SCHUNK GmbH & Co. KG develops and manufactures gripping systems and clamping technology products. The company’s product offerings include gripping systems, including gripping modules, rotary modules, linear modules, pick and place units, robot accessories, accessories, and modular assembly automation products.
They also offer clamping technology products, such as lathe chucks, chuck jaws, stationary workholding systems, toolholding systems, and special hydraulic expansion technology products.
They operate in a variety of industries including: assembly and handling, automotive, electronics, medication and pharmaceutical, food, packaging, casting, forging, welding, tool and mold making, aeronautics and aerospace, metal production and machining, automatic testing and measuring, power, wood, tool grinding, and watch/jewelry industries. The company also caters to machine and equipment applications worldwide.
According to the mission statement “With a pioneering spirit and perfection, we are setting worldwide standards” Heinz-Dieter Schunk, his son Henrik A. Schunk and his daughter Kristina I. Schunk manage the company.
The company has 2000 employees and a worldwide network of directly owned subsidiaries and distribution partners in more than 50 countries all over the world. The third and youngest business unit is laser technology. Over the past 25 years, they have grown by more than 12% on average.
A double strategy is pursued by the owner family in terms of the product program: on the one hand, they promote the technical development and continuously explore new niches. On the other hand, the company is constantly improving the quality of its existing products.
Thus, the world’s largest product portfolio of standard chuck jaws (1200 standard chuck jaws) was developed, the most extensive range of clamping technology (more than 10000 standard products), as well as the world’s largest product program for standard grippers (more than 10000 components).
With compact and flexibly combinable rotary actuators, lightweight manipulators and servo-electrically actuated grippers, the company offers unique approaches to modular designed special solutions.
SCHUNK produces mobile gripping systems for Service Robotics and is a supporter of modular robotics and heavily invested in the future of the service robotics industry. Most recently, the company has begun investigating bionic structures for its technology.
The company also annually hosts SCHUNK’s Expert Days, an international meeting of key robotics executives and experts in service robotics.
For his life’s work, Heinz-Dieter Schunk was awarded the German Machine Tool Industry Award in 2008. In 2010, he received the Engelberger Robotics Award, the worldwide most prestigious award in the robotics field.
SCHUNK did the unexpected from a mainline manufacturer when it developed and then vaulted into the market with its ingenious breakthrough: the 5-fingered, anthropomorphic hand with its wrist-integrated electronics that duplicate nearly all human hand movements.
Company Leadership
Heinz-Dieter Schunk, Managing Director
Henrik A. Schunk, Managing Director
Kristina I. Schunk, Managing Director