BM Battery Machines
BM Battery Machines: From 3-Man Operation to World Market Leader in 10 Years

"Because we no longer have to maintain our data manually, we save a considerable amount of time. The processing and reprocessing of individual parts may take just a few minutes, but that quickly adds up to half an hour for an entire parts list, assuming there are no typing errors."

Rainer Prokop, Design Manager at BM Battery Machines

The Complete Story

Design on the fly

The success of BM is due to several factors. One of these was the decision in 1999 to use OneSpace Modeling to build an integrated environment featuring OneSpace Modeling, Sheet Metal, Model Manager, as well as PPC integration.

"By automating processes—made possible by linking the PPC and design environments with automatic parts lists—we spend far less time doing duplicate work. This means we save several hours of work per part list," reports Rainer Prokop.

Because BM stores information on third-party parts in the PPC system and maintains data on in-house parts in the design environment, CoCreate's partner TECHSOFT created a two-way link. "Thanks to this integration, projects can be processed much quicker," explains Prokop. "I estimate that it takes us 20–25% less time to redesign machines."

Up-to-date information from the design department is available to employees in purchasing and production, which is of particular importance for projects with short deadlines, where design, production, and commissioning overlap. This was particularly important, for example, in the case of the high-tech assembly facility for HGV batteries at Banner Batterien.

"The order was placed at the end of January, but commissioning had to be completed at Banner in August," explains Prokop. "Despite the most meticulous preparations, minor changes had to be made to the complex system consisting of approximately 200,000 parts. Without dynamic modeling and the efficient machining of extremely large components, it would have been a problem."

Forty different battery types are produced at the Banner plant. The overall plant consists of enveloping and stacking machines, the element buffer, the recently developed cast-on strap machine GD201 with automatic loading and unloading station, the boxing station, as well as smaller stations and conveyor belts. The GD201 was adapted by GD Technologies, a subsidiary of the BM Group, based on a solution developed by its Turkish partner Batek to meet Banner's specific requirements and to optimize throughput.

"Although our partner had developed the cast-on strap machine in other CAD systems, the further development did not pose any problems. We do not have to agonize over the development history," says Prokop. "Since then, Batek has licensed the first OneSpace Modeling workstation, which is already up and running."

Future success does not happen by chance. BM is already planning to double turnover by 2008. The company has already begun to secure a foothold in further markets with its new warehouse automation system using powerful crate manipulators. A fully automatic crate stacker, which can stack or de-stack up to 4,000 standard crates per hour, has been developed in order to automate material flow. This is more than twice the capacity of comparable systems on the market.

"Re-using the skills of our engineers is something that enables us to expand our range of products," says Prokop. "But we should not underestimate the re-use of components. The disk wheel on our BMV 10, the de facto standard for enveloping machines, was an important cornerstone in the development of the crate manipulators. Thanks to dynamic modeling, the ease of re-use and re-processing is one of the key strengths of OneSpace Modeling."

At BM we benefit greatly from production-based design. Production errors in sheet metal processing have been eradicated since Sheet Metal was introduced to record the bending tools, bending radii and materials used and to create blanks with exact drill holes and dimensions. The re-inputting of data and the associated costs and sources of error are a thing of the past. At the same time, the assembly time has been reduced, as components that previously had to be welded can now be assembled more quickly, thanks to drill holes. The error rate resulting from collisions is now almost zero, which significantly reduces reworking.

Prokop is extremely pleased: "I estimate that we save at least 15–20% in assembly times, which of course reduces costs. From my point of view, that proves that CoCreate's approach involving 'Rich Master Models' and automated, integrated processes through system integration, leads to economic advantages for high-tech manufacturing companies. We have definitely profited."

Company Profile

When BM Battery Machines started to build special-purpose machines based on Elbak technology for the battery industry in 1996, no one would have dreamed that just a few years later it would become the world market leader in enveloping and stacking machines for the battery industry. The fastest and arguably the most intelligent enveloping machine currently on the market can produce up to 220 pockets and process up to 500 plates per minute.

With an export ratio of 98%, around two-thirds of the sales volume is generated outside Europe in countries such as Mexico, South Africa, India, and China. The successful BM Group today generates an annual turnover of approx. €5.5m and has around 50 highly qualified employees.

For more information, please visit: www.bm-batterymachines.com.

The fastest and arguably the most intelligent enveloping machine currently on the market can produce up to 220 pockets and process up to 500 plates per minute.