Bobingen, May 21, 2025 – The Hufschmied Zerspanungssysteme GmbH and the HEDS Group GmbH are working together on a complete solution for HSC milling in dental laboratories. The HEDS (“High End Digital Smile”) community, founded by eight dental laboratories, has developed its own HSC milling machine for dental laboratories, using tools from Hufschmied Their specialized tools for machining zirconium dioxide, plastics, titanium, and cobalt-chromium will be part of the complete solution for the upcoming HEDmill One milling machine. With this milling machine, developed by dental technicians for dental technicians, HEDS Dental aims to set new standards in terms of performance, service life, efficiency, operation, and process reliability.
Joint purchasing of materials was the origin of the laboratory partnership. However, the need to procure spare parts and perform maintenance for milling machines already in the laboratories' inventory provided the resources to build an internal development and production team. This made the idea of developing our own HSC milling machine with industrial technology standards, optimally adapted to the needs of dental laboratories, possible.
“We are a technology partnership with Hufschmied "We entered into this partnership because we understand that tools are one of the key factors in achieving maximum performance with our HEDmill One milling machine," says Leon Felzmann, Managing Director at HEDS Dental. "This close, equal partnership results in efficient development cooperation with short coordination paths. Our joint development team offers a perspective for dental technicians who want to optimize performance and process reliability in their laboratories."
Insights into the technology partnership HEDS and Hufschmied
The close cooperation between HEDS Dental and Hufschmied Zerspanungssysteme has already led to initial technological successes. One milestone was the introduction of the "Zirkonator," a specially developed tool for high-performance machining of zirconium oxide. This tool was specifically developed and further optimized for the production of crowns and bridges in dental laboratories. Thanks to the Zirconator, dental technicians can significantly improve their workflow efficiency, as machining is carried out with increased precision, a longer tool life, and reduced material loss.
Another advance is the successful implementation of HPC milling tools for machining plastics, including splints and flexible dentures. These specially designed tools enable a significant improvement in surface quality and a reduction in processing times, enabling dental laboratories to increase their productivity.
Looking to the future
The technology partnership between HEDS Dental and Hufschmied Zerspanungssysteme is being further expanded to open up new technological possibilities for dental laboratories. One pioneering project is the development of milling tools for machining glass ceramics such as lithium disilicate (LiSi). Until now, such materials have predominantly been ground – a costly and time-consuming process. The ability to mill glass ceramics in the future would not only offer greater process reliability through geometrically defined milling tools, but would also enable finer results and more cost-effective production.
"Our goal is to develop groundbreaking solutions for dental laboratories together with HEDS Dental. Smooth machining processes are possible when the tool, machining strategy, and machine are perfectly matched to the workpiece and material. The results so far show that we are on the right track with this partnership," says Christel Hufschmied, managing director of the Hufschmied Zerspanungssysteme GmbH.
Hufschmied-HEDS products for all dental laboratories
The tools resulting from this collaboration will be available through the HEDshop in the future. The range includes not only tools specifically optimized for the HEDmill One milling machine, but also those adapted to the most common milling machines in the industry.
