Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles has started using a new Schuler (www.schulergroup.com) servo press line at its factory in Hannover, Germany.

The line consists of six individual presses with a total press force of 91,000kN; the line is driven by 15 torque motors with a total rating of 600,000Nm. With a speed of 17 strokes per min, the line will be used to produce a range of parts, including those for the T6 Volkswagen bus.

The line is loaded by a pair of robots that take blanks from the input stack and load them on a conveyor belt. When producing four parts per stroke, the line has an output of 68 parts per min.