Production competence: BMTS Technology presents Smart Line concept at 14th ZeMA assembly conference

Turbochargers are an important component of modern passenger car and commercial vehicle powertrains, as they make engines more economical and cleaner. The high-precision and complex components are applied specifically to the respective engine and customer specifications. This requires not only in-depth knowledge of physics and automotive engineering in R&D, but also smart solutions in the production so that the sophisticated products with their high precision and wide range of variants can be manufactured economically.

At the 14th Assembly Conference “Assembly Technology and Assembly Organization” of ZeMA  Zentrum für Mechatronik und Automatisierungstechnik gemeinnützige GmbH on May 4 and 5, 2022 in Saarbrücken (Germany), Mr Helmut Malloth, Head of Technology Global at BMTS Technology, together with Mr Kai Stindt, Managing Director of Plan B Automation company, presented the Smart Line concept, which was developed in-house and has been used successfully for years. This is a modular assembly concept that makes it possible to manufacture all turbocharger variants on one line type. The flexibility thus gained brings advantages not only in series production but also in new developments. At the same time, investment costs for machinery and equipment have been reduced by 30% and more, while cycle times have remained the same.

The Smart Line concept is the result of a complete redesign of the assembly process, which was completed at BMTS Technology in 2019. Driven by the insight that improvements in sub-areas do not necessarily lead to an improvement on the whole, the production process was fundamentally revised. Today, the Smart Line concept is part of BMTS’ leadership ambition in terms of product and manufacturing quality and is therefore being rolled out in all plants worldwide.

Plan B Automatisierung GmbH

The company is a competent partner in the planning and manufacturing of assembly lines. From the initial idea to the delivery of the finished line, Plan B accompanies its customers or supports them in optimizing the production as well as the associated operating processes. Founded 24 years ago and continuously growing, Plan B today employs about 65 people. The internationally active company operates in various segments such as automotive, aerospace, medical care, consumer goods and new energies. For more information, visit www.plan-b-bremen.de.