Chiron Opens Advanced Machine Tool Plant
Their new Precision Factory is the most advanced production facility in Germany.
Posted: November 19, 2019
Chiron Group (Neuhausen, Germany) celebrated the official opening of their new Precision Factory with a large number of guests from industry and politics. The building was constructed specially for the assembly of new machine series which combine productivity and precision in an unprecedented way. Optimized assembly and logistics processes in the plant will also ensure shorter delivery times. With a maximum annual production capacity of 400 high precision machining centers, the nearly 150,000-sq ft Precision Factory in Neuhausen, Germany, is currently the most modern machine factory in Europe. Costing more than $38 million and completed in just 15 months, the greenfield building is the largest single investment in almost 100 years of the company’s corporate history.
According to Dr. Markus Flik, the company chairman of the board of management. “The combination of productivity and maximum precision is what makes our new machine series so unique – and unique machines need a unique factory.”
In planning and equipping the new factory, IT experts and production planners sought to maximize digitalization of the machine production process in order to achieve high productivity and traceable assembly quality. The plant layout is designed for optimal material flow with logistics spine for all flows of people and materials; centralized final assemblies, technical offices and logistics areas; and central order picking for machines and systems. The plant operation was also designed to be paperless. “The digital assembly folders and logistics bookings are important milestones on the road to a paperless factory,” a company spokesman said.
A pick-by-light system helps the order picker to access stored parts quickly and securely. For testing and quality assurance purposes and as a reference point, the delivery state of the machines is documented through what the company refers to as a digital fingerprint which contains all data related to each machine. Also, the Precision Factory makes an important contribution towards climate protection; waste heat produced by the machines during test runs is used to heat the factory. In fact, the plant environment is controlled through a Smart factory cockpit for managing air-conditioning, lighting, and camera systems. The new central logistics department at the plant combines their Precision Factory with the existing assembly halls to form an integrated campus. The large and future-oriented project was successfully completed without delays or budget overruns, the company reported.
“Here at Chiron, we are counteracting the currently difficult market environment through state-of-the-art machines and higher productivity. Over the last few years we have purposefully invested in further training of our skilled workforce and we are now well-equipped to produce our new series in Neuhausen,” summarized Dr. Flik. “We built the factory specially for our new machining centers, the 16 and 25 series, currently available on the market. New machine designs will follow. The highly modern factory will satisfy the special requirements relating to precise assembly of these highly accurate machine tools. With our 16 series machining centers, our customers today produce such complex components as battery cases for electric vehicles, aluminum and structural components for the automotive and aerospace industries, and implants for the medical technology industry. The new series are proving popular on the market and represent our path to the future.”
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