With delivery periods of weeks rather than months, the crankshaft manufacturer Feuer powertrain succeeds in conquering the European market in less than ten years and advancing into the group of world leaders. The key to success: The consequent departure from the previously standard production of crankshafts on special machines. Instead, the production lines consist of machining centers - such as the horizontal HEC 630 D from Heckert, a subsidiary of the Starrag Group - which make production fast, flexible, high quality and ultimately profitable.
Crankshaft production is considered as the supreme discipline in metalworking. Hardly surprising, since this key component of an internal combustion engine requires 20 to 50 machining processes until it is ready for use - depending on the size and demands of the respective motor. Feuer powertrain produces cast iron and forged crankshafts 300 – 1,400 mm in length in small and large series for conventional car engines from VW, BMW, Audi, Ferrari, Jaguar, Maserati, GM and others, but also for the high-end 12-cylinders of Bentley or Rolls-Royce. They are highly sought after, not just in the automotive industry, but also in trucks, industrial engines, ships and generators.
The approximately 650 employees at the company's HQ in Nordhausen, Thuringia, produce up to 1.5 million crankshafts per year and supply customers all over the world. Further growth will come from the new plant in Tunica, Mississippi, USA, which is commencing production this year to supply the American market. A manufacturing plant in Asia is to follow and, in Nordhausen too, further construction is planned.
And so the success story continues. Which is not too surprising, since company founder and namesake Dieter Feuer, his partner Bernd Gulden and CEO Oliver Wönnmann founded the company in 2003 to revolutionize crankshaft production with their new company "Feuer powertrain". Their goal was to conquer the market with high flexibility and speed, and to be the market leader in Europe no later than 2010 - a goal they have achieved. Feuer powertrain, with a turnover of roughly 150 million euros annually, is now among the four leading vendors worldwide.
Flexibility conquered the market
Modern crankshaft production takes place on machining centers of the Starrag Group
Standard machines and in-house processes
Over 300 machine tools are in continuous operation in Nordhausen, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 42 of them come from Heckert, which is part of the Starrag Group, a global technology leader in precision machine tools. They have been working together since 2007. Fikret Ersindigil, Head of Process Optimization, recalls: "That's when we began switching production to processing centers. For a rush order we urgently needed three machines for drilling and milling, and Heckert was able to supply us with them immediately." The machines in question were CWK 500 D horizontal centers, which Feuer powertrain integrated into a semi-automated stand-alone solution for the urgent small series. "We were able to fulfill this order and gain experience with Heckert machines at the same time", Fikret Ersindigil explains. After all, he and his colleagues were still on the lookout for suitable equipment suppliers for their new concept. "An early attempt to transfer the establishment of a production line to a machine tool manufacturer as a turnkey project didn't meet our expectations", reports the process specialist. "So for the next line, we decided to design and develop the manufacturing processes ourselves. For this, we needed powerful, reliable base machines."
Powerful and reliable
They found the right partner with the Starrag Group, as Hubert Singer confirms: "Our cooperation in the area of CWK machines showed us that we can rely on this supplier and that the machine concept is perfectly adapted to our production philosophy." So Feuer powertrain equipped the next line with the successor of the CWK 500 D, the HEC 630 D, which had just been launched on the market at the time. The horizontal, four-axes machining center belongs more to the class of the smaller, dynamic range of Heckert, but due to its "XXL travel paths" in the axes already provides a gateway to the medium-sized segment. In the past, this was expressed as well in the machine designation – HEC 500 XXL. Today it bears the name HEC 630 D, although the machine data was further optimized in regard to the customer benefit: The working space offers a clamping area of 500 x 500 mm and allows a workpiece interference range diameter of 1,000 mm. The pallet can be loaded with heavy components weighing up to 1,000 kg. Digital AC servo drives in conjunction with pre-tensioned ball screws with double-sided bearings provide a high dynamic range in the linear axes. They permit speeds of 100 m/min in connection with accelerations of 10 m/s2 in all axes. The working spindle is optionally available as a motor spindle with speeds up to 20,000 rpm or - for increased torque - with a hollow shaft motor. The NC rotary table has a direct drive with 100 rpm thus also guaranteeing shortest positioning times in the B-axis.
However, the performance data are of secondary importance at Feuer powertrain, Fikret Ersindigil explains: "We only use a fraction of the spindle power. Of more importance to us are the axis accelerations and quick tool changes to reduce unproductive downtimes. The simple operation of the tool magazine parallel to machining is also ideal for us." Of particular value to Fikret Ersindigil is the high process reliability and availability of the Heckert centers as a basis for high quality and profitability. He stresses: "The machines have a very stable construction; they last forever for our applications. At least we have machines that have been in operation around the clock for eight years and still show no signs of significant wear and tear."
