SIP celebrates 150th anniversary; maintains precision roots and ethos

Now a member of the Swiss Starrag Group, its beginnings were as a manufacturer of scientific instruments, with scientists and professors Auguste de la Rive and Marc Thury founding the 'société pour la construction d'instruments de physique', in Geneva in 1862. In the mid-nineteenth century, Geneva was a centre of science and learning, and scientists there needed a small manufacturing unit that could build and repair scientific instruments. It was a lack of such facilities that prompted the creation of SIP. Some 50 years later, these facilities formed the basis of the company's entry into machine tool construction. In 1921, the first jig boring machine was built, able to create bores to micrometer accuracy (below). The precision borer was so well received that by 1962 SIP had already sold 6,000 throughout the world. Despite entering the world of NC technology in 1951, the Geneva company has remained true to its basic founding concept – that of precision created by solid mechanical engineering. Jean-Daniel Isoz, directeur productline SIP: "We make sure from the start that no tensile stresses occur when the machine is assembled. Only once we have achieved the perfect geometry do we concern ourselves with compensating the final few micrometers, with the aid of our electronic systems." At the very peak of precision are the SIP ultra-high accuracy SPC machines, with jig boring capability to a figure of below 2.5 micron. The new SPC series is designed for precision machining between 2.5 and 5.0 micron. Said Mr Isoz: "These machining centres are used, for example, for the complete machining of precision machine parts for packaging and textile machinery, or for machine tools."