Aichelin Group, Austria, has signed a cooperation agreement and license contract with BSN Thermoprozesstechnik, Germany, to produce press-hardened steel sheet for the automotive market. BSN has developed an innovative furnace whose walking beam technology allows it to heat laminated blanks or components to temperature within the shortest period of time, then convey them into the press with maximum precision.
Their common service portfolio comprises design, engineering, manufacturing, delivery, and start-up, as well as after-sales service.
For a promising customer, a major supplier in the automotive sector, BSN and Aichelin are already working intensively on a technological solution as well as the actual design for four comprehensive plants.
“The particular challenge with this first project consists in the fact that the customer has demanded two plants for his sites in Europe, as well as one for China and one for the USA, which are to be supplied over 18 months,” says Dr. Thomas Dopler, CEO of Aichelin Ges.m.b.H., Mödling, Austria, who will assume overall project responsibility as an operative parent company.
