Small and medium-sized companies are also benefiting more and more from automation. A “hidden champion” from Lower Bavaria is now relying on a KUKA robot cell to weld fans for drying systems. First of all, the workforce had to be convinced of the use of the new technology.
25 years ago, STELA Laxhuber GmbH was looking for automation solutions for fan assembly . “At that time we wanted to set up our welding shop with robots of a different design,” reports Thomas Laxhuber, who runs the family business with 235 employees in the third generation. “But the experiment had crashed . The robots couldn’t really help us with demanding welding tasks, created more problems than they solved and found almost no acceptance among the workforce. The idea was good, but the time wasn’t right. We have abolished the robots again. ”
The family business builds drying systems that remove moisture from products such as grain, maize or wood and is run by Thomas Laxhuber. © KUKA Group
Keep production in your own company
STELA designs and manufactures drying systems in all conceivable sizes and fields of application for customers from all over the world . The buyers for this come from the agricultural sector, wood-based materials processing, from the food, animal feed, pulp and paper industries or from the water industry. The heart of such drying systems are huge fans that set a flow of warm air in motion to remove moisture from products such as grain, corn, wood or recycled plastic . This makes them durable and creates the conditions for their further processing. “The specialty at STELA is the high level of vertical integration,” emphasizes Laxhuber. “To continue to be the world’s leading drying technologyWe want to manufacture the essential components of our machines ourselves as far as possible. We see this as an essential prerequisite for the best possible quality and a long service life for the systems. “
The Acceptance of New Technologies: The Second Attempt
After 25 years, Sven Pietsch, Head of Purchasing, dared to make a new attempt together with Thomas Laxhuber : “We were under pressure,” recalls Pietsch. “The order books were full and at the same time it was becoming increasingly difficult to find suitable specialists for our demanding but also comparatively monotonous welding work in large-scale production.”
At the medium-sized company STELA, the newest employee is a robot. He supports the domestic production of large drying systems. © KUKA Group
The paths of KUKA and STELA then crossed at a trade fair in Hanover . “At all times, we had the feeling that we were dealing with the right people and the right technology at the right time, in the right place,” Laxhuber notes. Now the robot welds the radial fan in about 50 minutes and prepares it for balancing and painting. “Work in progress”, says Utz with a smile. “Welding by hand takes around a day. With the robot cell, we are now in the fast lane in production. In terms of time and quality. Because the weld seams fit so perfectly in a short time that cannot be done by hand. Now we are producing in quantities that we would never have dreamed of and were able to cope with the order situation again. ”
This content was originally published on the KUKA website.