EDAG PS wins AEE Innovation Award 2017 with media free gripper system
AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING EXPO awarded the AEE Innovation Award on 31.05.2017 for the first time. The choice was to be made between 15 outstanding innovations from exhibitors who pursue the multidisciplinary approach in the "body construction process chain”.
EDAG Production Solutions GmbH & Co. KG introduced a media free gripper system for body parts at the AEE. "Innovations stem from ideas, joined together with solutions. We come to the AEE to present our solutions to the industry, and to receive constructive feedback for further developments. The fact that our media free gripper system impressed the experts is praise and recognition for the entire team," said Rainer Wittich, Managing Director of EDAG Production Solutions GmbH & Co. KG The system created using additive manufacturing (3D printing) is locked and unlocked by a robot. The advantages are high sustainability due to energy-free operation, other media or their components like directional control valves, initiators or cables are no longer necessary. Added to this is a simple assembly and the easy exchange of components after crash. Standardised assemblies minimise stocks and specific parts are printed as required, which saves life cycle costs.
The Innovation Award as prize for outstanding innovation in the car body manufacturing
As part of the Call for Innovation, all exhibitors of the AEE could submit their application with a viable innovation to the organiser to become an “AEE Innovation Star”. The submitted products and services represented progress in every area of car body development, engineering, component manufacturing, assembly and surface treatment. From these, advisory boards first selected 15 pioneering developments that were exhibited at the fair as “AEE Innovation Star 2017” and were presented during the guided tours.
The prize was handed over by Franziska Moennig, Executive Director Presidium Automotive Circle, Prof. Christoph Wagener, Director Research & Product Development at Kirchhoff Automotive and Dr. Thomas Rudlaff, responsible for the aluminium bodyshell at Mercedes Benz Cars Daimler AG to the winners elected by the OEM and Supplier Advisory Board, in equal parts as industry visitors and congress participants.
“All nominees keep up with the innovation and it was not easy for us to make a decision,” said Prof. Christoph Wagener, spokesman of the Supplier Advisory Board. “Our goal was to create with the AEE Innovation Award an award that reflects our recognition of the exhibitors of the AEE, who shape the future of the industry with their ground-breaking developments.”