TPT January 2017

AR T I C L E

Schwarze-Robitec GmbH

Case study: Deco Automotive invests in high-performance pipe bending cells By Schwarze-Robitec GmbH, Germany

production lines and manufactures more than 1,750,000 products per year.

“Based on their own constant optimising processes, our customers demand high requirements from their pre-products and with that, as supplier our requirements are also increased. In order to provide the customer with products in different versions and large quantities at a consistently high quality, we continuously invest in the further development of our production processes,” said Ray Metzner, manufacturing engineer at Deco Automotive. The company, headquartered in Toronto, Canada, belongs to the global Magna Group and manufactures various automotive components including vehicle frames and structures, and engine cradles. Among the customers of the automotive supplier are international original equipment manufacturers. Deco uses a total of four Suppliers to the automotive industry are facing the same challenges worldwide – how to supply their products quickly, economically and flexibly, while considering the individual demands of their customers at the same time. In order to increase the quality of its products and reduce costs at the same time, the Canadian supplier Deco Automotive replaces three existing older bending machines with three state-of-the-art automatic CNC 100 E TB MR VA pipe bending lines by Schwarze- Robitec. The company will profit from the integrated high- performance control system NxG by increasing its output and optimising cycle times. Fully automated bending cell: the bending cell by Schwarze-Robitec guarantees fully automated production processes – starting with material buffering to weld seam inspection to bending

Project requirements Due to the continuously high demand and a high annual output, Deco Automotive is dependent on reliable and intelligent pipe bending machines, which provide excellent results in terms of degree of automation, precision, speed and bending processes. Before being accepted by automobile manufacturers, steel pipes run through the fully automatic cold bending process at the production facility in Toronto. Subsequent manufacturing steps include hydroforming, laser cutting and welding. The number of bending processes performed at Deco reaches 12 million per year. Up until now, the automotive supplier reached this volume by using a total of nine bending machines spread over four production lines. Seven of the machines come from Schwarze-Robitec, whereby three pipe bending machines were already in use for more than 20 years. The reason for the replacement of the old equipment with three new CNC 100 E TB MR VA made by Schwarze-Robitec was, for Deco, that the bending and handling process is ensured to continue reliably and efficiently. “In 20 years, we have purchased a total of 13 pipe bending machines from Schwarze-Robitec and we have come to appreciate the very high quality and durability of the machines. We value the high technical expertise of the employees and the comprehensive services, such as remote maintenance, and decided at the end of 2015 to continue the partnership,” said Mr Metzner. CNC 100 E TB MR VA: The electrically operated systems process round and oval tubes that are 2.8m long and have a diameter of up to 76.2mm

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J ANUARY 2017