Stauff UK Ltd

In close cooperation with one of the market leaders for industrial 3D printing, STAUFF now offers the production of fully functional and durable prototypes and small batches of STAUFF clamps for the secure fastening of pipes, tubes, hoses, cables and other components in hydraulics and other industrial applications.

Additive manufacturing in 3D printing is carried out with the highest degree of precision, very quickly and at extremely economical conditions.

And that's how simple it works: Upload the CAD model, select options such as material and colour, get your individual price per piece immediately, specify the quantity, and place the order online. You will typically receive your components within a few working days and pay conveniently by invoice.

STAUFF product specialists will be happy to advise you free of charge on the design optimisation of components and provide support in transferring prototypes to large-batch production.

Further Information on Additive Manufacturing of STAUFF Clamps

The Slovenian hydraulic service provider Pisnik from Vuzenica near Maribor was one of the first users of both STAUFF Form and STAUFF Form EVO. In this interview with the STAUFF Blog, Jernej Pisnik, the company's future Managing Director, talks about the development of the Slovenian hydraulics industry and his experiences with STAUFF Form.

Mr Pisnik, you used STAUFF Form in a very large project shortly after its introduction in 2015.

At that time, we manufactured the complete piping for a large hydraulic press and assembled it on site in Canada using STAUFF Form. Since then, we have regularly used the forming system when piping high-pressure systems.

Your company has been growing steadily for years – first with hydraulic service, now also with your own products and power units and soon even your own range of machines. In just seven years, the number of your employees has doubled. Is that representative for the hydraulics market in Slovenia?

We are growing faster than the rest of the country. But it is true: Slovenian mechanical engineering, including the supplier industry, has a good reputation and a long tradition. We work with many customers in Germany and especially in Austria – the national border is only twenty kilometres away and Graz about fifty. So the distance is short and there is no language barrier for us either.

Jernej Pisnik

You opted for the STAUFF Form tube forming system at an early stage – why?

We work intensively with manufacturers and users of hydraulic presses. Tube forming systems are a must there. And the automotive industry is also strongly represented in Slovenia. It also prefers formed connections, for reasons of safety and availability. So the decision was obvious.

... and you have not regretted it?

No. We have really completed a change in technology. In 2017, we still supplied many hydraulic systems with welded connections; that's over. Forming with the STAUFF Form system is cleaner and also more cost-effective. We now also use this technology frequently for the piping of smaller units.

Now, as you know, there are also other manufacturers of tube forming systems. What speaks in favour of STAUFF from your point of view?

We have been working in partnership with STAUFF for many years and know: We can rely on the machines and on every single component. The system is easy to assemble and now, with the EVO version, we are also absolutely competitive in terms of price. We also source other components such as clamps, hydraulic filters and testing equipment from STAUFF. Single sourcing from a full-range supplier is simply efficient.

Arnold Menshen’s love and admiration of America

The full story of STAUFF USA begins much earlier than 50 years ago and has plenty to do with Arnold Menshen’s love and admiration of America.

Back in 1944 during World War Two, when Arnold was 16 years old, he was drafted into the German army to fight as a 'Flakhelfer'. Shortly after he joined the troops readying for combat, Arnold and a number of other soldiers were captured by American soldiers somewhere close to Osnabrück; on the way to a prisoner of war camp, when the truck full of soldiers made a stop, Arnold recognized the opportunity to jump off the truck, heading deep into a field of sunflowers to hide from the enemy. According to Arnold, the American soldiers did not shoot, or in any way try to come after him, and he was able to flee from the immediate area till he found a spot to hide. For months to come he stayed in the area working for room and board at a local blacksmith’s shop before beginning to make his way back to his family in Werdohl, after the war had ended, near the end of May 1945.

Arnold was forever thankful to the American soldiers for letting him go. He never tired of recounting that story, underlining how much he admired those soldiers for sparing his skinny hide, and he often went on to add other fond memories of American soldiers’ good behavior among the German folk during and after the war. Through the decades Arnold never wavered in his admiration and love of America and all that it had to offer.

