Waghaeusel (Germany) - The hot stamping (or hot forming) of car body parts is becoming increasingly popular around the world. Reasons include rising passenger safety regulations, which require new solutions from car manufacturers and their suppliers for the construction of lightweight steel bodies. With the foundation early this year of a Hot Stamping Center of Ex-cellence at its facility in Waghäusel, Germany, Schuler has pooled the Group''s complete process and equipment expertise in hot stamping in order to offer its customers both machinery and comprehensive process-independent advice.

At the newly founded Center of Excellence, hot stamping tech-nology will be continually developed for mass manufacturing applications in the car industry by experts in the field of process technology, press construction, die and automation technology. Current developments in modern steel materials will also be considered in the realization of future-oriented system solutions.

Martin Lepper, head of the sheet metal forming business unit at Schuler SMG GmbH & Co. KG in Waghäusel, formulates the center''''''''s objectives as follows: Hot stamping has firmly estab-lished itself in the automotive sector. At the Center of Excel-lence we aim to reduce cycle times, optimize processes and thus reduce cost per part. Moreover, in cooperation with our custom-ers and steel manufacturers, we plan to continually improve part quality and achieve greater flexibility in our system solutions.

Hot stamping is still a relatively young and highly complex manufacturing process with numerous factors which can influ-ence cycle time and part quality. Drawing on experience gained from over 30 lines installed around the world, Schuler has con-siderable know-how in the complete process chain ?C from blank to finished part.

Expertise in process technology and the construction of hydrau-lic presses is provided by specialists from Schuler SMG, who are also responsible for the running of the Center of Excellence. Schuler Automation contributes its know-how in the field of fast and safe part transport. The company is currently equipping sev-eral hot stamping lines in Europe with the Schuler Crossbar Ro-bot and newly developed transfer technology.
As die technology plays a key role in hot stamping, Schuler Cartec''s die construction experts have also been recruited to the team. Their role is to provide creative solutions which will meet the special requirements of cooled dies. The aim is to develop simulation software which can simplify die design. In coopera-tion with VW Kassel, Schuler Presses developed the Soft Shock technology required for the cutting of finished, high-strength parts.
Schuler is currently developing several hot stamping lines for a leading European car part supplier to manufacture various safety elements made of high-strength steels. The group-wide project, involving Schuler SMG, Schuler Automation, Schuler Presses and Schuler Cartec, already gives a first taste of future coopera-tion projects at the Hot Stamping Center of Excellence. It quickly became apparent just how much the customer could benefit from synergies within the Schuler Group. Compared with conventional solutions in the past, new automation and press concepts are now used as well as new die technology. Parts are cut on specially designed mechanical presses equipped with Schuler Soft Shock technology.

Press construction ?C utilizing the benefits of hydraulic press technology
With its high degree of flexibility, the hydraulic press is ideally suited for use in hot stamping processes. Particular importance is attached to correct press design for the manufacturing of multi-ple parts. In conjunction with cutting-edge die technology, form-ing processes can be individually adjusted and easily reproduced for each part.

Die technology ?C simulate and produce
When it comes to producing dies for hot stamping, Schuler Cartec offers the entire process range ?C from simulation to sup-plying the dies for mass manufacturing. This applies to both the dies for the actual forming process, as well as the dies used for cutting high-strength steel parts. In combination with the Soft Shock process developed by Schuler Presses and VW, Schuler is taking new steps in this field and implementing processes which reduce stress on the die ?C thus providing cost and quality advan-tages for the customer when compared with laser cutting.

Automation technology ?C safe and fast
Machines for the mass manufacturing of hot stamped parts are fully automated system solutions. For this reason, the automa-tion technology used before and after the furnaces, for loading and unloading the hydraulic presses and for cutting and handling the finished, high-strength parts plays a decisive role. With the Crossbar Robot, special transfer equipment and advanced optical part recognition, Schuler offers reliable automation solutions boasting a high degree of flexibility and process reliability.