HBM seal two-year exclusive deal

Citation

(1999), "HBM seal two-year exclusive deal", Assembly Automation, Vol. 19 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/aa.1999.03319dab.019

HBM seal two-year exclusive deal

Keywords Automotive

HBM's ambitious plans for the process monitoring and control market have been boosted by an exclusive two-year agreement that has just been signed with Johann A. Krause UK Ltd, a leading systems integrator in the automotive sector.

Krause builds assembly equipment for most major vehicle manufacturers in the UK including Ford/Visteon, Jaguar and JCB.

"Despite gloomy post-recession predictions across the entire UK manufacturing sector, measurement and control markets within the sphere of automation are experiencing healthy growth", says Mike Johnson, sales and marketing manager at HBM UK.

One area that is accounting for HBM's advance into these fields is press-fit, an assembly technique that avoids the use of adhesives, fasteners or expensive welding and finishing techniques (Plate 5). It involves two carefully proportioned items being pushed together to build up components. It is interesting to note that there are about 1,400 such operations carried out when a typical car engine is assembled.

Plate 5 An example of a press-fit process in today's advanced automotive assembly sector

With careful monitoring and control the method can create a traceable chain of responsibility, ensuring 100 percent product quality assurance without the need for destructive testing. The control systems can also detect faulty assembly procedures or badly proportioned items to avoid damage to the assembly equipment and expensive downtime. Typical payback times for HBM's press fit monitoring equipment can be as low as two to three months.

One of the first installations that HBM and Johann A. Krause have completed in this UK sector is at Visteon's soon to be commissioned Chassis System Division in Swansea.

As part of the HBM's aggressive plans to target these particular niche markets the company is planning a series of road shows where systems integrators will get hands-on experience of the benefits of their press-fit monitoring equipment. HBM are also prepared to loan out their equipment in order to prove its benefits in "real-world" applications.

In the next 12 months HBM plan to capture 30 percent of the process monitoring and control equipment market in the UK. The main source of HBM's expansion will be assembly machine builders in the automotive, aerospace, pneumatic and hydraulic systems, light manufacturing and plastic components sectors.

For further information, please contact Mike Johnson, HBM UK, Harrow Weald Lodge, 92 Uxbridge Road, Harrow Weald, Middlesex HA3 6BZ. Tel: +44 (0) 181 420 7170; Fax: +44 (0) 181 420 7336; E-mail: mikej@hbm-uk.co.uk; Web site: http://www.hbm.de