Masters of the Micron: Gloor and NUMROTO Setting the Pace for High Precision

Founded in 1959 by Friedrich Gloor, Gloor Präzisionswerkzeuge AG has been a leading manufacturer of solid carbide special tools for more than six decades. Based in Grenchen, Switzerland, the company stands for maximum precision, innovative strength, and consistent specialization. Certified management systems for quality, environmental management, and occupational health and safety underscore its high standards for quality and sustainability and provide a reliable foundation for long-term customer relationships.

With an export share of 58 %, Gloor supplies customers in Switzerland, Germany, and the United States. The company develops and manufactures exclusively customer-specific tools — from form cutters and threading tools to complex gear-cutting tools.

Martin Pfeuti, Head of Sales/Marketing and co-owner, emphasizes that comprehensive consulting and close customer support have always been among the company’s key strengths. Products are sold directly to customers without intermediaries.

The combination of deep expertise and many years of experience enables Gloor to develop solutions precisely tailored to each application.

With a team of around 50 employees and an international customer base, Gloor serves demanding industries such as gear manufacturing and medical technology, as well as the key and watch industries, turning technology, and mechanical and equipment engineering. The tools are often manufactured with micron-level precision, ensuring fundamental process reliability and repeatability. “Our goal is to develop tools that are better than their predecessors with every generation. This allows us to significantly reduce our customers’ process and unit costs,” explains Managing Director Daniel Flury.

At the end of 2024, Gloor moved into a modern new facility in Grenchen, which became fully operational at the beginning of 2025. The new production environment offers optimal conditions for manufacturing highly complex tools with shaped and profiled grinding wheels. Gloor uses patented processes for this work, including methods for producing finely toothed profiles with up to 200 teeth.

Software Expertise Meets Grinding Expertise
Close collaboration with NUMROTO forms the digital backbone of production. Since the first machine equipped with NUMROTO was installed in 2018, the machine fleet has been continuously expanded. Today, Gloor relies on state-of-the-art CNC grinding machines from Strausak, TTB, and Vollmer — all programmed uniformly with NUMROTO.

For Gloor, NUMROTO has a decisive impact on productivity and precision. Collision control, process-integrated measurement, and 2D and 3D simulation are indispensable, ensuring maximum process reliability — especially for complex profiles and tight tolerances in the micron range.

“For us, NUMROTO is the most precise and user-friendly software on the market. New employees require surprisingly little training before they can work productively,” emphasizes Martin Pfeuti.

Complex tools that once required significantly more manual programming can now be prepared, simulated, and manufactured more efficiently — and with the highest precision — thanks to NUMROTO, even when working with demanding materials such as titanium or stainless steel. Patrick Erb, Deputy Head of the CNC Manufacturing Department, describes the difference clearly: “Today, thanks to NUMROTO, we can simulate every tiny detail in the micron range.”

The high-resolution simulation method, a feature of the 3D special functions, makes it possible to detect and correct even the smallest program inaccuracies in advance, ensuring that even the first tool falls within the specified tolerance. Given the long service life of the tools, this capability is particularly valuable.

This digital transparency greatly increases process reliability and enables demanding geometries to be implemented more quickly and consistently.

Some of Gloor’s tools are ground using specially profiled grinding wheels — a technology that requires the highest precision. Profile tolerances in the range of ±1 micron are standard. 2D simulation based on precisely defined grinding wheels, exact profile definition, and automatic collision avoidance are indispensable for Gloor. “The software’s performance is particularly evident in gear-cutting and threading tools with a large number of cutting edges,” Erb adds.

Automation of the machine fleet also enables unattended production overnight and on weekends while maintaining consistent accuracy — another advantage of the clearly structured NUMROTO operating concept. “The fact that a large proportion of our machines run on NUMROTO and are programmed according to the same operating principle creates enormous efficiency. This reduces complexity and increases our team’s flexibility,” adds Flury.

Focus on Tomorrow’s Innovations
Gloor has a clear goal of further digitizing precision manufacturing and providing customers worldwide with even more efficient, durable, and dimensionally stable tools. The close partnership with NUMROTO remains a central building block for future innovations.

Pfeuti summarizes the company’s outlook: “We want to continue offering our customers the best solution — technically, economically, and in terms of quality.” Flury adds, “We are growing, but we remain true to our values: precision, reliability, and collaborative partnership.”

Close collaboration with NUMROTO will continue to play a key role in the future — as the foundation for innovation, precision, and sustainable success.