Schuler installs first hydraulic production press at Ford¡¯s Saarlouis facility

The new hydraulic deep drawing press of Schuler SMG in Wagh?usel, Germany, replaced a line which had seen 35 years of service. ¡°We often joked that the old line was suffering from tooth decay,¡± says Werner Scholl of Ford¡¯s Production Planning department. In other words: the teeth in the power unit often needed repairing, as they threatened to bring production to a halt. As a consequence, the press force had already been reduced from 1,000 to 800 metric tons.

¡°The new more powerful Schuler line has a press force of 2,250 metric tons and can also process high-strength steels,¡± says Manuel Pleitgen, Project Manager at Schuler SMG in Wagh?usel. Ford uses such high-grade materials, for example, in floor panels for its Mondeo, S-MAX and Galaxy models. Such materials were previously processed by external suppliers. ¡°With the new press, we can now handle these orders ourselves,¡± states Werner Scholl.

The press was installed and put into operation in the record time of just 36 days. Hans-Josef Richner, of Ford¡¯s Corporate Press and Installation Technology division in Cologne, states: ¡°We have never experienced such a smooth production launch.¡± And his colleague Robert Steier of Ford¡¯s Factory Planning division, adds: ¡°The lead-off press is running trouble-free and was soon able to reach the required cycle time of eight seconds.¡± Up to twelve large parts can be produced per minute in highest deep draw quality.