A BIG NUMBER OF MANAGERS FROM THE BIG AUTOMOTIVE COMPANIES WILL VISIT FAGOR ARRASATE THIS WEEK

Fagor Arrasate has organized an open doors week to show a new robotized stamping system that allows to increase significantly the output. Named WAVE LINE this revolutionary system is based in a common development of the Spanish Company together with a specialist in robotics, the German company KUKA.

The big parts of the body of the cars need, in order to be manufactured, so much energy that they cannot be made in only one press. Therefore, it is needed a press line in what several presses are put one after another. The part is being transferred between those presses by means of robots, making one operation in each machine to, at the end of the line, have the finished part. Typically, the process of handling the parts being moved between presses is the bottle neck because it is needed to stop the slide of each press a short moment to allow the robots to introduce or extracting the part once this is drawn. With the new WAVE LINE system, these stops are eliminated and through the use of high speed robots and a new generation synchronous control it is achieved that the whole line works in a continuous mode, with no stops of the slides.. Then, all robots and presses make a synchronous sinusoidal dance (therefore, the name of the system) increasing the output up to 40%.

Fagor Arrasate will shortly install a WAVE LINE in the facility that Volkswagen has in South Africa and taking advantage of the final tests in our facility in Mondragon, a pretty high number of directors and managers of the biggest car companies as well as officers of the Government and many suppliers will be visiting FAGOR to see and evaluate first hand the WAVE LINE system and its advantages.

Among others, it is forecasted the presence of top managers from Volkswagen, Ford, Gestamp Automoción, Seat, Audi, Estampaciones Rubí, VoestAlpine, Magna, BMW, AIC and General Motors. It is also forecasted that the Minister of Industry of the Basque Government, Mr. Unda will visit Fagor as well as members of the main suppliers of Fagor and directors of several Research and Development Centers.

The WAVE LINE system is a pioneering development in the world and shows the leading position of FAGOR ARRASATE has in the machine tool sector. Fagor Arrasate exports about 95% of its production and it is one of the most important companies of the sector in Europe