Lemförder

Flexible production at Lemförder enabled by Assembléon’s AX- Lines

Lemförder Electronic GmbH based in Espelkamp, East-Westphalia, produces electronic and mechatronic modules for the automotive industry. For almost 10 years Lemförder has been using Pick & Place machines from Assembléon. Last year the company decided to buy a third AX-line.

Lemförder Electronic GmbH was founded in 2000, through a joint venture between Lemförder Schaltungs¬systeme GmbH and HÜCO Electronic GmbH. The electronic component supplier has been growing steadily ever since and obtained its ISO/TS16949 certificate in 2002. The company is run by the directors Mr Meier and Mr Strecke. Beginning with 20 employees in 2000, the number of employees has in the meantime increased to 250. Their total revenue also increased tremendously: in 2000 they made a turnover of approximately € 2.5 million and only nine years later they achieved € 28.4 million. In 2010 the company managed to almost double their turnover to € 43.5 million, compared to the previous year.

Lemförder develops, produces and maintains all their products themselves and they regularly solve uncommon electronic and mechatronic challenges for their customers. Each month 400,000 different modules are produced; these include modules for gear change and electronically adjustable steering columns, components for the analogue and digital signal processing, as well as bus systems with the shift-by-wire-technique. Lemförder’s  Customers include well-known car manufacturers in Europe. “Basically all car manufacturers, except Daimler, Opel and Renault, however, Renault have already expressed an interest" said Mr Hüper, production engineer at Lemförder.

The challenge
As an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) supplier, Lemförder guarantees to work in compliance with the legal and technical safety regulations of the car industry. In order to avoid security risks or expensive product recalls, the products have to be 100% reliable. Additionally the company needs to meet the challenging demands of their customers, while taking the cost pressure into account. Finally, an increasing level of production flexibility is required, in order to supply the car manufacturers on a just-in-time basis.  

For the mounting of electronic components, Lemförder has been using Assembléon machines since 2003. The original set-up consisted of one GEM-line, which has in the meantime been sold to HÜCO, as well as a Topax XII, which is still in use today for the production of prototypes. Subsequently, the company bought a Siemens CS-line, in order to increase their production capacity. However, they soon noticed that these machines were not only too inflexible for an increased product diversification, but the increase in demand could not be met due to the lack of space.

The search for a solution to their problem, led Lemförder to Assembléon. At the time Lemförder didn’t exactly know which kind of products they would be producing in the future and in what quantity. Therefore, they were looking for a flexible solution with regard to production and space capacity. On top of that, there were a number of other requirements that had to be met.  According to Mr Hüper the other requirements included: a rapid mounting performance with high quality, high reliability and a change over within a relatively short time.

The solution
The AX-series from Assembléon, for medium to large production series, were tailored to the needs and requirements of Lemförder. The Assembléon machines are reputed for their high-capacity, reliability and flexibility.  With mounting rates of up to 120.000 components per hour and a precision of ±11 µm, these machines have the highest reproducible accuracy in the SMD industry. Furthermore a large spectrum of components from 01005 to 130 x 79 mm, with a component height of 40 mm, can be applied on a panel size of 515 x 390 mm.

The possibility to vary the number and type of mounting heads, allows for the adaptation of the quantity produced and the type of component. This way, both overproduction and capacity constraints can be prevented. The mounting heads have a good dynamic, with little wear and tear and are redundantly designed. They can be exchanged in less than 30 minutes, which minimizes the production downtimes.

With an equal amount of mounting performance, the energy consumption of the AX-series is half as high as that of competitive products. This means that it is not only good for the environment, but also that on a yearly basis, a total of up to € 10.000 can be saved per machine. With rising energy prices, this benefit will continue to play a crucial role in the future. 

Important features of the AX-Series:
• Quality: controlled pick-&-place cycle with an individual placement force control, integrated quality control and traceability of all components.
• Reliability: Robust, independent of environmental changes, 6 σ accuracy owing to substantial diagnostic capabilities.
• Flexibility: Several feeder positions, fast changeover of trolleys, possibility to increase the production capacity on same footprint.
• Cost reduction: fastest machine with highest output per footprint, very low energy consumption, low maintenance costs, operator friendly.


AX-501 with AX-201

The realisation
Based on these advantages, Lemförder bought their first AX-line back in 2007, consisting of an AX-501 and an AX-201. The AX-201 was used for the Odd-Form components and the AX-501 was equipped with eight mounting heads.  Only seven months later, the advantages of the machines became evident – in order to meet the increased production demands, the company bought four additional mounting heads and an extra trolley. This increased the capacity of the line by 50%, without taking up more footprint.

Despite the economic crisis, Lemförder’s production levels continued to augment. In 2009 they decided to buy a second line from Assembléon. By combining an AX-301 with an AX-201, they were able to completely replace the Siemens line and consequently unify the entire train of machines.
 
A year later, satisfied with the quality of the products and the flexibility of the machines, Lemförder decided to extend their production capacity by yet another Assembléon line. Just like the first line, the third line is composed of an AX-501 and an AX-201. The new AX-501 was equipped with 13 mounting heads and in order to have two identical lines, one extra mounting head was added to the first AX-501.

Usually, the installation of a new line takes two days, but: „Thanks to the good cooperation with Assembléon, everything was up and running within ten hours. The technicians know exactly what they have to do and are very cooperative, the customer isn’t left alone” Professor Bosic, Lemförder Team Manager Electronic Assembly, proudly explains.

High performance, good results
Recently the company began to produce components for the environmental technology and medical technology markets. This too is proving to cause no problems with the Assembléon machines. Owing to the reliable Assembléon machines, Lemförder was able to produce 2 million products in 2010. This year they are expecting to achieve 2.8 million. With an average batch size of 100 to 10.000, this means on average, one machine changeover per shift. Thanks to a very accurate traceability function during the entire production process, as well as automatic functionality testing, a FPY (First Pass Yield) of between 99.5% and 99.7% is achieved.

Mr Bleckmann, production manager, tells us „In 2010 we achieved a growth rate of over 50% and mounted more than 400 million components. The machines meet all the requirements that currently exist for a car components manufacturing supplier.”