Earlier this year, the Japan-headquartered Unipres group, which supplies many of the world’s major automotive manufacturers with pressed car body parts, took delivery of two complete press hardening lines from AP&T. The first of the two lines began operations at Unipres’s UK manufacturing centre in Sunderland at the beginning of 2020, while the second line was delivered to the group’s French plant in Biache Saint Vaast in March.
“AP&T’s reliable technology, extensive experience of press hardening and ability to provide quick service are some of the most important reasons underlying our decision to collaborate with them,” says senior vice president of the Unipres Advanced Engineering Development Centre, Ryoji Maeda.
AP&T technical sales manager Peter Robisch adds: “We were naturally delighted to be entrusted with producing complete solutions that meet Unipres’s high demands for short cycle times and extensive automation. Both of the lines have advanced technology. For example, all of the tooling and gripper changes are fully automated. The lines are also equipped with sophisticated press monitoring, which ensures a consistently high level of quality for the manufactured parts.”
AP&T’s business model – ‘One Responsible Partner’ – which entails the company taking full responsibility for all of the production equipment and having all of the required expertise in-house, also played an important role in the procurement. A further vital aspect was AP&T’s global operations, which allow the company to offer service and spare parts supply wherever customers operate.
To date, AP&T has delivered and installed over 120 press hardening lines all over the world.
For further information www.aptgroup.com
