Schaeffler s success story is closely linked to its own production landscapes Without the equipment and manufacturing lines from its in house mechanical engineering department Schaeffler s worldwide plants would stop operating The production process know how that was previously used only internally is now available to external companies as well The enablers The 1 800 mechanical engineers at Schaeffler tackle any technical challenge posed by a prod uct or a completely new production process The portfolio of these resourceful specialists encom passes metal cutting machines assembly auto mation inspection technology and IT solutions in the production environment It s focused on spe cialized solutions for manufacturing automotive and industrial products that are not available on the market More recent highlights include the de velopment of prototypes complex assembly or in spection lines for hybrid modules the thermal management module and the new E axle transmis sion systems produced in Herzogenaurach for Audi and Porsche models We define ourselves as partners for production excellence The relationship with our production sites in a spirit of partnership has a decades long history of guaranteeing that our plants operate like Swiss clockwork and our products meet the highest quality standards says Bernd Wollenick who is responsible for the worldwide special pur pose machinery network with 16 locations About 50 percent of the group wide demand for produc tion equipment is met by the in house special pur pose machinery engineering unit The business unit has a total assembly area of some 30 000 square meters 7 4 acres equating to the size of four soccer fields This is where the equipment and machines Schaeffler uses to man ufacture far more than 10 000 different products are created On board from day 1 Wollenick s teams contribute their expertise at a very early stage whether the project involves small volume production or a high output line manual work or fully automated processes A prod uct to be manufactured in our environment may change 1 000 times in its creation stage and many of these modifications are machine relevant That s why we sit at the table as early as in the product de sign stage of our customers Wollenick explains Production costs are incurred in product design and with our agile methods and simultaneous en gineering we ensure manufacturing and econom ic feasibility The electromechanical roll stabilizer that enhances driving safety and went into produc tion in 2015 is a case in point Its product weight of 14 kilograms 31 lb and length of up to 1 4 me ters 4 6 feet alone make the handling processes more difficult within the planned assembly and in spection lines For this and other reasons it was By Oliver Jesgulke 68

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