheet stacks are placed close together.
The ‘aisles’ of the production hall house five laser cutting machines, which can operate independently of the warehouse. However, they usually obtain their sheets from the flat storage area. This is ensured by two cranes that travel on two bridges within the flat storage area. They use their vacuum suction cups to select the sheets that are to be cut next and transport them to a transfer station.
There, the automated shuttles – one per laser cutting machine – are waiting. ‘We developed the shuttles together with Grundner,’ says the second managing director, Erwin Stuiber. What makes them special is that they pick up the sheets, drive them to the side aisles, gently place them on the laser tables and then return to the transfer station. This keeps the laser tables free so that they can also be loaded and unloaded manually.
This flexibility is important to us as contract cutters because we often have small and medium-sized series that are only suitable for full automation to a limited extent.
Whether keyboards for musical instruments, sheet metal parts for agricultural machinery, components for wind turbines or bulletproof sheet metal for armoured limousines: throughout its history, Schnittpunkt has manufactured parts based on well over a million different data records – from individual parts to series of several hundred thousand pieces. Many customers have placed their trust in this partnership for decades.
At its new location, Schnittpunkt primarily relies on Bystronic laser cutting systems: The fleet consists of two BySprint Fiber 3015 (4 kW) machines, one BySprint Fiber 4020 (6 kW) machine, one BySprint Fiber 3015 (6 kW) machine, and one ByStar Fiber 8025 (8 kW) machine for sheets up to eight metres long and 2.5 metres wide. A ByCut 4020 (15 kW) has also been added at the new location. Almost all systems are connected to the Grundner flat storage system and can be loaded automatically.
Olaf Rautner in particular has had a long-standing connection with Bystronic: even before Schnittpunkt was founded, when he was still employed there, Rautner worked on a very special system:
Over 30 years ago, I set up a ByStar with one of the first Bystronic technicians – with the serial number 2.
Impressed by the cut and the constructive collaboration, Rautner remained loyal to the technology and the manufacturer, and his early experiences developed into a professional partnership lasting more than two decades.
Uwe Münch, who was responsible for Schnittpunkt as sales manager at Bystronic until 2024, emphasises the mutual trust and personal exchange: ‘Schnittpunkt always wanted to learn more and participated in many of our workshops – from AI issues to software training. They always provided active input and requested new formats.’
This dialogue gave rise to joint learning processes and practical solutions that benefited both sides. This is also evident in the new production hall: the familiarity with each other made it much easier to coordinate with Bystronic for the technical integration of the laser cutters into Schnittpunkt's in-house merchandise management system.
The potential savings are huge
For Schnittpunkt, the move to the new location means only a slight increase in space of around 1,000 square metres, but the entire production facility is new and designed with the future in mind: all laser cutting machines are located in one hall, with space still available for expansion, plus an automated warehouse, an innovative transfer system and flexible solutions for cutting small series quickly and efficiently.
Initial experiences since commissioning are promising and show that the new location will bring considerable relief. The two Schnittpunkt managing directors, Erwin Stuiber and Olaf Rautner, agree: ‘We expect to be able to increase the effective laser running time by at least ten per cent very soon and save ourselves a lot of supply trips.’
