Powertrain assembly
Lift engines, gearboxes and axles out of the carrier, rotate them and join them to the body – steady enough for the fit to hold without rework.
Industry
Industrial manipulators for the automotive industry
In vehicle production every second counts – and so does every movement repeated twelve hundred times a day. Our manipulators take the weight off the assembly line and leave it the guidance: engines, gearboxes, steering knuckles and windscreens are not lifted, they are guided.
- Payload of the standard unit
- 125 kg
- Slewing range at the workstation
- 360°
- Horizontal reach
- 3400 mm
01 — Applications
Hold the takt without spending a back.
Typical handling tasks in Automotive — and what they demand technically.
Glazing and add-on parts
Pick up windscreens, rear windows, doors, tailgates and bumpers with vacuum grippers and set them without stress.
Machine loading at tier suppliers
Place castings and forgings into turning, milling and pressing machines without reaching into the danger zone.
High-torque fastening
Torque arms absorb the reaction forces of the tool – the operator only guides, the arm holds back.
Battery modules and traction packs
Feed heavy, sensitive and expensive modules in the correct orientation: slow final approach, defined seating force, no tilting moment.
Container and bin changes
Swap small load carriers, mesh boxes and chip bins at the line without stopping it.
02 — What matters
What Automotive demands of handling technology
Takt time is not the problem – repetition is
An engine block weighs eighty kilograms. Once a day that is exercise; four hundred times a shift it is sick leave. German law sets no fixed limit for manual handling – it requires an assessment, and the key indicator method published by the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health weighs frequency, posture and working conditions alongside the load itself. A manipulator addresses all three: it reduces the required force to a few newtons, holds the load at working height and turns a twisted posture into an upright guiding movement.
Why there is no robot on that line
An industrial robot is faster and more repeatable – as long as nothing changes. In vehicle assembly something always changes: variants, options, launches, rework. A hand-guided manipulator needs no program, no guarding and no release for a new variant. It is ready at the same station on the day of the changeover. That is why manipulators stand where people decide and robots stand where the movement is fixed.
Between carrier and body
The gripper is the part that decides between success and trouble. It has to take up the geometry, secure the orientation, reach into the body and stay slim enough itself. We design it for the task – mechanical, pneumatic or vacuum – and include its own weight, centre of gravity and tilting moment in the sizing of the unit. That is why our payloads always include the tool.
Launch, change, phase-out
A vehicle programme lives seven years; a workstation often longer. Our units are built so that gripper, control and reach can be changed later without replacing the base machine. The modification service documents every change – which matters when someone asks years later why the arm is two centimetres shorter than the drawing says.
03 — Device catalogue
Start the device finder
Equipment for Automotive
Design, payload and reach — the shortlist for this industry.
Lifting equipment · Manipulators
01
Articulated Arm Hoist
The jointed arm for millimetre-precise handling.
View device
Lifting equipment · Lifting axes
02
I-GO Lifting Axis
Compact power for vertical lifting.
View device
Lifting equipment · Assembly aids
03
Torque Arm
Takes the reaction torque – your hands stay free.
View device
Lifting equipment · Conveyor systems
04
Rail System
The whole area covered – in X and Y.
View device
04 — Services
From analysis to inspection
01
Workstation Analysis
We look at the workstation before we talk about equipment.
View
02
Sizing & Custom Solutions
Load, reach, cycle time – plus grippers for anything without a catalogue entry.
View
03
Lifting Technology
Lifting equipment, manipulators and balancers for industry, medical technology and logistics.
View
04
Statutory Inspections
Recurring inspection of your equipment to German accident prevention regulations.
View
05 — Frequently asked questions
Frequently asked questions from Automotive
What payload do I need for engine assembly?
Take the part weight plus the gripper. A four-cylinder short block ranges between 60 and 110 kg depending on build stage, and a vacuum or form gripper adds another 8 to 25 kg. For most powertrain stations that makes a 125 kg class unit the right choice. What matters is not peak load but the tilting moment from load times reach.
Can a manipulator replace a robot on the assembly line?
Not where the movement is always the same – there the robot wins. Wherever variants, rework or visual inspection are involved, the hand-guided manipulator is the more economical answer: no programming, no guarding, no downtime at a variant change.
How long does changing over to a new part take?
If the pick-up stays the same, it is one movement. If the geometry changes you swap the gripper – the base unit stays. That is why we design gripper interfaces to be exchangeable from the outset.
Are your units suitable for battery modules?
Yes, with an adapted control. Traction packs require a limited approach speed, a defined joining force and positive securing against tilting. We solve that through the control and a form-fit gripper rather than through friction alone.
06 — Applications
Tasks from this industry
Application
Fitting gearboxes on the assembly line
The weight is not the problem. The repetition is.
Read the case ApplicationSupporting torques up to 600 Nm
The torque goes into the arm – or into the person.
Read the case ApplicationSetting battery modules into the housing
A module that knocks is not damaged. It is quarantined.
Read the case ApplicationMounting wheels on the assembly line
Lifting is not the work. Aligning is.
Read the case
07 — Guides
Read more
9 min
01
Sizing a manipulator
It is not the payload that decides, it is the moment.
Read the article
9 min
02
Ergonomics at the workstation
There is no limit value. There is a duty to assess.
Read the article
8 min
03
Manipulator or robot?
The robot wins on repetition. People win on variants.
Read the article
Contact
We do not know your shop floor yet — but we know the task.
One short conversation usually settles more than three quotations. Call or write — you will reach an engineer directly.