Studer Motion Meeting 2026 Emphasizes Strong Foundations

Studer is part of United Machining Solutions, a conglomerate that encompasses 15 brands with over 50 locations globally. The group also includes United Grinding North America, which Jacob Baldwin, director of corporate marketing, says maintains over 40 field service technicians and $5 million of stock common replacement parts to help keep customers’ spindles turning.

Mountains and machine tools marked my visit to Studer’s Steffisburg, Switzerland, headquarters for the company’s 2026 Motion Meeting in early February. Besides a trip up the Schilthorn, Studer executives compared their company’s resilience and strength to the country’s rugged mountains at several points in its “Swiss Made”-themed presentation. But the peaks were not all to grab my attention, as the discussions of the company’s wide market strategy, new machines, automation upgrades and thriving apprenticeship program made it clear Studer has built and refined a stable foundation to service its customers around the world with flexible grinding solutions at a wide range of price points.

State of the Grind

Sandro Bottazzo, CEO of Studer, opened the press segment of the meeting by acknowledging a slow first half of 2025 and lower-than-expected sales in the company’s traditional markets of Germany, Italy and Switzerland. A surge in Q4 led to only a slight drop in sales year over year, however, with strong sales in the U.S., Asia, France, the Czech Republic and Sweden. The company’s machine business ended with order income higher than in 2024, and 44% of machine orders came from first-time customers, a promising percentage for future growth.

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Studer’s customer care business set new sales records in maintenance and service, and in most regions, over 70% of the active install base has a maintenance contract. The company is also starting 2026 with its highest-ever order backlog for machine overhauls. Aerospace accounted for almost a third of orders, closing as the company’s largest single segment for the first time — though precision engineering, machine tools and automotive continue to account for large proportions of Studer’s customer base. The company’s best-selling machine was its S33, followed by the S31 and S41, with the S41 seeing its highest performance in the past decade. Studer continues to refine these platforms, with new capability expansions for each in 2026, alongside the introduction of the S23, which Bottazzo hopes will expand Studer’s market share in the company’s developing markets.

Studer’s Granitan composite machine bases are celebrating their 50th anniversary in 2026. The company says the current generation of these bases show damping behavior about 15 times better than gray cast iron, and transfer heat up to 13 times more slowly. This improves these machines’ precision, even with small ambient temperature fluctuations. Image courtesy of Studer.

Platforms New and Refined

The S23 launched at EMO 2025 as the company’s big debut for the year. Daniel Huber, Studer’s CTO, says this machine bridges the gap between the company’s entry-level favoritCNC and mid-range S33, handling larger, heavier parts than the former and including a handful of features from the latter.

The S23 uses the company’s Granitan machine base, which is now celebrating its 50th anniversary, as well as an automatically swiveling B-axis wheelhead for two external grinding wheels and one internal grinding wheel or production wheelhead. The machine has a center height of 175 mm and has two options for distance between centers: 650 and 1,000 mm. The Z-axis longitudinal slide can come fixed with a T-slot in the table for a movable planer holder or use a swiveling table with up to 8.5 degrees of movement at 650 mm between centers or up to 7.2 degrees at 1,000 mm between centers. Customers can also customize the machine with a C-axis for thread and out-of-round grinding.

The S23 also sports a Studer C.O.R.E. touch panel and StuderWIN software, complete with a QuickSet function that quickly defines B-axis center of rotation to improve setup and changeover times. The machine also uses Studer’s standardized loader interfaces to make it compatible with the company’s EasyLoad and InsertLoad automation systems. Studer recommends the machine for a wide range of customers, saying it is designed for small to medium workpieces, with its wheelhead arrangement improving grinding tool versatility in a single clamping to improve efficiency in geometrically complex workpieces.

The company also updated its entry-level favoritCNC with a new loading interface and a modern FANUC control. Its S31 and S33 now have center heights of 225 mm, enabling them to machinine even larger workpieces, and have an option for a hydraulically operated MT4 tailstock with 60-mm-diameter quills and a 60-mm stroke that can handle workpiece weights up to 200 kg. The S41 sees a similar upgrade with a MT4 tailstock bearing a 60-mm-diameter quill and an 80-mm stroke compatible with workpieces up to 300 kg; the machine is now also compatible with an ISO 50 workhead with a torque of 500 Nm. Studer’s S100 has also been updated with compatibility for MFM1224/42 and MFM1242/60 HF internal grinding spindles.

Baldwin says Studer’s entry-level and mid-range grinders, such as the S23, offer more flexibility than the competition, often handling wider ranges of part sizes and the ability to retool the machine. He expects this will suit U.S. job shops as reshoring revitalizes the domestic manufacturing market.

Where Automation Proves Useful

Studer emphasized automation as being important to efficiency for both itself and its customers. For customers, the company’s standard loader interface facilitates the use of its EasyLoad and InsertLoad systems. The OEM recommends its EasyLoad for compact and inexpensive autonomous loading of shaft parts, with maximum component weights up to 5 kg, lengths from 25-400 mm and diameters between 4-75 mm. Its InsertLoad is a flexible, OPC UA-compatible system the company recommends for both chuck and shaft parts with lengths between 30-100 mm. For shaft parts, it can handle diameters between 6-100 mm, with diameters between 6-260 mm for chuck parts. In both cases, it handles components up to 5 kg. Jacob Baldwin, director of corporate marketing at United Grinding North America, also says the subsidiary can also pair even the entry-level favoritCNC with a VersaLoad system, which utilizes a Fanuc CRX collaborative robot, expanding the range of options shops have to automate their grinding systems.

Internally, Studer updated its logistics warehouse with a multi-story robotic automation system. The system has increased productivity tenfold compared to its previous warehouse workflow, according to Studer COO Stephan Stoll. Its new system features seven picking bays, each of which supports up to four picks per minute using the robotic system. This promises to speed support operations at the facility, ultimately helping get replacement parts into shops faster.

Looking Ahead

Studer also showed off its apprenticeship program, promising both long-term stability at the company and showing one potential way shops can foster a new generation of talent. Roughly 10% of the company’s current workforce are apprentices, a number that rises to 27% when also including former apprentices. The program is part of the Swiss educational system, lasting for three to four years, though roughly 60% of apprentices do “follow-up studies” for at least six months afterward. Their work goes across the company, from different kinds of shopfloor roles to design and marketing. On average, apprentices stay at the company for 15.5 years, forming a solid core of experience for Studer, and one the company can rely on as its most experienced veterans approach retirement age.

Even limiting the view to 2026, Studer’s executives show confidence in the company’s position. Bottazzo says that he believes the low point in European orders has passed. Growth is expected to continue in Asia and North America so long as protectionist trade policies and unrest do not worsen. Studer hopes to keep up the momentum from the surge in orders it experienced in Q4 of 2025, using its S23 to gain a foothold in new markets while its higher-end machines appeal to shops pursuing more complex work.