Page 18 - MetalForming February 2013

Press Automation Boosts Production at VW
A new approach to press- transfer automation enables Volkswagen to increase stroke rate, slash cycle times and streamline maintenance operations, preparing the company to keep up with growing demand for the widely acclaimed Golf 7.
The standardized platform intro- duced by Volkswagen on the new Golf 7 made headlines at the Paris auto show last September. The company is leveraging economies of scale like never before, using a new modular production system touted in automotive publications for providing flexibility in production regarding quantity, degree of automation and vehicle type.
A key enabler of VW’s new produc- tion system is highly dynamic press- automation technology designed to increase throughput by 20 to 30 percent over previous technology, depending on the specific sets of dies in use. In addition, the new automation (large- scale crossbar-transfer systems from Strothmann, along with front- and back-end robotic blank- and parts- handling equipment) has reduced energy consumption by as much as 35 percent. The transfer systems can transport as many as four stampings in one step, compared to two previously.
‘We completed the recommission- ing of one press line for the new Golf 7 production launch,” says Helmut Wiesing, Strothmann sales manager for pressroom automation, “by retro-
European automotive publications have heaped praise on Volkswagen for the standard- ized platform it introduced for the new Golf 7, debuted at the Paris auto show last Sep- tember. The company is leveraging economies of scale like never before, using a new modular production system touted for providing flexibility in production regarding quan- tity, degree of automation and vehicle type.
16 MetalForming/February 2013
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fitting a press line at the VW Wolfsburg (Germany) plant. And, we have been commissioned to undertake the fun- damental modernization of two more lines at VW’s Emden (Germany) site.”
The Heart of
Each Retrofit Project
...is Strothmann’s CompactTrans- fer system, a four-axis system (with height and cross-section compensa- tion) based on linear technology. The CompactTransfer system makes ori- entation stations between presses unnecessary since it picks up the parts, orients them and places them in the following press all by itself. It can maneuver workpieces as large as 2500 by 4600 mm, with weight capacity to 120 kg (combined blank and tooling weight); typical press-to-press distance is 5000 mm.
The system’s compact design enabled it to easily fit into the small available mounting space between existing press bolsters and rams at the VW plants. Four linear axes and one rotating axis, each with its dedicated drive, enable the CompactTransfer system to exe-
cute extremely agile orientation func- tions. For maximum freedom of move- ment, the crossbar is suspended on two pivot joints. It integrates a tele- scope piece which allows for dynamic length compensation. The Compact- Transfer halves can thereby—within limit—travel in different directions.
Thanks to the new transfer-automa- tion technology, Volkswagen was able to increase line speed from 14 strokes/min. to 16 strokes/min. And, for the first time, the retrofitted press line allows for the separation of double blanks during transfer and for the transfer of as many as four parts from one die to the next. Further, the die- change process has been automated, resulting in additional, significant time savings.
Line Layout
Before the retrofit, the VW press- room’s handling equipment was cou- pled with the press mechanical drive- shaft. Now, the transfer system and press have been decoupled, and mechanical wear has been minimized as a result. Stripping the 59,000-kN