PDF [2.5 MB] - Kolbenschmidt Pierburg AG

Newsline
Elegant: the Audi A8, equipped with a magnesium variable intake manifold from
Pierburg, is the largest limousine produced by the car maker from Neckarsulm.
Magnesium intake manifold for Audi’s flagship
Concepts as formula ...
(Continued from page 22)
a half years. Normally such a process
takes at least a year longer. This success
was also helped
by the very
positive cooperation
between development
experts at
Neuss and productionspecialists
from the Nettetal
plant.
Karl Schmidt had
an excellent team
athisdisposalin
Karl Schmidt
Neuss, with Hans-Ulrich Kühnel as the
manager of the intake manifold department,
Hans-Jürgen Ritter, project
manager for the intake manifold of the
V8 engine, the design engineer Uwe
Kontschack and Manfred Steiner who
carried out engine tests and performance
measurements at Pierburg’s
engine test department.
This team was
backed by qualified
productionspecialists
from Nettetal:production
foreman
Hans-
Gerd Delißen
who had acted
as prototyping manager
during the development phase of
the Audi intake manifold (and has now
retired), Lars Baumeister and Robert
Freudenberg in Nettetal responsible
for quality assurance in production
complemented the team. Special emphasis
was laid on a strategy of simultaneous
engineering, with the design
office, tool manufacture by the company
Schaufler and own production
activities in Nettetal taking place practically
simultaneously. For instance,
the production department often gave
the intake manifold department in
Neuss recommendations on specific
production aspects to make certain
that the product could actually be produced
economically at a later stage.
Development and production of the
Audi intake manifold benefited significantly
from experience gained in earlier
projects. In the words of Baumeister:
“Pierburg is currently the systems leader
in the field of magnesium intake
manifolds. We have managed to produce
an intake manifold of high density
while keeping the wall thickness small.
It is unlikely that any of our competitors
will be able to achieve this since
they lack the production
experience
with magnesium.”
Nearly
20,000 V8
intake manifolds
have
been delivered
to date.
Audi certainly appears to
be more than satisfied with
the quality of Pierburg’s products
since the successor of the V8 intake
manifold, the Audi-S intake manifold, is
already being manufactured.
23
ATAG investment
Basis for
growth
Neckarsulm. KS Aluminium-Technologie
AG (ATAG) has taken another important
step towards becoming one of
the world’s most advanced aluminum
foundries. The topping-out ceremony
for the new foundry building was celebrated
in one of the production halls
on 22 November 1999. Persons attending
this ceremony included Volker
Blust, the mayor of Neckarsulm, Jochen
Hahn and Dr. Peter Neu, both
members of the executive board of KS
Aluminium-Technologie AG and Georg
Liebler, member of the executive board
of Kolbenschmidt Pierburg AG.
The company has spent approx. 100
million German marks on this project,
this being the biggest investment ever
made by KS Aluminium-Technologie AG.
The expansion of production capacities
will create about 150 new jobs at ATAG
which currently has 610 employees.
Planning activities for the new lowpressure
foundry with adjacent processing
building got under way in January
1998. Expansion of the production
area then commenced in December
1998. Old buildings were torn
down and replaced by new, light halls.
Construction work should be completed
by March 2000.
A building area of some 9,000 square
meters will be available for the new,
advanced smelting plant as well as the
low-pressure foundry with up to 18 casting
cells. Engine blocks for BMW, VW
and Porsche will largely be produced
in the modern, two-storey halls.
With its new low-pressure foundry, KS
Aluminium-Technologie AG has once
again set new standards for business in
the region – a fact which was emphasized
by the mayor of Neckarsulm, Volker
Blust (front l) during the topping-out
ceremony on 22 November 1999.