Investments in automated welding technology pay off

AURICH/HAIGER – The medium-sized company Ihnen Stahl- und Metallbau GmbH with registered
offices in the Lower Saxony town of Aurich carries out challenging steel construction projects right across the world. For decades now the company has placed its trust in welding technology on Carl Cloos Schweisstechnik GmbH. By investing in automated welding machines, the steel construction specialists have been able to increase the productivity and quality of their production considerably.

Since its founding in 1967, the Ihnen company has developed from a locksmiths into a world-wide steel construction specialist with around 150 staff. In order to meet the increasing requests from customers in a variety of areas, the company is continuously investing in new machinery. At its site in Aurich, Ihnen today has a production area of about 20,000 m², where it carries out challenging steel construction projects for automorive and aircraft construction, the food industry, the chemical and pharmaceutical industries, power stations, the renewable energies sector, waste management and many other areas.

Its multi-faceted range of services includes special one-off constructions such as, for example, constructing the layout for individual machines or complete production lines, building production halls, hydraulic steelwork and heavy weight stackers. “From planning via construction and production through to assembly, we offer our clients everything from a single source“ emphasises Managing Director Willm Ihnen who, alongside his brother Thomas, runs the family company. “In that way we can react independently of suppliers and be flexible about our customers’ wishes” Ihnen continues.

In addition to the individual projects, which constitute the company’s core business, series production is taking on increasing importance. High numbers of components are being requested, particularly in the field of renewable energy. Our major customers include one of the best known wind power plant constructors. In the immediate vicinity, Enercon manufactures wind power machinery which is used across the world.

Long years of collaboration in welding technology

The company is continuously investing in automation and new manufacturing technologies for welding the large components spectrum. When it comes to welding technology, Ihnen Stahl- und Metallbau entrusts its work wholly and completely to Cloos. Manual welding machines from  Cloos have been used for many years – broadly about 60 altogether. “As we have had very good experience with the manual welding machines in terms of reliability and service, we now do so as well with the Cloos automation“ explained Willm Ihnen. “In contrast to other providers, Cloos comes from the field of welding technology and builds robots for welding technology“ he added.

Overall, Ihnen operates four robot plants produced by Cloos, for welding the widest possible range of components. The series components for wind power plants are principally manufactured for the Type C30 compact system and the Z6 compact cell. The systems have been in operation either since 2008 or 2010. The Cloos cells and systems can easily be integrated into any form of production and the compact layout saves on production space. The modular design allows individual extensions and retrofits at any time. The user-friendly operation guarantees simple, precise and intuitive handling. In addition, the electrics and mechanics for the machines are pre-installed in full, making assembly and maintenance work simple and time-saving.

Large components weighing up to five tons and measuring 7.5 metres in length can be welded on to the third robot machine. Recently, this machine was extended by a second robot with seven axes. The wide reach of the new robot simplifies and speeds up the welding of complex components, as it can be guided around corners or into niches quite easily.