The American company FORD has awarded FAGOR ARRASATE a very large order, toward increasing its stamping capacity for car bodies at its Romanian factory.

Specifically, the order is worth about €20 million, to supply a large, robotized tandem press line and another testing line for dies. This order is even more significant for the Spanish firm given that is was achieved in a tough contest against its major worldwide competitors.

The new line to be installed in Ford’s factory begins with a mechanical press possessing 2,500 tons of capacity. After that comes a single action link drive press with 1,600 tons of capacity, and finally another two lines with 1,000 tons of capacity each. Additionally, the installation includes a format destacker and an oiler; above all, it will be completely robotized in order to transfer parts that are being molded from one press to another until, at the end of the line, the part is completely finished. The innovative robotic line “Wave line” from Fagor allows an entire press line to be synchronized, with the robots and machines working continuously and in a coordinated fashion, avoiding the habitual stoppages of conventional lines.

The head press will be 4.6 x 2.5 meters in size, in order to produce large parts, and will have a potential energy of 1,100 kilojoules. To achieve this it will incorporate a 450kw motor. The following presses will be the same size, and all have moving systems in order to simplify and facilitate changing dies, which can weigh nearly 50 tons.

This is not the first time that FAGOR ARRASATE has sold robotized lines to FORD. Recently, the company installed a line at the North American manufacturer’s Australian plant. The good performance of this line has led FORD to continue trusting in the technology and know-how of FAGOR.