REDEFINING PROCESS RELIABILITY IN MILLING
MAPAL’s third generation of the versatile OptiMill-Uni-HPC for steel, stainless steel and cast-iron machining has been specifically developed for the requirements of modern, automated manufacturing processes. The milling cutters impress with maximum process reliability – a key factor in the era of unmanned shifts, robot-assisted machining and growing complexity in component manufacturing.
The third generation of the solid carbide milling cutter OptiMill-Uni-HPC brings together all requirements asked of a milling tool today: stability, flexibility and resistance to wear. A newly developed cutting material ensures high ductility and significant resistance to impact strain as a result. The risk of tool break is greatly reduced, protecting expensive components from damage. Combined with wear-resistant coating and adapted geometry, this ensures a high degree of reliability – even for very dynamic loads.
A version with an integrated chip breaker is a new addition to the range. This creates short chips that are easy to remove and thus offers clear advantages for air cooling and high chip removal rates and enables high infeed depths. The result: long machine running times and reduced monitoring efforts – ideal for automated processes.
The third-generation OptiMill-Uni-HPC is available in three versions from the start of September 2025: as short design without chip breaker (diameter 3–20 mm), long design without chip breaker (diameter 3–25 mm) and long design with chip breaker (diameter 6–25 mm). In this way, MAPAL is pursuing a clear path: the targeted optimisation of a tried-and-tested tool aimed at further improving process reliability, stability and versatility.
With the third-generation OptiMill-Uni-HPC, MAPAL presents a milling cutter that is not only technically impressive, but also economically viable – a true all-rounder for modern manufacturing.
With the third generation of the OptiMill-Uni-HPC, MAPAL is combining requirements for stability, flexibility and wear resistance with the increased ductility of a newly developed cutting material.
Dear business partners,
dear readers,
2025 is a special year for us at MAPAL. We’re celebrating the 75th anniversary of our company. My grandfather Dr Georg Kress, a former accountant, acquired “OBA Präzisionswerkzeugbau” in 1950 – even though he knew absolutely nothing about technology, threading tools and dies. From very humble beginnings, he thereby laid the foundation for today’s MAPAL Group and its global success.
Above all, acquiring the patent for an innovative single-bladed reamer would prove to be the right decision. Constant developments and further patent applications for reamers made our products attractive high-performance tools. Some of these stories from 75 years of MAPAL are presented in this issue. If you’d like to learn even more about our company’s story, you’ll find plenty to interest you on history.mapal.com
“MAPAL reamers solve your reaming problems.”This advertising slogan from the 1950s is no less relevant to this day. Notwithstanding the fact that our areas of activity have become more extensive over the past few decades, the sentence still highlights that MAPAL products exist for one reason first and foremost: To bring you, our customers, forward. The same applies today as it did back then, as many of the features in this issue demonstrate.
With our innovations and solutions, we’re always focused on one thing: Increasing customer productivity. To give just a few current examples: The further development of our milling ranges for the OptiMill and NeoMill series. Or new products and services from the integration of our Italian company X-Pro to drive aspects such as cycle time and process reliability more efficiently in process design.
Our aim is to remain a reliable partner for the next 75 years, too. To do this, we adapt to the changing conditions. The transformation of our company is not a product of the future – it’s been in progress for a long time. This becomes visible with the renaming from a KG to MAPAL Dr. Kress SE & Co. KG. And hopefully also tangible for you through things like better availability, higher delivery reliability and shorter delivery times.
Let’s get into all these topics. I look forward to discussing with you at EMO 2025 in Hanover. Visit our stand, discover our innovations and solutions, and get talking to us in Hall 4, Stand A20. See you soon in Hanover!
As ever, I hope you enjoy reading our IMPULSE.
Yours,
Dr. Jochen Kress
