Actemium ASAS ready to take on the new challenges facing the automotive industry
Actemium ASAS is involved in driving change among car manufacturers by putting in place process automation at factories via automated guided vehicles (AGVs) and battery assembly for hybrid and electric vehicles.
The automotive industry is currently facing what is undoubtedly the greatest period of change in its recent history with hybrid and electric vehicles gradually replacing petrol and diesel vehicles. This transformation is bringing about profound change at manufacturing facilities, which will have to adapt to new more environmentally friendly vehicle designs, requiring production lines to change significantly.
Actemium ASAS is well positioned to face the challenge, focusing on two strategic areas: process automation at factories via AGVs and battery assembly for hybrid and electric vehicles. Actemium ASAS has already completed a number of ground-breaking projects, such as Europe’s first battery assembly plant for Audi Brussels, Belgium, and has now won new contracts in electric car manufacturing, such as the recent order for the Volkswagen factory in Zwickau, Germany and a contract to remodel the production line for the Opel Corsa and its electric model at the Figueruelas plant in Zaragoza, Spain.
The project involves “adapting the Corsa production line so it can manufacture the new electric model, and still remain suitable for the conventional model,” explained Ángela Caravantes, Design Engineer at Actemium ASAS. The company was tasked in particular with designing the decking, “where the engine, steering and transmission are combined with the bodywork.”
At this critical juncture in the vehicle manufacturing process, it is essential to use AGVs, which are responsible for inserting the front and rear axles and the vehicle engine onto the production line.
The machines designed by Actemium ASAS are assembled and tested in its Valencia workshop, where they are approved by the customer. “The installation is tested mechanically and electrically,” explained Miguel Cárcel, Site Manager, “and it is also programmed, to try and reduce factory installation times as much as possible.” Car factories are not ever supposed to halt production, so such changes have to be made in the shortest time possible. “Time frames are therefore very tight for removing old production lines and installing, testing and commissioning new ones.”
Miguel Cárcel concluded by saying, “in the automotive sector globally, all brands are investing and moving into electric or at least hybrid vehicles.”
