The Viessmann Group’s comprehensive portfolio includes heat pumps, boilers and burners. The Group’s business areas also include industrial and refrigeration systems. The corporate group with 12,000 employees manufactures these highly popular solutions at 23 sites around the world. The company's head office is located in Allendorf in the German State of Hesse. The Viessmann plants here specialize in manufacturing diverse heating systems. In addition to heat pumps and boilers, these also include fuel cell heating devices and cogeneration units. Allendorf manufactures many of the components for these products, ranging from the mechanical systems to the cladding. The company cuts the design, structure and frame pieces out of coil material.
Given the Group’s broad portfolio, Viessmann manufactures many different cut pieces. These panels have to be produced rapidly and fault-free in small batches in order to allow a lean inventory while preventing production bottlenecks. This requires short setup times and perfect processes, in particular for the cut-to-length line. In future, coil changes will need to take place in less than 10 minutes.
Alongside rapid production, surface quality also plays an important role. Perfect cuts are a key means of simplifying subsequent processes such as powder coating and edging.
Unfortunately, Viessmann’s ageing cut-to-length line worked too slowly. It also malfunctioned at times. On occasion, the panels jammed, forcing the operators to manually remove the heavy parts. This resulted in critical downtimes. In addition, the production hall suffered a space problem and the new system had to be adapted accordingly.
As such, the challenge for ARKU consisted of finding an efficient and space-saving solution without compromising the quality of the surface cuts. The external appearance of products such as boilers and heat pumps also plays a highly important role.
„Thanks to ARKU, we are now right on target in terms of quality and processing times.“
- Christoph Eberhardt, Project Manager
In close collaboration with Viessmann, ARKU designed a cut-to-length line in Baden-Baden that fulfilled all of the requirements. A modern double-end decoiler provides space for two coils, each weighing 15 tonnes. The highlight: on one side of the double-end decoiler, the TwinShuttle® feeding guide inserts a coil into the HiCap® high performance leveler fully automatically.
“The system demonstrated its capabilities the moment it began unwinding the coils. Thanks to the double-end decoiler, we save 40% of the time for set-up and change-over. And thanks to ARKU, we are now right on target in terms of quality and processing times. Both internal and end customers value our products. And that is ultimately the most important thing for successful business.” – Christoph Eberhardt, Project Manager at Viessmann.