4 drive units, 14 robots, 16 assemblies & 8 leak test stations

Werdohl/Medebach. At the GF Casting Solutions plant in Werdohl, topics such as "Industry 4.0" and "IoT" become tangible when a couple of employees manage a complete production process for AUDI drive unit housings and complex machining, cleaning, assembly and leak testing steps are handled fully automatically by robots and machines. This large plant was designed and built by the Medebach-based special mechanical engineering company Paul Köster GmbH.

"Our employees put a lot of heart and soul into this plant. Due to the machining of four different types of AUDI drive unit housings, a large number of different processes have to be handled and also coordinated, so all the cells have to work hand in hand," reports Christopher Köster, sales manager at Paul Köster GmbH. At the latest, the sight of three robots working on a 50-meter-long gantry would have raised the question of control and communication within this showcase project. "Communication and coordination are handled by complex control technology, which at the same time provides extensive data that can be used to continuously improve processes and detect errors even before they occur. So here we are also at the TOP level in the area of process reliability," says Christopher Köster.

Would you like to learn more about this technically demanding project? Click here to read the detailed reference project.