About us

In 1997, the then managing director Dipl.-Ing. Wieland Zander founded the company Zander Industrietechnik und Service GmbH (ZIT for short) in Fraunhoferstraße in Leipzig. He had previously worked as a maintenance manager at the Leipzig transmission plant before later passing on this expertise as a service provider to his former employer and other contract manufacturers. In addition to the maintenance service, special machine construction projects were also successfully completed in cooperation with well-known German groups.

In the following years, Getriebewerk Leipzig ran into financial difficulties, whereupon Mr. Zander accepted a lathe as a replacement for the outstanding invoice amount. In 2000, he acquired his first milling machine, a DMG DMU 80T. This laid the foundation for setting up a production of turned and milled parts. Year after year, further investments were made in machines and production equipment. By the end, ZIT had a representative machine park with a total of 9 turning and milling centres.

Initially, customers such as the Halberguss foundry and other regional companies were supplied, before new sales areas were later opened up throughout Germany. By 2006, the demand for contract machining services was so strong that there was no capacity left for external maintenance services or special machine construction with assembly operations. From that point on, the motto was: “Full focus on machining of drawing parts”.

A clear sign of the successful years and the continuous growth of the company was the construction of the new hall in 2008 and the subsequent extension in 2015. Since then, we have had a total production area of 2,200 square metres.

In 2010, Dipl.-Ing. Hartmut Reichert founded CFK-Leipzig GmbH. Previously, Mr Reichert managed the business of SMB Sächsische Modellbau GmbH in Leipzig/Markranstädt. After the plant closure of SMB, he took over some of his best employees and continued the jig and tool making business specialising in aerospace customers in the Gewerbestraße in Markranstädt.

As a full-service partner, we offer services in fixture and tool construction, including CAD design, CAM programming, CNC machining, manual grinding and assembly work, and digital measurement based on data models.

In 2013, CFK decided to give up its own mechanical processing and rented a commercial unit on ZIT’s premises. This marked the starting point for the close cooperation between ZIT and CFK. Since then, CFK has focused exclusively on engineering services (CAD, CAM, tool assembly and measurement). Milling has been outsourced to ZIT.

In 2020, Lars Fester, M.Sc., took over the shares and the management of the company as part of an age-related succession. Mr Fester is an industrial engineer by training. After graduating, he worked as a planner for one of the largest German car manufacturers and was able to gain 1.5 years of experience abroad in China under its management.

Shortly afterwards, ZIT was also faced with age-related company succession. The logical step here was a merger of CFK and ZIT, which was implemented at the end of 2021. Franziska Zander joined as a shareholder and at the same time took over the administrative and accounting management of the company.

Together, all synergies from engineering, combined with a strong and flexible production facility, could now be bundled. We are not only a contract manufacturer, but also a design office, technical advisor, welder, subassembly assembler, jig and tool maker. As the bearers of comprehensive know-how, we use the latest machining centres and software solutions to always keep our finger on the pulse. Our team does not shy away from any request. It is not enough for us to simply be a regional pioneer for complex components – we continuously invest to grow together with our customers.

Our team, consisting of passionate machinists, toolmakers, welders, quality inspectors, stockists, designers, CAM programmers and clerks, are united by a common goal: to produce the perfect product at the right time for our customers.