Dürr enjoys a global reputation for painting technology in particular. But it has more strings to its bow. The Group is
also the global market leader in other niche engineering fields, for example in filling technology under the Dürr
Somac and Agramkow brands.
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Text: Heimo Fischer Photos: Marcus Pietrek,
Daniel Fischer
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The car is almost finished when it reaches the filling system in the plant. The worker there takes an adapter with a hose, bends over the engine compartment and locates the adapter unerringly on the filler opening. The system hums and pumps, and then fluid flows into the relevant reservoir in the vehicle. This pro-cess is repeated until the car is filled with everything it needs to be driven. For the casual observer it all looks very simple. “In reality it’s a complex process,”
says Bernd Preißler, Managing Director of Dürr Somac GmbH.
His company, based in Stollberg in the German state of Saxony, and Danish company Agramkow together make up the business field within the Dürr Group which specializes in filling systems for various sectors. Automakers form the largest customer group. During final assembly they fill a vehicle with up to twelve different fluids or gases. These media include, for example, brake fluid, refriger-ant for the air-conditioning system, radiator coolrefriger-ant and fuel. And then, of course, the hydraulic steering system and the windshield washer system also need the right media.
“Manual filling, as done in a workshop, would be inconceivable for series pro-duction,” says Bernd Preißler. Too time-consuming and too expensive. Auto-makers require machines which dispense very specific volumes economically, quickly and precisely. Spillages or dribbles are unacceptable. Engine oil on the shop floor? Coolant in the engine compartment? Brake fluid on the paintwork?
Every vehicle manufacturer’s worst nightmare!
ALL-IN-ONE PACK AGE FOR THE CUSTOMER
Simply supplying the filling system is not enough. “We offer the customer an all-in-one package, from process and layout planning, to custom-fit installation and commissioning, through to service,” says Bernd Preißler. Filling systems in an automotive assembly line consist of four sections: base unit, control cabi-net, console and adapter. During installation in the customer’s final assembly plant, lines and pipes have to be laid and the steelwork sometimes has to be adapted. Dürr Somac also takes care of communication between the filling sys-tem and host computers.
The filling process runs fully automatically. All the workers on the assembly line have to do is attach and then detach the adapters. The other steps proceed invisibly. Take safety tests, for example. These are important with the brakes in particular. The system creates overpressure in the brake system before filling, and a vacuum afterwards. A leak in the brake line would be detected immedi-ately. Filling only takes place if the leak test readings are correct. The filling system controller logs every step.
Although the operations required of the workers are straightforward, they can be very physically demanding. Workers have to locate the adapter around 120 times an hour, sometimes with the upper body bent well forward. Dürr Somac has therefore developed an adapter which is 20 percent lighter than the previous solution. This reduces the amount workers have to lift every day by up to a ton. Ergonomic requirements were taken into account in the develop-ment of the adapter, named G³Blue, to ensure reduced strain on muscles and joints.
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“Manual filling, as done in a workshop, would be inconceivable for series production”, says Bernd Preißler,
Managing Director of Dürr Somac GmbH.
The comprehensive software control of the systems also comes from Dürr Somac.
The layout of the filling system is designed on the computer.
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Filling systems experts together:
Dürr Somac employees discuss the G3 Blue adapter.
Agramkow head Bjarne Ravn Sørensen.
His company offers innovative filling technology for environment-friendly refrigerants.
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Thanks to innovations such as these, more and more automakers swear by solutions from Dürr Somac. Sales have risen by more than 80 percent in the past five years. One of the strengths of the company and its 250 employees worldwide is the ability to take proven technologies and then refine them fur-ther. Effective 2017, for example, vehicle manufacturers will only be allowed to use refrigerants with minimum greenhouse gas potential in their air-condi-tioning systems if they wish to sell their products on the European market.
Dürr Somac already has the relevant technology in place for this, too.
CHINA IS THE MOST IMPORTANT MARKET
Filling systems are lined up in the assembly plant in Stollberg – ready for ship-ping to the customers. Small signs indicate the recipients – automotive plants in Mexico, Brazil or China.
Many systems from Agramkow, based in Sønderborg, Denmark, are also des-tined for such growth markets. The company, which has been owned by Dürr since 2011, specializes in systems for filling refrigerators and air-conditioning systems with refrigerant. Climate protection is a major issue in this market, too.
“Increasingly, manufacturers of domestic appliances are demanding environ-ment-friendly refrigerants in their cooling systems,” says Agramkow Managing Director Bjarne Ravn Sørensen. The companies therefore need new filling technology – and the Dürr subsidiary provides them with it.
For Agramkow’s filling systems, too, China is the most important market. “Two out of every three refrigerators are manufactured there,” says Sørensen. The company is expanding its position in the People’s Republic. Having the backing of a strong parent company makes it easier to process the market. “Being part of Dürr is a blessing for us.”
For example, Agramkow can use the shared Schenck site in Shanghai-Baoshan – just like Dürr Somac. The new mechanical engineering complex houses a state-of-the-art assembly section. Local experts, for instance for engineering, procurement and service, provide assistance with market processing. There are close contacts between the partner companies. Managers and engineers communicate with each other and can consider, for example, what features are required of a system especially designed for the Chinese market.
Dürr Somac and Agramkow plan to stay ahead of their competitors in future, too – both in the high-end market and for functional filling systems for the emerging markets. They therefore set great store by innovation. Dürr Somac boss Preißler sums it up perfectly: “We aim to increase our customers’ produc-tion efficiency. To do so, we need to develop ever better and more modern products.”
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The success of our filling technology business is due to innovations such as the G3 Blue. The new adapter for fully automatic filling in final vehicle assembly is considerably lighter and faster than previous generations. The
health of the workers on the assembly line was another aspect taken into account by our developers: the ergonomic handle and lower weight reduce
the amount workers have to lift every day by 1 ton, lessening muscle and joint strain. This way we ensure that our customers have a firm grip on the
filling process.