Even more than “Made in Germany”

At Printec-DS, we rely on different manufacturing methods depending on the product and project size in order to always ensure the most efficient production possible for our customers. With the variety of our offer, not all products can be treated equally. That is why we decided to manufacture our industrial keyboards at our headquarters in Steißlingen and to integrate the assembly and testing of our customer-specific solutions, but to rely on reliable partners in Europe and Asia in other areas such as touches or membrane keyboards.

Systematic production organization

Our entire production follows systematic organizational processes, which enable us to remain efficient in any order situation and for different quantities. To achieve this, we implement lean production methods and follow the Kanban principle in our procurement and production organization. We document these processes, continuously review them and further improve them. In production management, we are guided by the following design principles of lean production systems:

• Avoiding waste and resource efficiency
• Continuous improvement process
• Standardization (definition of repetitive processes, workflows and manufacturing steps)
• Zero error principle (passing on errors to subsequent work steps is avoided and thus the process and product quality is improved)
• Flow principle (ensuring a smooth flow of materials and information)
• Pull principle (customer orders are drawn through the production process, production according to Kanban)
• Employee orientation and goal-oriented leadership
• Visual management (transparency about goals, processes and performance)

From one-off production to large series

Thanks to our systematic production, we are able to quickly and efficiently manufacture both large series and small quantities up to order sizes from a single keyboard. This is supported by the systematic warehousing of fewer preliminary products, which we can adjust according to the individual requirements of our customers when we receive orders. Our qualified production personnel play the central role among all the factors involved. We see ourselves as a keyboard manufacturer and only manage our production processes through the broad-based know-how of our employees.

Many steps in the assembly of the keyboards and the customer-specific finishes can only be carried out by hand. Our trained employees are the essential factor for the highest production quality. We carry out further work steps, such as the switch assembly on the circuit board, using semi-automatic machines. The assembly of the individual switches, however, is fully automated. This shows that we carefully thought through each individual work step and adapted it as efficiently as possible based on the required quantity and the amount of work involved.

After assembling the keyboards, one of the last steps is to apply a key layout. This is another important step towards the customization of our industrial keyboards. The button symbols are applied using modern laser machines, which enables us to use different laser methods. The most common method is laser writing under various parameters that are adapted to the later place of use of the keyboard. Furthermore, we can cut in our stainless steel keycaps with our laser, so that the symbols on stainless steel keypads can be backlit.

These diverse process options make us highly flexible in production and guarantee our customers short delivery times and the opportunity to react spontaneously to changes. Our production copes with every demand for industrial keyboards, regardless of whether it is a one-off production or large series.

Switch assembly

In order to meet the demands of our customers, we are constantly developing our technologies and production processes. Thus, the switch assembly has also been developed from the manual single switch assembly, to the semi-automatic single switch system, to fully automated switch press.

Related Links

Job production (Wikipedia explanation)

Lean manufacturing (Wikipedia explanation)

Kanban (Wikipedia explanation)

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