Beutler blanking press with a force of 400 metric tons

 

According to statistics of the Chinese Car Manufacturers'' Association, a total of 735,000 vehicles were sold in China in January 2009 alone. In the same period, just 657,000 were sold in the world''s largest market to date, the USA. This now makes China the world''s largest car market for the first time ever. Even though a key reason for this change lies in the massive slump in the US car market at present, the figures illustrate the rapid development of the Middle Kingdom. It is no surprise, therefore, that international car manufacturers and their suppliers are increasingly making their way to China. One example is the German automotive supplier PWO. The group has been represented in China since 2008 by its subsidiary in Suzhou ?C some 100 kilometers from Shanghai. The company supplies the local market with metal components in the field of safety and comfort technology and boasts considerable process know-how in the forming and connecting of steel, stainless steel and aluminum. Its partner is Schuler??s Swiss subsidiary, Beutler Nova. At the new PWO facility in Suzhou, a Beutler blanking press equipped with Schuler automation solutions guarantees high process reliability and part quality.

Our decision in favor of such a complete solution from the Schuler Group was based on two key arguments. On the one hand, we wanted a line which guarantees high quality and precision in production, explains Udo Binder, Head of Investment Management at PWO. After all, the new line is used to produce parts for electric motors, which have to be engineered extremely precisely ?C for electric windows, for example. These small parts have a diameter of no more than 100 millimeters. Tolerances in production are therefore in the 100th-of-a-millimeter range, states Udo Binder when describing the challenge. When choosing the Beutler Nova line with Schuler''s automation solution, PWO was certain that they could guarantee such a high degree of quality with a good price-performance ratio. A key factor was also the positive experience we have made over the years with various presses from the Schuler Group, says Udo Binder.

On the other hand, the topic of service was also particularly important for PWO: We only install lines in China for which fast on-site service is available at all times, explains Udo Binder. As Suzhou is located close to Shanghai, this is no problem: Schuler''s experts in Shanghai can be on site within about an hour to deal with any electrical or mechanical queries. This is really important for us, stresses Udo Binder, who also visited the facility to check on the production launch and saw that there were no problems whatsoever.

The experts from Beutler Nova and Schuler already installed the line in late November 2008 in a production hall which was still far from finished. With the aid of truck cranes, we succeeded in assembling Beutler''s NAD 4000.30 automatic punching machine and the Schuler coil line in long-space design within just two weeks, says Hans Schärli, Managing Director of Beutler Nova. He adds: We were able to launch test operation on the line as early as mid December 2008. The blanking press with transverse shaft drive and two connecting rods turning in opposite directions has a blanking force of 400 metric tons. The press operates at speeds of 20 to 80 strokes per minute, while the stroke length is adjustable from 40 to 315 millimeters. The bed''s dimensions are 3,000 by 1,300 millimeters. A coil line in long-space design from Schuler Automation is responsible for feeding the blanking press. It comprises a coil lifting platform, decoiler, feeding device, straightening machine with six rollers, loop control and roll feed. The complete system at PWO''s Chinese facility can process sheet steel and aluminum with widths of 80 to 650 millimeters and a coil thickness of 0.5 to 6 millimeters to form precise parts for electric motors destined for the automotive sector.