References

Wheel assembly plant for the Mercedes car factory in Kecskemét

The project below is previous reference work by our founders, carried out before E4Solution was established.

The plant was built as a greenfield investment in 2011 to supply the Mercedes factory in Kecskemét. Its capacity is 1 million wheels per year.

As a greenfield investment, the plant's design process began with defining the level of automation and selecting the machine suppliers, followed by designing the layout. Based on the final layout we determined the required energy demand and the simultaneity factor, and contracted for the necessary energy volumes accordingly.

Once the design process was complete, we ordered all the equipment and started the mechanical works with the selected suppliers. We built out the incoming power supply, the complete internal electrical system, the compressed air network (in a loop configuration), the IT and telephone networks (also in a loop configuration), the server rooms with backup solutions, and the access control and security systems. Together with the fire service we designed the required sprinkler system, which was installed for us by the building's contractor.

Once the building was completed, installation work began. Installation started with the automated wheel warehouse with 4,500 storage positions. This was followed by installing the machine line in the specified sequence. Separate machine foundations were built for the measuring equipment. After installation was finished came the commissioning of the machines, during which the machine manufacturers aligned the operation of their equipment and the data communication with the MES and ERP systems, and finally the ERP system with the customer's, that is Mercedes's, systems. Fine-tuning of the machines to the products started next, followed by trial production, training and final machine acceptance. The machine line ultimately received full CE certification. The project was closed with a customer audit.

The plant was expanded further in 2017, after the company also won the supply contract for Mercedes's next models. At that point we automated the fitting of TPMS valves, the unloading of tyres and rims, and the application of balance weights. With these steps the production line became fully automated, and operators now work at only one position on the line.

Fully robotised internal pallet handling was also designed together with the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, but it was ultimately not implemented.