German axle and suspension specialist BPW is investing in a new production facility for wheel ends at its Wiehl site east of Cologne. Production is scheduled to commence in mid-November.
According to BPW, the new assembly line was specially developed for the company’s complex production processes in Wiehl and will be highly automated: The individual components pass through a total of 15 stations on their way to the finished product – from feeding in the wheel hub up to the test rig.
“We constantly invest in our production so that we can provide our customers with the best possible products at all times,” said Michael Pfeiffer, Managing Partner at BPW.
“Wheel end assembly is one of the key areas of our production in Wiehl. Here, as in all our other plants, we attach the utmost importance to state-of-the-art technologies, efficiency and sustainability.”
The subject of employee health reportedly also played a decisive role in the development of the new assembly line, especially ergonomics for the 60+ generation.
For example, the manual workstations are height-adjustable and adapt automatically to the operator’s body height to make the work as easy as possible on the back.
“All relevant manufacturing and assembly processes as well as quality and functional testing are documented in a production control system and can be traced back at any time. For example, we record the specific insertion force applied to every single bearing”, explained Ralph Ley, Head of the System Components Business Unit at BPW.
“Thanks to this comprehensive documentation, we are able to trace back all manufacturing steps of each individual running gear. This procedure is an intrinsic part of the quality principles that apply in our production all over the world. They enable us to offer consistently high product quality and reliability.”