business & market news
12
Tube Products International May 2013
Increasing levels of automation
Lander Automotive Ltd produces a wide
range of tube products for OEMs and
Tier One customers.
Founded in 1877 as W Lander & Sons,
the bending and welding technology
used to manufacture various wire goods
was later applied to tube, and in the
1950s the company began supplying
the UK automotive industry with bonnet
props, linkages and headrests. This
culminated in the change of name in
1991 and re-location a year later to
purpose-built premises.
In 2007 the company decided to sell
its subsidiary factories in Hungary and
Germany and to concentrate on creating
a ‘high quality, low cost’ design and
manufacturing centre of excellence in the
UK, focusing resources solely on tube
manipulation and cellular robotic welding.
Tube manipulation within Lander
Automotive is a mixture of single
piece manufacture and integrated cells
featuring bending and end-forming
machines supplied by BLM Group.
These include Smart all-electric CNC
tube bending machines, AST Tube-
Form ELE all-electric CNC tube end
forming machines and AST 30 tube end
forming machines.
“BLM is very strong on tooling design
and has products that complement
our lean manufacturing requirements,”
said Roger Whitehouse, Lander
Automation’s managing director. “We
benefit from flexibility in terms of right-
and left-hand bending on the same
machine; relatively fast changeover
times; and the capability to produce
single parts in sequence ready for
assembly on the line rather than in
batches. Take underfloor heating
pipes as an example: we make small,
medium and large assemblies in that
order, because one of each is needed
for each vehicle build.”
“We have progressively increased the
level of automation within the factory,
and there are now 40 robots involved
in welding, materials handling and
machine load/unload.
“Adaptability to future requirements
is also crucial. We are subject to
vehicle life cycles, so as contracts
come to an end we have to bring
in replacement business, and to
adapt quickly to changing production
requirements as well as the inevitable
on-going schedule changes. We buy
BLM machines not just for current
contracts but for the ones after that, so
performance, flexibility and reliability
are key criteria. Energy efficiency, too,
is very important to us, hence the
attraction of all-electric rather than
hydraulically powered machines.”
Suitable for bending tubes up to 28mm
diameter, BLMGroup’sSmart all-electric
(8 axes) CNC tube bending machines
are programmed via proprietary VGP3D
graphical interactive software.
Possible collision risks are highlighted
and the most efficient avoidance route
can then be selected automatically. Of
particular interest to Lander Automotive,
a recent finalist in the ‘Excellence in
Carbon Reduction’ category of the
National Energy Awards, is that power
consumption is reduced by up to 50
per cent compared to electro-hydraulic
machines.
BLM Group UK Ltd
– UK
Lander Automotive Ltd
– UK
Tube components allocated to the flexible
manufacturing cell
Tube bending under CNC control ensures consistent, accurate bends
Completed assemblies of transmission oil
cooler pipes
