Following years in the automotive sector, Pro-Tec Engineering, together with their partner KDA were approached by Aeroklas Duys, South Africa to assist them in building a production assembly line for rear bumpers.
The rear bumpers are for two leading global car manufacturers, Ford and Volkswagen, and they will be manufactured for the Ford Ranger and VW Amarok models respectively. These rear bumpers are for both the Ranger and Amarok will be assembled on one assembly line.
Recently Ford and VW committed themselves to a joint venture in the bakkie range models and the assembly line will be installed at the Ford Plant at Silverton, Pretoria.
Pro-Tec Engineering was also recently awarded a seat conveyor system for a well-respected global Tier 1 company. Together with other current projects, Pro-Tec Engineering are well established production line builders in the automotive sector.
Pro-Tec Engineering has recently won contracts to manufacture production assembly line orders in the automotive industry, most recently an assembly line for rear bumpers
“When we were awarded the business from Aeroklas Duys, after months of scheduled meetings, we were excited to start this journey. We offered them a complete turnkey solution for this assembly line. This will be the first time Pro-Tec Engineering together with KDA will be manufacturing one assembly line for two renowned car manufacturers in the global automotive market for their rear bumper product,” said Riaan Bekker, Business Development Manager at Pro-Tec Engineering.
“This production line is world-class to ensure good quality parts. To assemble two different products on one line we needed to ensure our automation and integration must be to the highest level. The process for this line was studied in detail by our engineers to ensure we achieve the end users’ requirements.”
“Our design engineers designed the line in such a manner so as to ensure quality and effectiveness on the cycle time. Within this framework they considered the maintenance crew, who will need to do maintenance from time to time on the line.”
“Every area that the maintenance crew needs to work in, or parts that need to be checked are maintenance friendly and have easy access. Our alignment checking area, which consists of an ABB robot and cameras attached to it, was well designed and passed the customer sign-off milestone with flying colours.”
A section of the part racking and line racking to support the flow of assembling of the rear bumpers for the Ford Ranger and VW Amarok models respectively
“Our part racking and line racking to support the flow of assembling the rear bumpers were well positioned. The 33m double conveyor main line, with up and down lifters at each end was designed with operator safety in mind. The biggest challenge we faced was that the skids with the tooling were designed in China and we needed to take this into consideration when we designed the complete system.”
“The reason for this was that we were not sure if the actual manufactured skid will be exactly as per the drawings they have sent us. But with multiple meetings and discussions we managed to design our line to suit the skids and the tooling.”
“We will be providing our customer with a full set of the project documentation, including of course a spare and wear parts list, risk analytics, electrical designs, pneumatic design, mechanical design and so-on. With quality, safety and efficiency, this line is world-class. We are so humbled to be part of this journey.”
“We would like to thank Aeroklas Duys for the trust they have bestowed upon us to deliver this rear bumper assembly line. We know this will be the beginning of a trusted and good partnership between both companies going forward.”
The 33m double conveyor main line, with up and down lifters at each end was designed with operator safety in mind
Pro-Tec Engineering was established in 1988 and is situated in Uitenhage, Eastern Cape. Pro-Tec specialises in providing turnkey solutions and engineering contracting services in the automotive, tyre and rubber, agriculture, rail engineering and food and beverage industries.
Pro-Tec Engineering has a fully equipped facility and on the shop floor you will find machines including a CNC lathe and milling machines, conventional lathes and milling machines, a high definition CNC plasma cutter, CNC plasma pipe cutting capabilities, a 160 ton press brake and guillotine, an 80 ton metal worker, a pulse TIG machine and MIG and arc welding for carbon and stainless steel.
Amongst the general services offered by Pro-Tec Engineering are the manufacture of material handling and conveying systems, special purpose machines and equipment, structural steelwork and contracting services.
For further details contact Pro-Tec Engineering on TEL: 041 992 3942, email: grants@protecengineering.co.za or visit https://protecengineering.co.za
