Zimmermann Designs Custom Milling Machines for Commercial Tool & Die

Zimmermann Milling Solutions (Wixom, Michigan), a global high-tech supplier of portal milling machines, recently designed three custom milling machines for Commercial Tool & Die (CTD, Comstock Park, Michigan).

CTD is a family-owned and operated business with a long-standing reputation of building exceptional and extremely large plastic injection molds. Markets served include automotive, truck cab bodies, construction equipment and others. The company has been successfully using Zimmermann machinery since 2018, so when a need arose for new milling machinery, CTD went directly to Zimmermann. “We reached out to Zimmermann that we needed a world-class milling machine, because that is what they have,” says Darin Hall, plant manager, Commercial Tool & Die.

Machining plastic injection molds has specific requirements and Zimmermann says it worked with CTD for more than three years to design and build machines that met those needs. “We went the extra mile because we knew that this was what Commercial Tool was looking for and we wanted to be the right partner,” says Cornelius Kiesel, president, Zimmermann. The final result was machines that incorporated the Zimmermann head design with multiple cutting axis to enable CTD to complete projects by speeding up production and improving accuracy without an excessive number of setups.

When J.D. Bouwman, president, Commercial Tool Group, was asked about the collaboration between the two companies and his favorite thing about the new machines, he replied, “We’ve challenged Zimmermann and they’ve really done a great job of responding to those challenges. Our Zimmermanns have really helped us bring our machining to the next level. We’re able to achieve unattended numbers that we’ve never had before in the shop and that’s really a testament to our relationship with and the quality of the machines and just the overall build quality of the Zimmermann. It’s just a super, super solid machine.” He added, “I know that if we’re looking for a big machine in the future, we’re definitely going to be turning to Zimmermann.”

The video below captures more on the collaboration between Zimmermann and Commercial Tool & Die.