At the Saurer plant in Fellbach, Germany, a high level of automation is relied on – 95% of manufacturing is fully automated. This not only guarantees "Made in Germany" quality, it also means maximum output with minimum personnel.

Thirty employees in manufacturing and nine employees in logistics ensure maximum flexibility in the production and dispatching of components by means of 1–3 shift operation. "The challenge lies in short-term planning," says Sven Wolf, Head of Production. "With weekly, sometimes even daily planning, we can react quickly to spikes in orders and always deliver on time. Customers therefore have a reliable supply of what they need."

With a factory floor area of some 3 000 m², around 22 000 modules are assembled per shift from approximately 450 000 individual parts. Around 157 000 parts leave the Fellbach site per day, which corresponds to an annual capacity of up to 39.5 million parts.

Automation increases the consistency of the quality and the machines are designed for maximum output with a minimal error rate. Various methods for quality assurance are already used during the manufacturing process. Poka Yoke, for example, ensures that only the correct parts can be inserted in a specific position, thereby ruling out mix-ups.

Through constant monitoring of all productrelevant details, such as dimensions and press-in forces, manufacturing errors are almost eliminated. This consistent quality ensures a high level of precision, in particular for spindle bearings – 30 000 rpm is possible without any problems.

In addition, manufacturing is further optimised by means of precision measurement technology, as the system detects the smallest tolerances of the raw material. Through the constant monitoring, only individual parts that are optimally tuned to one another are automatically assembled. Parts that do not meet the requirements are separated out by the machines.

What's more, all parts undergo a meticulous final inspection before delivery. The PK 2630 SE weighting arm for example, is subjected to a final quality inspection through the measurement of the spring forces of all load-bearing components. Each item is also inspected for visual defects. Only when all inspections have been passed does the product receive a serial number. The production order, all individual parts of the suppliers and all measured values can be assigned to the product using this serial number. This ensures 100% traceability for the customer.

At Fellbach, Saurer combines product development, a textile technology laboratory, quality assurance, supply chain management and manufacturing at one location. For the customer, this means the quick and efficient implementation of specific requirements, tailored solutions and the constant availability of mass-produced items.

The biggest challenge here was and remains reducing labour costs for assembly in Germany in order to be competitive on the international market. And doing this while maintaining the highest quality standards. Thanks to the high level of automation, this is guaranteed.

Discover more about how our products are manufactured in our state-of-the-art production facility in our video.