The new hydraulic deep drawing press of Schuler SMG in Wagh?usel, Germany, replaced a line which had seen 35 years of service. ??We often joked that the old line was suffering from tooth decay,?? says Werner Scholl of Ford??s Production Planning department. In other words: the teeth in the power unit often needed repairing, as they threatened to bring production to a halt. As a consequence, the press force had already been reduced from 1,000 to 800 metric tons.

??The new more powerful Schuler line has a press force of 2,250 metric tons and can also process high-strength steels,?? says Manuel Pleitgen, Project Manager at Schuler SMG in Wagh?usel. Ford uses such high-grade materials, for example, in floor panels for its Mondeo, S-MAX and Galaxy models. Such materials were previously processed by external suppliers. ??With the new press, we can now handle these orders ourselves,?? states Werner Scholl.

The press was installed and put into operation in the record time of just 36 days. Hans-Josef Richner, of Ford??s Corporate Press and Installation Technology division in Cologne, states: ??We have never experienced such a smooth production launch.?? And his colleague Robert Steier of Ford??s Factory Planning division, adds: ??The lead-off press is running trouble-free and was soon able to reach the required cycle time of eight seconds.?? Up to twelve large parts can be produced per minute in highest deep draw quality.