In production plants whose systems have to cope with frequent product changes, the changeover flexibility of the equipment plays a key role. For a press shop that primarily manufactures automotive parts, the focus was on quickly supplying the presses with tools weighing up to seven tons. The solution chosen was a fully automatic crane in combination with self-supporting frames and shuttles.

We are a sheet metal parts manufacturer and supply the automotive industry and other sectors with high-quality stamped and bent parts as well as finished assemblies made of steel, aluminum, brass or copper," says Hans-Martin Tekeser, Managing Director of Alzner Automotive in Grafenau. In addition to stamping technology, there are numerous other processes such as bending, laser cutting, welding, clinching and toxing as well as the completion with additional components made of metal, rubber, foils or adhesive pads. The company assumes responsibility for the production of ready-to-install assemblies that customers can integrate directly into their own production process. Additional skills in the areas of design, toolmaking, quality control and logistics are of great importance to Alzner. The most complete possible networking of all processes from development to production with the help of modern IT-supported processes therefore also plays a special role. The Schuler presses mainly used are therefore equipped with the IloT-Connector, with which the operating status of the systems can be called up at any time. This also includes all information about the current die, the number of strokes, the press force and the lubrication and cooling circuits.

High flexibility in terms of quantities
"As we manufacture a wide range of different products in the press area in quantities that vary greatly per call-off, from several 10,000 parts down to individual prototypes, we often have to retool our systems," adds H.-M. Tekeser. Flexibility in responding to customer requirements is a priority here. Most of the tools are so-called progressive tools. In principle, these are themselves complex systems in which the desired parts are first punched out of a continuous strip in several successive steps and then formed step by step. They consist of upper and lower parts with numerous moving parts, are up to six meters long and weigh up to seven tons. After use, they are checked and serviced and then put back into storage. The speed and efficiency of replacing, storing and retrieving these tools has a major impact on the productivity of the systems and therefore on the cost-effectiveness of production.
"At the end of 2018, Alzner asked us for suggestions for a suitable solution," recalls Jan Guthmann, Managing Director of H+H Herrmann + Hieber in Denkendorf. It involved the transport and fully automated storage of around 100 tools in two halls with a covered cold section in between for truck transports. In addition to the high speed of the exchange, the requirement was for as little hall space as possible and the best possible use of the existing hall height. In addition, the system had to be suitable not only for storing tools, but also coils and sheet metal stored on Euro pallets. Both the existing indoor cranes and heavy-duty forklift trucks were to be able to be used to transport the tools or materials to and from the presses or to external transfer points. The customer attached particular importance to the greatest possible reliability of the system, as the supply of the presses, which achieve press forces of up to 630 tons, depends on this.