Posted to News on 16th Nov 2018, 12:00
Lenze starts development of £44m Mechatronic Competence Campus
Lenze laid the foundation stone for its 44 million Mechatronic Competence Campus (MCC) in Extertal, Germany, this October at a ceremony attended by shareholders and members of the founding family. The Campus will be an ultramodern, Industry 4.0 production, development, service and storage site covering 30,000m2. It is Lenze's largest single investment in its 70-year history and will employ some 800 staff when completed in early 2020.
Networking and control systems will be designed from the ground up, based on an SAP environment. The new facility will shorten time to market for its make-2-order products by 50-85 per cent. In some cases, the process will drop from 32 days to only 5 due to efficiencies in material movement and elimination of idle times. It will save 300km of pallets a year, with a 10 per cent reduction in energy and 48 per cent less space required.
Automated guided vehicle (AGVs) transport systems will be used in production, while a modern high-bay storage facility with space for more than 16,000 pallets and over 15,000 containers will be directly connected. Central elements of the facility will be a technical centre to support closer collaboration between all disciplines from conception of ideas to production and sales as well as a laboratory to test new innovations.
Dr Hans-Peter Mertens, Managing Director of Lenze Operations GmbH says: "We are creating one of the most ground-breaking mechatronics production facilities in Europe that will be a paragon of efficiency, collaboration and innovation. The digital and highly connected automation will significantly increase time to market, increase flexibility and lead to new offerings in our product and service portfolio.
"The Campus will also become an important reference point for future collaboration projects. Our employees will come together in open-plan spaces to collaborate in agile interdisciplinary teams, developing the best mechatronic solutions and services for our customers around the world."
The Mechatronics Competence Campus will lead as Lenze's knowledge centre with best practice production and innovation rolled out to other Lenze locations worldwide. Learn more about Lenze's automation offering at www.lenze.com.
