TPT March 2021

T E CHNOLOG Y

Final acceptance of the sixth Reika plant in the past 20 years at VW for series production

GLOBAL company Volkswagen has been relying on Reika systems for the production of blanks for constant velocity joints for almost 20 years. During the second half of last year, machine number six was put into operation to series production in Wolfsburg, Germany. The acceptance of the new machine was successfully completed before the end of 2020, Reika’s managing director Hans-Jörg Braun proudly reported. All promised qualities and performances were tackled with success. Serial production on Reika lines for automotive constant velocity joints is estimated at approximately 50 to 60 million blanks per year. “High efficiency combined with low energy consumption on Reika lines is further evidence why Reika is a worldwide top supplier to the automotive industry,” Mr Braun said. Reika’s high-speed cutting centre model 224/324-CNC is operating

Prominent part of the machine equipment is the automatic tool changer, minimising manual changeover times with the production process becoming more efficient,” Reika’s managing director continued. For example, two different geometries can be produced alternately without interruption. In addition, VW, together with Reika, is planning to replace the two oldest Reika machines used in the plant. For about 20 years, these two machines have been running in 3-shift operation in series production. Five million parts per year were produced on each machine, making a total of 200 million parts when viewed over the entire lifetime. The automotive manufacturer PSA in France, as well as other automotive suppliers, also rely on Reika machines. Reika www.reika.de

More than five million parts per year were produced using the old Reika machines

with maximum precision at low cost, due to low tool- and energy costs, in particular low electrical energy- and compressed air consumption, to name but a few benefits. In future, production processing will focus on the CO 2 balance even more with the automotive industry playing a leading role and mostly aware of the situation, as proper planning departments have already been set-up.

THE ORIGINAL

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MARCH 2021