Fraunhofer IFAM in Stade

Solutions for the adaptable production of lightweight structures

Cost-effective, flexible, and quick – industries such as the aircraft, commercial vehicle, and car manufacturing sectors are increasingly opting for production environments that easily adapt to changing customer demands. Since September 2010 scientists and engineers in the Automation and Production Technology branch at Research Center CFRP NORTH (Forschungszentrum CFK NORD) in Stade have been developing modular solutions for realizing adaptable production.

Automation allows flexibility

The focus is on the automation of processes that need to adapt continuously and with high precision to dimensional variation, different components, changing production procedures, and human work tasks. Fraunhofer IFAM researchers use robots mobilized via linear axes or vehicles that cooperate with each other and with actively shape sensing and shape adjusting fixtures.