The Turkish company
Ak-Pres, which was founded in 1990 and is part of Küçükoğlu Holding, manufactures structural parts for global automotive OEMs. It has facilities in Bursa and Sakarya, and has been working with the German press manufacturer
Schuler since 2016, when the latter undertook the first engineering calculation for its future customer.
In 2018, Schuler commissioned a 1,600-tonne servo press. Later in 2022, another servo press was delivered, this time with a press force of 2,000 tonnes. In September 2024, Schuler received a third commission for the construction of a TML4-1600 with a bed length of 6,100mm and bed width of 2,500mm. This is not a servo-type press but one with a conventional link drive.
As part of this commission, Schuler will take care of the entire engineering for the system, assembly, commissioning, and final acceptance as well as the complete management of the project. A transfer unit and blank loader from Schuler will also be integrated into the system on site.
The order was placed in September 2024, and the individual parts of the press are expected to be delivered to the northwest of Turkey by August 2025, with assembly scheduled to start immediately. Final acceptance is planned for November 2025, after which the press is expected to commence production.
Like the servo press delivered in late 2022, the TML4-1600 also belongs to the Triton series from Schuler. Triton presses are based on a modular system that allows the customer to configure their press to exactly meet their requirements. Furthermore, the user interface of the Triton presses and the operation of tools such as ‘Optimizer’ and ‘Smart Assist’, have been designed to ‘help operators maximise output’.