Nissan in the UK stepping up the pace with AP&T´s help

By automating one of their existing press lines with AP&T´s help, Nissan Sunderland Plant is planning to increase the company´s production capacity by about 900,000 large car body parts a year. Nissan´s facility in Sunderland is one of the largest car plants in Europe with annual production of around half a million cars. As a means of keeping up with growing demand, plant management decided in 2012 to increase the capacity of the plant´s own press shop. AP&T supplied a turnkey solution with a destacker, ten SpeedFeeders and an automated system for changing tools and grippers. The pressing rate has increased by 45 percent compared to manual operation, and there is still potential for improvement. Total cycle time has also been reduced thanks to a less complex tool design. The automatic system for changing tools and grippers has cut set-up times in half. This is also true of the noise level in the press shop, which has greatly improved the work environment.