Liebherr Hausgeräte GmbH, Germany

Cut-to-length line.

Liebherr is one of the world’s largest construction machinery manufacturers with 42,000 employees. The company is an expert in numerous technical fields. Cooling and refrigeration units for both private and professional use are one of the Group’s 11 divisions.

Problem/challenge:

Today refrigerators are more than just functional household appliances. They are design objects which communicate lifestyle. Liebherr Hausgeräte Ochsenhausen GmbH, with its around 2000 employees specializes in premium refrigerators.

The quality standards for all of the parts processed are correspondingly high. Premium products must be free of any surface defects, in particular. However, only carefully cut and stacked parts can be processed to manufacture perfect refrigerator housings. That is why gentle stacking was a key issue when searching for a new cut-to-length line for the panels. The system also needed to deliver high output in order to supply the Bulgarian plant, as well.

Solution from ARKU:

A cut-to-length line from ARKU with a decoiler for coils weighing up to 8 tons provided the required blanks. ARKU also developed the solution for Liebherr's greatest challenge here: stacking thin sheets between 0.4 and 1 millimeters thick without any scratches. An air cushion stacker integrated into the cut-to-length line  is up to the challenge. The system blows air underneath the panels as they drop down, essentially providing "padding" as they descend onto the pallets. The machine's rotating shears provide high-precision cuts. The system even processes panels with different characteristics with consistently high quality.