Voith Industrial Services Relocates ZF’s Shock Absorber Production

Disassembly in Schweinfurt

Posted on 2016-10-04 by Voith_PressRelease in Automotive // 0 Comments

Relocation of ZF’s complete plant and equipment in building 608, including shock absorber production facilities

Disassembly in Schweinfurt, 300-kilometer transport and reassembly in Eitorf

Sensitive laser equipment to be handled with special care

Long-standing relationship

Schweinfurt, Germany, 2016-Oct-04 — /EPR Network/ — Starting in March 2016, Voith Industrial Services in Schweinfurt relocated the complete shock absorber production facilities from building 608 in Schweinfurt to Eitorf, which is approximately 300 kilometers away, for ZF Friedrichshafen AG.

The disassembly and the reassembly of the production lines, the racking systems and the individual machines were carried out in two steps. While some of the facilities were disassembled and reassembled in Eitorf for trial operation, part of the production continued in Schweinfurt. Only after the project had been ramped up and the team had ensured proper functioning of the equipment at ZF in Eitorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, the remaining shock absorber production equipment was disassembled in Schweinfurt.

On average, 6 to 8 employees of the industrial services provider worked in parallel at each of the two customer sites for 20 weeks to complete the disassembly, move and reassembly as quickly as possible. “We take a certain pride in contributing to ensuring the future production of shock absorbers which are also used in the S-Class,” said Guenter Hampel, Supervisor at Voith Industrial Services in Schweinfurt.

In addition, the industrial services provider was contracted with the coordination of the disassembly of the laser equipment used for shock absorber production. The highly-sensitive laser system had to be transported in special shock-absorbing packaging and reassembled by experts in Eitorf. Voith Industrial Services cooperated closely with the laser manufacturer in this regard.

For more than 20 years, the Schweinfurt team of Voith Industrial Services has provided services to ZF and has demonstrated its disassembly and reassembly expertise as well as precision and flexibility in several projects over this period of time. For example, at the beginning of 2015, 81 machines were relocated within one of the customer’s factory buildings in Schweinfurt. In 2016, Voith Industrial Services helped at short notice when two production lines and a sandblasting facility were relocated from Schweinfurt to Levice and Trnava in Slovakia. “Our customers trust us very much and regard us as a reliable service provider,” says Simone Berger, Site Manager at Voith Industrial Services in Schweinfurt.

Since ZF’s factory building in Schweinfurt previously used for shock absorber production is now empty, the core removal activities may begin. Recently, Voith Industrial Services has been awarded this job, too. The industrial services provider will remove any remaining power supply cables, a concrete partition wall and some office partitions as well as platforms, on which the hydraulic system used to be located. In the end, the factory building is to look as if it was new and it will have only two gates then. Hybrid production facilities are to be installed in the building.

The Voith Industrial Services team also completes different kinds of moves and relocations for many other automotive suppliers in Schweinfurt.

About Voith Industrial Services:

Voith Industrial Services is one of the leading providers of technical services for key industries such as the automotive, rail, energy, chemical and petrochemical industries. In 2014/2015, the company generated sales of €1.0 billion with about 17,200 employees at about 200 locations worldwide.

Matched content

Editor’s pick