Germany's Placke Heavy Duty GmbH to Launch 3,000-Ton/18-Meter Press Brake in 2026

en.Wedoany.com Reported - Placke Heavy Duty GmbH of Melle, Germany, has begun manufacturing special-purpose machines with a bending force of 3,000 tons and a bending length of 18 meters, offering customized equipment for the XXL extra-large segment.

The new company, a sister enterprise of Placke GmbH, will officially enter the market on July 1, 2026. Managing partners are Carsten Placke and Sascha Fritze—the former has served as Managing Director of Placke GmbH since 2014, while the latter previously held a multi-year sales leadership position at an international machine tool manufacturer. The company headquarters is also located in Melle.

Placke GmbH has been manufacturing press brakes in-house since 1984, with its current product range covering machines up to 600 tons of force and 6 meters of bending length. For machines exceeding this specification, the company has represented a Swedish XXL press brake manufacturer since 1998. In 2025, that Swedish manufacturer was acquired by an investor, and the two parties subsequently agreed to terminate their agency partnership by mutual consent. To continue covering the XXL segment, Placke and Fritze decided to establish their own large-machine product line.

Placke Heavy Duty GmbH's business scope includes the design, construction, and manufacture of special-purpose machines tailored to customer requirements; the production of XXL press brakes with a force of up to 3,000 tons and a bending length of up to 18 meters, with larger sizes available on request; and the retrofitting of existing large machines manufactured by Placke and other producers. To support the new business, the company has expanded its design team and brought in experts with years of practical experience in the XXL segment.

Placke GmbH and Placke Heavy Duty GmbH position themselves as a combined portfolio of two size categories under one team, without competing with each other. Both companies follow the same philosophy: producing customized bending solutions at their own plant in Melle, rather than offering standard catalog products.