First inquiries for clamps from the United States

Roughly two decades later, near the end of the sixties, Arnold was seeing the fruits of focusing on establishing the STAUFF clamp business in Germany; meanwhile inquiries began coming in from other countries and it became clear that the time had come for selling the clamp internationally. Among those inquiries were some from the United States and Arnold was immediately enthusiastic about pursuing a way forward to sell clamps in America; so for a number of years thereafter he devoted plenty of time and energy to selling clamps in the U.S. 

For one, he remembered, Heinz Reichhart, formerly employed at Brüninghaus in Werdohl; Heinz had moved to the U.S. to work in sales for another German company, Buderus, located in Hackensack, New Jersey. Initially Arnold looked to Reichhardt and Buderus to gain a foothold for STAUFF clamps in the U.S. market, but the firm had nothing to do with hydraulics, which prompted Arnold to travel to America himself to get to know the American market personally. And he did so despite initially not speaking or understanding English at all.

Pivotal decision to open STAUFF USA

After traveling there quite often, in 1972, Arnold made the pivotal decision to open STAUFF Corporation with Heinz Reichhart as CEO. Shortly after Heinz took over it became clear that he wasn’t the right man for the job and Arnold thought of another old aquaintance, Erich Hartmann, again from Werdohl, who had moved to the States. It didn’t take Arnold long to convince Erich he was the right man to take over at the helm of STAUFF.

With Erich as CEO the business started to take off and soon after the advantages of local production became clear; as a result STAUFF USA started to produce clamps on a 40 ton Krauss Maffei injection molding machine and would purchase necessary metal parts from a stamping factory in New Jersey. As the business potential grew, additional key hydraulic products, such as ball valves and test points, were purchased from established manufacturers of hydraulic components in Germany. The earliest U.S. distributors were Paul Monroe in Los Angeles and Carrier Oehler in Chicago.

Relocation to Waldwick, New Jersey

Over the next few years STAUFF USA had taken hold as a strong partner within the hydraulic distribution market in the U.S.

To further solidify and expand the business STAUFF was relocated to Waldwick, New Jersey in 1977, sharing a property with the Menshen Plastic Business that had expanded to the United States two years earlier.

Turbulent times full of challenges

The start of the eighties turned out to be turbulent and a time full of challenges for STAUFF USA. One particularly stressful turn for the business came when the then CEO, Dirk Baukhage, died unexpectedly. At the time Manfred Riegg was at the helm of Menshen USA; fortunately Manfred was willing and able to also become CEO of STAUFF.

With Manfred at the helm, STAUFF continued to grow over those years, so much so that the business was moved and expanded in the current building. Meanwhile Peter Anderton had been hired to comanage STAUFF with Manfred and following the move Peter took over as CEO and Manfred once again was able to give his full attention to the Menshen USA business.

As CEO Peter Anderton had the foresight to recommend opening an office and warehouse in Canada as well as establishing a second U.S. location in Ann Arbor, Michigan. These were right steps for STAUFF in North America and the firm continued to grow.

Arriving in modern times

As of 2022 Jeff Behling has been the CEO at STAUFF for nearly a decade; in that time, Jeff and the STAUFF team have successfully expanded the business to include tube bending activities along with complete tubing systems to supply North American customers in complement to STAUFF tube bending offerings worldwide. This new category for STAUFF USA and the need for more warehouse space in general necessitated yet another relocation, resulting in the newest operation in Canton, Michigan which replaced the Ann Arbor, Michigan operations.

By the spring of 2022 STAUFF USA reached an important milestone with the very successful introduction of SAP in both Canada and the U.S., as well as getting started with an e-commerce state-of-the-art technology platform designed to make doing business with STAUFF even easier for customers and exploiting new markets, like the MRO market, in the future.

Canton, Michigan

Over the past two plus years significant challenges have been accumulating including the corona virus pandemic, mounting geopolitical pressures, and inflationary impacts — all felt around the world.

Throughout its 50-year history STAUFF USA has risen to the occasion again and again with hard work, dedication and cooperation with partners near and far. May the next 50 years be as or even more successful …

Happy Birthday and congratulations to the management and the entire team at STAUFF USA for reaching this fantastic milestone!

