Zerma America

Who is Amis Zerma?

Zerma Zerkleinerungsmaschinenbau GmbH is a manufacturer of shredding machines for the recycling industry.The name of the company is a compressed version of the compound word ZERkleinerungsMAschinen (i.e. shredding machines). Zerma is part of the globally active Amis Maschinen-Vertriebs GmbH, which was founded in Sinsheim in 1994 and has been based in Zuzenhausen since 2007.

Zerma's granulators and shredders are primarily geared towards the recycling of plastics. The company's portfolio is so versatile that it contains the right machine for plastic waste of any kind.

After its foundation in Radebeul in 1943, Zerma Zerkleinerungsmaschinenbau GmbH initially concentrated exclusively on the plastics industry. Over the years, it relaxed this restriction. In the meantime, the company expanded its range to include the manufacture and development of shredding machines for other materials. Systems for recycling tyres, electrical scrap and substitute fuels are now also part of the company's product range. Despite the expansion, Zerma Zerkleinerungsmaschinenbau GmbH continues to be regarded as a specialist for the recycling of plastics.

The parent company Amis Maschinen-Vertriebs GmbH offers machines from other manufacturers in addition to Zerma equipment. This enables Amis to offer solutions for all input materials. With the Zerma machines, Amis expanded its range of new machines for plastics recycling and secured Zerma's know-how.  The sales headquarters of the Amis company is located in Zuzenhausen with about 60 employees.

In 1995, Zerma Zerkleinerungsmaschinenbau GmbH was officially taken over by Amis, and Zerma Deutschland GmbH was formed. Today, the company is no longer limited to the locations in Zuzenhausen or Germany. Since 1999, there has been a production facility in Shanghai (China) and, since 2018, another headquarters in Rayong (Thailand). These two Zerma locations, as part of Amis Maschinen-Vertriebs GmbH, include a total of 300 employees.

Specialisation in plastics shredding

Amis-Zerma offers many different types and series of machines for the optimal size reduction and processing of plastic waste: Slow speed granulators, compact granulators, granulators for heavy-duty applications, impact disc mills for fine grinding and shredders. Zerma manufactures both individual size reduction machines and complete systems. For particularly fine output, there is a three-stage size reduction plant that combines a shredder, a cutting mill and a fine cutting mill.

Slow speed Granulators

The Zerma GSL series of slow speed granulators are particularly suitable for the shredding of scrap material that accumulates during production processes such as injection moulding or blow moulding of plastics.This is press remnants or sprues. The Zerma GSL mills are installed in the direct vicinity of injection moulding machines and are thus suitable for so-called inline recycling.

Compact granulators

The Zerma compact granulators of the GSE series can also be used for granulating the residues of injection moulding and blow moulding processes. These granulators are suitable for all thin-walled plastics.  The compact granulators of the GSC series can also be used for the size reduction of bulky plastic parts, thin plastic sheets and films. The third variant of a compact cutting mill is the GST series.These granulators shred injection moulding waste, but also bottles and canisters.  While the GSE series does not have a device for noise protection, the GSC and GST series are equipped with sound insulation.

Heavy-duty granulators

The robust Zerma large diameter granulators of the GSH series as well as the tube and profile granulators of the GSP series have been developed for high demands. They are characterized by higher throughput rates. The large granulators shred bulky plastic parts such as car bumpers, window sills or long pipes.

For less heavy-duty applications, the smaller models of the GSH series are used.The compact models 600 and 700 are suitable for thin-walled plastic, non-ferrous metal and cables. The all-rounder machines GSH 600 and 700 can be used for pre-shredding electrical scrap, insulating materials or fuel tanks.

Fine cutting mills

A fine cutting mill is - as the name suggests - responsible for the fine grinding of plastic waste. The corresponding model from Zerma in the portfolio of Amis Maschinen-Vertriebs GmbH is the PM High speed precision pulverizer. It is often used for the fine comminution of PVC. In combination with a cutting mill and a shredder, the fine cutting mills form three-component systems for efficient size reduction and fine grinding.

Shredders by Amis-Zerma

The shredders from Amis-Zerma are single-shaft shredders. A wide range of models enables shredding that is optimally adapted to the respective input material.

The ZBS compact shredder is used for coarse shredding and thus for reducing the volume of injection moulding and blow moulding waste. In contrast to the GSL series of auxiliary mills, this compact shredder can also process larger parts such as lumps. It requires only a small footprint and can be retrofitted into a plant.

The Zerma universal shredders of the ZSS and ZPS series are much more versatile. In addition to larger chunks from the injection moulding industry, these single-shaft shredders can also shred films, fibres, pipes, big bags or foam materials, even wood and cables. The single-shaft shredders of the ZHS series can also shred a similar variety of input material.

Particularly large-volume waste such as plastic drums or wooden pallets need a special shredder: the single-shaft shredder of the ZIS series. Its grinding chambers are one third larger than those of the ZSS series.

If plastic pipes or large profiles are to be shredded, the shredders of the ZRS series from Zerma are used in particular. These units can also process pipes with large diameters and high wall thicknesses without prior coarse shredding.

Zerma primarily manufactures shredding systems for plastics. But the company also offers solutions for shredding rubber, for example car tyres: the ZTS shredder and the ZTTS shredder. The latter also has a metal separator to sort out steel elements. Used tyres can be fed into the machine either whole or already pre-shredded.

The high-performance shredder of the ZXS series can shred almost all the plastic waste mentioned - starting with large-volume parts such as pipes, lumps or film bales, through big bags or PET bottle bales. But the ZXS series is not only suitable for plastics, it can also process other materials such as paper, rubber or wood.

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