Paul Köster GmbH convinces with great flexibility in international project

15. Mär 2021

Exceptional execution in times of Corona: New system for manufacturer of trucks and buses has been installed via digital channels with instructions directly from Medebach

Medebach, Germany. “OK or not OK?” – a seemingly simple question! For a major manufacturer of trucks and buses, however, this was crucial. After all, the question dealt with the installation of high-quality, defect-free components in vehicles. And that’s where Paul Köster GmbH from Medebach, Germany, came into play. The customer, who is located outside of Germany, commissioned the internationally active special machine builder from Sauerland with the task of manufacturing and delivering an innovative and optimal solution for a complex problem: A machine that reliably performs three quality tests in one assembly process and guarantees the manufacturer that only workpieces that meet the quality requirements of the end customer are installed in the trucks and buses.

Meticulous preparation, ingenuity and know-how required

One of the core competencies of the Medebach-based company is to manufacture custom-fit machines that are individually tailored to meet the customers’ needs. The system that was built for this well-known customer is also very impressive due its high-tech features and ultra-modern and innovative overall concept. However, in times such as these, the really special, and necessary, aspect of all of this was: The instructions for the assembly and commissioning of the system had to be carried out directly from Medebach without Köster personnel on site. This project was implemented in an extraordinary manner and was a unique chapter in the company’s history. Normally an assembly team, or at least one employee, would fly to customers all over the world in order to assemble and commission the highly complex systems, but entry restrictions essentially made it impossible to do this.

Extraordinary times require extraordinary solutions to ensure customer satisfaction during the Corona pandemic. Ingenuity was therefore needed, as well as know-how, because the manufacturing of such a customized machine requires a lot of specialized knowledge and technology. The solution: A partner company carried out the work on site, step by step, according to the instructions given by a Köster employee located in Medebach. “We are very pleased that we were able to win this exciting contract and to successfully carry out its complex installation and commissioning during the pandemic. Building a complex specialized machine like this is not something that can be done in passing. Meticulous preparation was necessary to ensure that the overall system ultimately worked the way the customer wanted,” emphasized Christopher Köster, sales employee at Paul Köster GmbH.

State-of-the-art robot, conveyor and laser technology

The state-of-the-art system is now reliably fulfilling its intended purpose: It integrates three different quality checks in one assembly process with the aim of removing workpieces directly from the assembly process that do not meet the specified criteria. “This guarantees the optimum quality of the components that are to be installed, thereby ensuring the safety of our customer,” said Christopher Köster. The system may look small and inconspicuous, but the inner workings are really something else. In addition to enormous press-in forces, the system also bundles important information and parameters in order to transparently present the reason for the respective decision to the customer and, in particular, to the employee at the machine and to offer interactive options. This takes the provision of industrial “live information” to a whole new level for the customer. State-of-the-art conveyor technology, robot-controlled component removal and laser marking of the inspected and assembled workpieces complete the system that was manufactured in the small Sauerland town of Medebach.

INFO BOX
>Paul Köster GmbH is a traditional, Medebach-based, family-owned business in the Sauerland region with a company history going back more than 100 years
>Annual sales in 2019 were around 46 million euros, with project volumes ranging from 1,000 to 5 million euros
>Production areas: In Germany about 15,000 square meters, and in China about 2,000 square meters
>The company is certified according to ISO 9001:2015 and VDA 6.4:2017
>The company’s expertise and passion is special mechanical engineering
>Core competencies are leak testing, assembly technology and automation
>Paul Köster GmbH has about 390 employees worldwide
>The company offers excellent career opportunities for professionals, as well as internships and apprenticeships for school graduates and students in the process of choosing a career
>Combined vocational training and degree courses in mechanical engineering and electrical engineering are also offered in cooperation with the Meschede University of Applied Sciences and the Mittelhessen Technical University in Frankenberg
Paul Köster convinces with great flexibility