Easy identification of hydraulic filter elements to be replaced

Do you know this situation? Your clogging indicator on the filter housing shows that the replacement filter element has reached its limits in terms of dirt-holding capacity and the differential pressure between the contaminated and clean sides of the filter consequently exceeds the defined critical level. 

At this point, the bypass valve integrated in the filter housing often intervenes and simply diverts contaminated hydraulic oil past the saturated filter element.

Filter element contaminated! What now?

In order to avoid comprehensive and thus often cost-intensive machine downtimes and to prevent damage to system components, it is now urgent to change the filter element.

But: You do not currently have an exactly matching filter element in stock and your documentation of the filter type used is incomplete. The nameplate on the filter housing often gives information about the filter series and size, but usually does not provide any detailed information about the filter material used or even its micron rating.

So what else can you do but remove the filter element, clean it on the surface in the hope of finding a description or part number attached to the element, and then insert it again temporarily until the reorder arrives. What a mess!

Pilot project at STAUFF solves user problem

In the course of a pilot project, STAUFF is now solving this problem with a sticker that is attached to the filter element already during production, assembly and packaging.

This durable and highly resistant sticker is simply affixed to the filter housing by the user himself or his service company. When the element needs to be changed, it provides all the relevant information for replacement at a glance. This also includes a QR code that can be used to call up further information about the product online. This way, a direct reorder is also possible, if required.

During the first test phase, in which the general acceptance of the users and information on their utilisation behaviour are determined, this measure is initially limited to 10 commonly used standard types of filter elements in the STAUFF SE and RE series.

It has been fifty years since Arnold Menshen established his first overseas company in Hackensack New Jersey USA in 1972. Since then we have moved to larger premises in Waldwick New Jersey and expanded several times , now with facilities also in Michigan and Canada.

To celebrate the anniversary our team members recently enjoyed a BBQ lunch at our two US facilities.

Members of the Menshen family and senior management from Germany joined the celebrations and shared some memories of the past 50 years in addition to keeping employees informed about upcoming expansion and improvements planned for the US facilities.

Racing round the track at Brands Hatch in the National 1000cc Superstock Championship, Team WD40 rider Mason Law’s bike slipped out from underneath him at a corner. “I was suddenly sliding along the tarmac on my bottom and then cartwheeling through the gravel” In this instance I was VERY lucky to say the least.” Miraculously Mason managed to walk away unscathed - and immediately went looking for his STAUFF-Connect Kawasaki Zx10rr

STAUFF has successfully completed the expansion of its own CAD online database with additional industrial fastening components for pipes, tubes, hoses, cables and other flexible and rigid components. In addition to the data already provided for other product groups and types, users now have direct and unlimited access to 3D models and 2D drawings of hundreds of additional products and configurations made from plastic, steel and stainless steel for quick and easy as well as secure installation of components with outside diameters up to 1016 mm and 40.00 inch respectively. Registration is free and provides immediate access without any time delayThe files provided are native CAD formats which are compatible with all common design and engineering software (e.g. SolidWorks, Catia, Pro/E, Inventor, AutoCAD); most neutral data formats (e.g. DWG, DXF, IGES, STEP) are also supported. An animated live preview on the page itself makes it easy to select the correct parts. “Plug and play” in the design and procurement process For designers, this eliminates not only the complicated measuring and drawing of components, but also the import of thirdparty formats that are not fully compatible with the individual requirements

With headquarters in Sheffield and regional branches in Aberdeen, Belfast and Southampton, STAUFF UK is part of a global manufacturing and distributing corporation for hydraulic components, hoses and accessories. STAUFF Scotland joins part of Tungum’s growing global distribution network, contributing to the success and longevity of applications worldwide. Sales and Marketing Director at Tungum, Sean Hammond, said: “We are delighted that STAUFF Scotland has enabled us to expand our distribution network in this area. We have worked with the STAUFF Group for many years and it’s fantastic to have this partnership in place to ensure we can provide local solutions and fulfil demand for North Sea operations with stock readily available.”

Are exhibiting  at Fluid Power & Systems 2016

Visit us at Stand:AF670

Tel: 0114 2518518