Automated wheel assembly station increases productivity in automotive manufacturing

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Driving productivity and flexibility, a car manufacturer challenged us to develop a customized automated solution for the wheel assembly process. Discover the benchmark project and the application video in this article:

Project scope | Implementing a customized automated wheel assembly system

The customer was looking for a customized solution for a fully automated assembly of complete wheels. Where they were once going through the wheel assembly process manually, they now wanted a complete, automated turn-key solution for this core application where the highest precision and process reliability are essential. In early October 2020, we built a project group covering all needed technology skills equipped with a strong collaboration attitude to master this challenge.

Experts from our local Application Center, Atlas Copco’s Machine Vision Solutions Division, and a global automation company started together to create this benchmark solution working closely with the customer.

Fast forward to January 2021, and we are now in the prototype testing phase of the project. Our solution seems to exceed any and all expectations. The complete unit for the customer’s core wheel assembly application includes a wheel holder, an intuitive robot interface, pitch changes, magnetic sockets, a full vision system, a fixtured tightening system, data collection as well as analysis software. With a lightweight, compact design, and a standard control interface that communicates to the robot and all powerhead components, the automated wheel assembly solution is extremely smart, interconnected, and user friendly.

Flexibility and productivity are key | Global Automation Innovation Center

The success of this project serves as a thrilling preview of what is to come:
we are in the early phases of building the Global Automation Innovation Center, located in Darmstadt, Germany!

The new Automation Innovation Center will be close to the headquarters of ISRA VISION, which since 2020 belongs to our Atlas Copco Machine Vision Solutions Division and specializes in surface and quality inspection as well as 3D-vision for robot guidance and image recognition.

The new Automation Innovation Center gives us a chance to truly maximize
the synergy of technologies.
This proves our steadfast commitment to automation. It is not just a trend, but a crucial piece to the manufacturing puzzle here to stay.

How can automation transform manufacturing processes?

Discover how we can support to optimize your processes with automation and vision systems. And stay tuned for further details on the exciting project described above, we’re not finished yet!

Automotive