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Freiburg location

A company rich in tradition since 1886

Bending centre

Modern machinery with fastest bending machine ranges on the market

Welding

Precise TIG-welding on combustion chambers

Automatic insertion machine

Fast insertions with automatic feed

Behind the scenes

At ZENTNER, high-quality products are the result of modern » Machinery across a production area of some 4,700 sqm and the creative competence of 62 employees, who find the optimum manufacturing solution for every customer requirement.

With a » Movie clip from our manufacturing operation, we would like to enable you to take a look “behind the scenes” to get a good insight into our manufacturing processes and the machinery we use.

Committed employees, who plan and work at their own initiative, need a good working environment. We are convinced that high-quality manufacturing must go hand in hand with the successful handling of the “working climate” issues. When planning the construction and fitting out of our current premises, we consciously and very successfully aimed for a clear improvement in the working atmosphere in the offices and on the shop floor. Take a look at » How art was incorporated into the factory.

Movie clip from the manufacturing operation

Film logo
From concept via 3D modelling to production-ready design, ZENTNER makes your idea reality.

Watch this movie clip from our manufacturing operation to gain some insights about the process flow in the area of thin sheet technology. Follow the workflow to manufacture part of a computer casing, from the design department via the punching & laser cutting centre to the bending centre.

» Play movie clip

How art was incorporated into the factory

PerformerIn August 1994, we moved to our new site in the "Auf der Haid" industrial park. We set up 7 vertical carousels, whose bulk was reminiscent of outsize cupboards and took a lot of light from the bright working environment because of their shape and dark colours. We were therefore looking for a change that would create a positive impression and was not just limited to a change in colour. What was important to us was finding a solution, which had a consistent look to create a link between the production areas, but which would also allow the people working there some freedom of thought association. In June 1995, we therefore got in touch with the Freiburg office of the art organisation "Staatliche Akademie der bildenden Künste Karlsruhe" and initiated a competition of ideas among the students in collaboration with Prof. Peter Dreher. The evaluation of the conceptual designs was based on both artistic criteria and questions of feasibility. In view of the general high level of the designs, the jury, consisting of Prof. Peter Dreher and the company management, decided to award two first prizes and one third prize:

1st prize: awarded twice, to Manuel Frattini and Wolfgang Prinz
2nd prize: -
3rd prize: joint design by Hsiang Fa Tsao and Arndt Niels

In September 1995, Manuel Frattini then began work on the project in his role of performing artist with the assistance of his fellow student Patrick Westermann. And what does the artist himself say about his work?

» Show Manuel Frattini's report ...
"I found a situation at the Zentner workshop, which was characterised mainly by the incidence of light and the seven cabinets distributed across the space. With their dark colours and their size, the cabinets seemed dominant and oppressive. I wanted to counter the interior design that was determined by functionality with something informal, unobtrusive and organic. Inspired by the large windows, I had the idea of bringing the landscape visible outside into the hall. This idea would fulfil several purposes. The sky rising upwards gives the cabinets brightness and lightness, the horizon links the cabinets to one another, and the eye can track this line through the space, following the changing moods of a day going by from East to West. This makes the individual objects come together as a whole. The landscape images were realised by conventional painting methods, with the application of paint and brush size scaled up to gigantic proportions in keeping with the format. The hills and clouds, which can be recognized clearly when seen from a distance, start to dissolve when getting closer. Observers then see brush strokes and the structure of the paint. It is as if they were looking at an abstract painting. The colours are no longer bound into meaningful landscapes, but stand for themselves. As would happen during a walk in the countryside, the observer’s perspective also changes when walking through the hall.”

Manuel Frattini

Amazing before/after effect

Place the mouse pointer over the photos to experience the “change in mood” achieved in our workshop for yourself: