Pferd in German means ‘horse’ and the namesake German company that started from humble beginnings around 200 years ago by producing files for trimming horse hooves, has over the years grown to become a global brand in industrial abrasives.
Pferd has been present in Australia for over 35 years. Pferd Australia stocks over 3,800 products including files, burrs, fine finishing, tool drives, cutting wheels, grinding wheels and more at its warehouses across all states. Pferd Australia’s products are distributed through their partner, BSC Australia, across over 160 branches Australia-wide.
While Pferd’s manufacturing hubs are located globally – with the company manufacturing majority of its products in-house, the Pferd Australia Coated Production Facility in Victoria specialises in production of belts, discs, sheets and rolls to suit different applications.
Pferd Australia National Accounts Manager, Zane Bendix, says as a family business that has grown over five generations, Pferd has introduced a range of innovative and advanced grinding and metal fabrication solutions to the market.
The latest addition to the company’s abrasive discs is the Actirox ceramic grain resin fibre disc, which according to Zane, offer superior grinding performance compared to aluminium oxide, Zirconia alumina and other ceramic grinding discs.
The reason for the higher grinding power, Zane says, can be explained by the shape of the abrasive grains on the disc.
“The grains of the Actirox discs are positioned at an upright angle for aggressive cutting. The grains are designed to break down in such fashion that their edges remain sharp even after their tips break during work. Our tests have shown that the discs increase productivity in stock removal by as much as twice compared to conventional ceramic grain abrasives,” he says.
“At any grinding application, be it for cleaning up welds or grinding imperfections from a steel structure or removing rust and scale from the metal surface, the aim is always to increase efficiency. Actirox discs are designed for maximum stock removal to increase efficiency and they work particularly well with alloyed steel, stainless steel and carbon steel,” he adds.
Safety is another aspect that Zane touches upon.
“In Europe and globally, there’s a big push to introduce more safety in the workplace while maintaining high productivity. The new Actirox discs tick those boxes as they are designed to create less dust, less noise and less vibration and overall more comfort for the operator,” he says.
When it comes to grinding discs, Zane says it’s important that the customers test the discs in their particular application to fully grasp the added comfort and efficiency.
“We always put our products through rigorous testing to compare their performance against the competitor products. We also always encourage our customers to test-run the discs in their own specific applications before making a purchase to see the difference for themselves,” he adds.
Michael Rowe, BSC’s product manager for abrasives, says the Pferd and BSC sales teams often go on joint calls to the customers’ plants and organise demonstration sessions.
“Our partnership with Pferd goes back to nearly 18 years and over this time, we have developed a fair bit of understanding of our customers’ needs. With Pferd offering such an extensive range of metal fabrication products and abrasive discs, including aluminium oxide, Zirconia alumina, ceramic and resin fibre discs, it’s important that we understand what our customer needs and suggest the best product for their use,” says Michael.
“As with every other product segment in BSC, our sales team does not just sell products. They are all trained by Pferd on the technical aspects of the products. So, when we go on joint calls with the Pferd team, we can also carry out an abrasive audit on the site and propose cost-effective ways to improve the overall efficiency for the business,” he adds.
In fact, Zane says the Actirox discs were initially developed off the back of this close interaction with the end users.
“With the need for a more effective grinding disc in the market, Actirox was developed by our sister company, VSM – which specialises in coated products. The product has already proven to be a success with the customers who have used it and we are happy to work with BSC to bring the solution to others who need it,” he concludes.
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