Messer

About Messer

Messer on this page means Messer Cutting Systems, the thermal cutting machine company, not the industrial gas business that shares the family name. Its parent, Messer Cutting Systems GmbH, is based in Groß-Umstadt, Germany. The company traces its lineage to 1898, when the Frankfurter Acetylen-Gas-Gesellschaft was founded, and the Original Messer brand of cutting torches followed in 1908. In 2000 the Messer family, led by Stefan Messer, acquired all shares of the business.

Messer Cutting Systems builds oxy-fuel, plasma and laser cutting machines, bevel units, cutting tables, dust collectors, material handling and its own nesting and production software, and it sells consumables, spare parts and retrofits. It reports more than 1,000 employees and activity in over 50 countries. The North American business began in 1955 as CRO Engineering, an oxygen cutting tool and machine builder, and its machines are engineered and built in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin.

We list the MetalMaster Xcel, an industrial high-speed plate cutting machine with twin 400 A plasma and an optional fiber laser, 1.8 to 3 m (6 to 10 ft) wide and up to 16.8 m (55 ft) long. Messer's brochure describes it as designed and manufactured in the USA. It sits with our CNC plasma tables; for the choice of process, see fiber laser vs plasma.

A good fit for

• Plate fabricators and steel service centres cutting thick mild steel
• Structural, heavy equipment and trailer builders cutting large plate parts
• Shops that need bevelled plasma parts ready for weld preparation