FOCUS ON PRESS HARDENING
Above : An AP & T press hardening tool .
To sound out the market , it contacted AP & T ( an early specialist in developing production lines for press hardening ). For years , the two companies kept in touch sporadically without it resulting in any tangible business . That lasted until 2012 , when GEDIA sent out an invitation to negotiate .
“ GEDIA was interested in potentially investing in its first press-hardening line . When the meeting was over , we had an order for three complete lines , which was naturally a positive surprise ,” said Michael Hunger , AP & T ’ s director and head of sales and marketing Europe , as well as key account manager for GEDIA .
The three lines became operational between 2014 and 2016 ; one in Attendorn and two at the company ’ s production facility at Nowa Sol , Poland .
“ It was a technically challenging project that provided useful experience and sparked the motivation to continue developing and testing new press-hardening technology together ,” explained Hunger .
Burkhard Vogt , GEDIA ’ s group director of engineering , agreed .
“ It was an exciting project . We resolved challenges together and managed to get really good results . We also developed and deepened our collaborative relationship , became closer and established new , useful contacts in different parts of the companies ,” he explained .
Industrialisation of TemperBox ® for partial press hardening
In 2014 , GEDIA was looking for a partner to help commercialise and industrialise a new partial press-hardening innovation , TemperBox ®. At that point , it was a prototype technology . GEDIA once again turned to AP & T .
“ I contacted AP & T ’ s sales manager , Kent Eriksson , whom I got to know while working on the press-hardening lines . I wanted to see how we could develop the TemperBox ® technology together ,” said Vogt .
To become a commercial product , the technology needed to be tested in industrial conditions . Following initial testing at AP & T in Ulricehamn , AP & T was given the assignment
The greatest technological challenge was integrating two new innovations , AP & T ’ s servo-hydraulic press and TemperBox ®, into the same line . Image : GEDIA .
to build a try-out line with an integrated TemperBox ® for small-scale testing and manufacturing in Attendorn . The results were very promising .
When GEDIA received an order for partially press-hardened parts for one of Germany ’ s major car manufacturers , it needed a new industry-scale line for serial manufacturing . It was the start of a highly interesting project that would push the limits of press-hardening technology .
“ Thanks to the successful process and product development , we decided to design a line for mass-manufacturing using TemperBox ® as an integral part of the equipment . It was a prerequisite that production would continue without extending cycle times ,” said Vogt .
Stephan Gante , GEDIA ’ s group director
TemperBox ®
AP & T ’ s TemperBox ®.
With TemperBox ®, individually defined areas of press hardened components can be fully hardened to maximise strength while the other individually defined areas remain soft . This is to achieve the desired ductility and / or to facilitate post processing such as joining or mechanical cutting , allowing designers and manufacturing engineers to work more freely without considering costly reinforcements , cycle time-intensive hardening processes or other tailored solutions . TemperBox ® is a fully commercial and globally available product , industrialised by AP & T together with GEDIA .