Crossbar FeederThe Crossbar Feeder automation robots transport parts from one station to the next.

The Schuler Group is delighted to announce the largest order in the company’s history. In the course of 2011 the technological leader in the metalforming industry has received an order from BMW AG for altogether seven press lines with ServoDirect technology. The Bavarian car manufacturer has ordered three high-speed servo press lines for its stamping plants in Leipzig and Regensburg, Germany, and Shenyang in China. At the same time, BMW has reserved four of the same press lines for its German facilities. The order volume is easily in the three-digit million euro range.

“Servo presses represent a technological leap for the mass manufacturing of sheet metal parts. With over 20 strokes per minute, the lines are among the fastest in the world,” states Schuler’s CEO Stefan Klebert. He ranks the order as one of the most important in the company’s over 170-year history. “The order underlines our pioneering role on the market and the outstanding performance of the machines.” BMW already uses the same type of press line at three of its German facilities.

Industry experts regard Schuler’s servo press technology as an extremely efficient manufacturing system. It can produce at least 20 percent more parts per minute than conventional press lines. Presses with ServoDirect technology feature electronically controlled torque motors which act directly on the press gearbox. The main benefit: the slide movement can be individually programmed for each die. As a result, the press can also accelerate or decelerate the slide during a stroke and thus optimize the forming process. This is not possible in the case of conventional mechanical presses, i.e. flywheel machines, where the slide’s movement is dictated solely by the unchanging speed of the press transmission.

At around 85 meters in length, the press lines ordered by BMW feature either five or six such Schuler servo presses linked together. At the beginning of the forming process, a blankloader feeds the individual sheet plates into the line. Automation robots supplied by Schuler then transport the parts to the next press station. The press lines boast a total press force of around 9,000 metric tons. In up to six separate operations, the sheet metal (with thicknesses of up to 2.5 millimeters) is then drawn, bent and blanked into the desired car body shape. The presses can process around 600 metric tons of steel per day – comparable to the amount used to construct Berlin’s famous Radio Tower.