Since 1938, rfks has grown progressively and established itself as a reliable and innovative manufacturer for standard and special stamping parts on both the local and international washer market. Through combining many years of know-how with constant investment and process innovation, rfks is able to manufacture the best solution for every customer.
At the centre of the company is its 160 skilled employees across all areas of operation, including those operating 45 high-speed stamping machines, from 80 – 200 tonne press force, as well as a 25 strong in-house tool shop team –
making rfks one of the leading European producers of washers according to DIN/ISO standards. At the same time, rfks supplies customised special parts for specific needs – all available in various material grades and surface coatings.
“rfks stands for reliability, efficiency and a comprehensive service underlined by our long-standing partnerships. What sets us apart from direct competitors is our versatility and know-how in both worlds –
being competitive in DIN/ISO standard washers, as well as being technically defined in demanding special parts from customer drawings. Thanks to our own in-house tool design, and tool shop, rfks can provide exclusive solutions for each customer, covering a comprehensive spectrum of thicknesses from 0.05mm to 12mm and diameter from M0.8 to approximately M160,” explains Peter Schlütter, sales manager at rfks.
The combination of stamping and coining production results in multifunctional features in one stamping part. Due to its own tool shop, rfks develops intelligent tool designs for stamping solutions with fast and flexible project processing, distinguishing the rfks team from other market participants. rfks also offers its customers a comprehensive service to manufacture the products according to their needs, creating customised proposal drawings by taking into account the technical functionality and usability of the product.
rfks is also able to process all punchable material grades and offers a wide variety of hardness and surface options for its products. Through long-term relationships with reliable and certified suppliers for heat treatments, rfks can offer various treatments, such as nitrocarburising, austempering, hardening and tempering, as well as surface treatments, including zinc, zinc nickel, mechanical zinc, hot dip zinc, nickel, zinc lamella and phosphate.
To continue to meet customer demands, rfks is continually investing in both product innovations and production machinery. This includes two new 500 tonne press force machines and one 250 tonne press force machine installed in 2022, as well as a highly modern vibratory grinding centre added to its existing manufacturing capabilities, increasing the overall in-house stamping capacity by more than 30%.
As well as these investments, rkfs is also focusing on digitalisation with the consistent monitoring of its production processes, through the latest version of its ERP system, proAlpha 9.1.
Carl Philip Schulte, CEO at rfks, representing the third generation of the family owned business, underlines the importance of these constant investments: “In the age of digitalisation, rfks profits from a sophisticated system with controlled logistics and excellent production planning modules. In addition to that, we are implementing sustainability more and more into our everyday business. We are ambitioned to face environmental, social and governmental challenges in order to fulfil responsibilities towards the environment.”
Becca is the latest member to join our team and is eager to get stuck into the world of fasteners. She brings an enthusiastic and fresh outlook on what we do editorially and will be leading our social media activity – including sourcing material, editing articles and posting online.
