CompositesWorld
Issue link: https://cw.epubxp.com/i/866813
NEWS 63 CompositesWorld.com BENTELER SGL, Ort im Innkreis characteristics and strengths within BENTELER SGL. Each has a managing director co-leading the joint venture and each fully supports the company with its broad resources and acumen. e resulting autocomposites production offers capabilities that exceed the sum of its partner companies. Automated, industrialized composites BENTELER SGL headquarters are in the original Ried im Innkreis FCT plant, now expanded to 7,000m 2 and automated for prototyping new production processes (Fig. 6, p. 67). Although low- to mid-volume production is still accom- modated there, CW toured only the produc- tion facility in Ort im Innkreis. e Ried site is typically not open to visitors, because the large 2,000m 2 Technical Center frequently has confi- dential projects running. During CW's visit, a new hoodset for a premium automotive OEM was being ramped to full-rate production. e Ort facility tour begins in its upstairs offices and conference room, hosted by BENTELER SGL's joint managing directors. Helmut Ascher came to BENTELER SGL from BENTELER Automotive in 2014, having served there as a plant manager since 2003, most recently for aluminum structures in Holland, MI, US, and then as an executive VP at BENTELER Automotive in Paderborn, Germany, from 2010. Robert Ernst-Siebert came to BENTELER SGL in 2015, having been with SGL since 2007, first as a market analyst for new business development, then as product manager for ceramic composites and, subsequently, director of sales for carbon fiber and composites. Built in 2012, the 10,000m 2 Ort im Innkreis facility sits on a 42,000m 2 site that offers room to expand, including additional surrounding acreage. "We are not a company that produces 10 to 100 parts," Ernst-Siebert points out. "We are the leading company in terms of high-volume composite components via automated produc- tion, and we offer a full supply chain, from fibers to painted parts." Ascher notes that daily business operations are integrated with BENTELER Automotive, "so we understand and are geared to automo- tive production standards." He adds that profi- ciency in how to ramp production "enables us to be a bit faster, if new materials are required. is is also because SGL is more than a supplier, adjusting materials and completing required development and testing. is makes a differ- ence in our capabilities and speed." FIG. 1 Managing complexity robotically The Audi MSS rear wall (top photo) integrates 27 RTM parts made from 42 preforms and 242 supplied components. Automated assembly cells (middle) and bonding jigs (bottom) complete the module's 17 bonded joints and installation of bonded and mechanical fasteners.