Grammer is realigning its commercial vehicle seat plant in Haselmühl, Germany, through its Mayflower project.
“We want to create a blueprint for ‘Seat Production 4.0’ with the aim of turning Grammer into the world’s most advanced manufacturer of commercial vehicle seats,” said Grammer COO, Jens Öhlenschläger.
“With project ‘Mayflower,’ Haselmühl will become our lead plant, from which all Grammer locations worldwide will benefit. In addition, many of the planned innovations will help us to achieve our sustainability goals.”
Nine fields of action as the project framework:
The basic structure is composed of nine fields of action, whose initials form the word ‘Mayflower’: from ‘M’ for ‘Mastered and Predictive Processes’ to ‘L’ for ‘Leadership in Digitalisation’ and ‘R,’ which stands for ‘Resilience to External Influences.’
Sub-projects have been defined and an investment programme established.
“We will be focusing on metal processing, assembly, logistics and our tool centre,” added Haselmühl plant manager, Klaus Bauer.
“In doing so, we are combining tools and technologies from the ‘Industry 4.0’ environment, with our many years of expertise in seat production of the highest complexity and variation.”
Bauer cites as examples a new, 800-ton transfer press, use of driverless transport systems in intralogistics and AI-supported control processes, as well as implementation of a new assembly concept.
“All the innovations we will be implementing here now and in the coming years will help to secure the site’s continued viability,” noted Bauer.
“Accordingly, one key focus is also on workplace design. In this respect, we will be using automation and digitisation options to protect our employees’ health as effectively as possible and to achieve optimum working conditions and levels of safety.
“We already assemble several thousand seats a day in Haselmühl for more than 400 customers, processing over one million parts each working day.
“We will be boosting our productivity significantly thanks to ‘Mayflower’ – and thereby further expanding our leading position in the world market for off-road seats.”
https://www.grammer.com/en/media/product-news/article-view/ausbau-des-deutschen-standorts-haselmuehl-grammer-investiert-in-sitzfertigung-40.html