Porsche and Schuler are jointly building an innovative press shop for the automobile production of the future. Representatives of both companies signed the contract to establish a joint venture at the beginning of September Tuesday. The European Commission has already given the green light for the joint project. Approval by other competition authorities is still pending.

The purpose of the joint venture between Schuler and Porsche is a so-called Smart Press Shop as part of the networked Industry 4.0. The new press shop will use pioneering technologies to produce sophisticated body parts with a high degree of flexibility; the focus will be on aluminum outer skin parts and the production of small batch sizes.

"It's all about using future technologies and innovations to make processes even more efficient. The close integration of design, development, body planning, tool production and production within the Porsche Group will have a significant impact on the quality of our sports cars," says Albrecht Reimold, Member of the Executive Board for Production and Logistics at Porsche AG. Schuler CEO Domenico Iacovelli said: "Porsche and Schuler are jointly implementing a press shop that sets new standards in two respects - in terms of performance in industrial production and in the digital networking and readability of data streams throughout the entire production process."

Use of machine learning

The consistent further development of process expertise in the field of metal forming is achieved, among other things, through the end-to-end networking of production data and the use of machine learning. Porsche and Schuler are setting new standards with topics such as predictive maintenance and intelligent production control.

Schuler's new Servo 20 technology is used in the joint venture. It is designed to increase the maximum output from 18 to 20 strokes per minute while reducing energy consumption per stroke and component. According to Schuler, a newly developed die change concept also enables small batch sizes to be produced with a high level of efficiency. Other features of the new line include an optimized servo drive for the progressive presses and a reduced space requirement.

The joint venture will be run as an independent GmbH & Co KG. The shares are held equally by Schuler AG and Porsche. Porsche and Schuler are each investing tens of millions in the joint venture. More than 100 new highly qualified jobs will be created. The location of the new company has not yet been decided. The aim of the choice of location is to significantly reduce CO2 emissions by minimizing the logistics routes for body parts.