The Husqvarna company is a leading producer and innovator of garden and forest equipment. Its tradition, quality and reliability are historically proved and well-known all over the world. Husqvarna uses equipment from the WITTMANN Group in order to modernize the company’s material handling system.
In recent years, Husqvarna has focused on battery-powered products and plans to develop this sector further. Some of these devices, mostly robotic lawnmowers, are produced at the production plant of Husqvarna Manufacturing CZ s.r.o. in Vrbno pod Pradědem, Czech Republic.
In recent years, considerable investments have been made at this production site, including building modernisation as well as production facilities. Today, in Vrbno pod Pradědem, Husqvarna has 85 injection moulding machines with clamping forces of up to 14,000 kN.
The weight of the injection moulded plastic parts produced here ranges between 0.8 and 6,000 g. The products are assembled in a dust-free and air-conditioned assembly area.
As part of its investment, Husqvarna sought a materials-handling solution to optimize production and also benefited the employees. Above all, an automated solution was looked for – one that would guarantee
fail-safe and monitored production.
Based on these needs, the Czech subsidiary of the WITTMANN Group, WITTMANN BATTENFELD CZ spol. S.r.o., was prepared a competitive quotation for a central drying and conveying system.
The task was to connect 12 outside silos with 24 middle-sized storage stations, 45 drying units, 8 gravimetric blenders and 10 undried material sources in the most flexible way. All this equipment was meant to distribute material via 2 coupling stations to 4 production halls. Due to the high number
of drying units, the system also had to be supported with an automatic emptying solution for fast and easy exchange of material for all 45 dryers.
Adaptation of the existing equipment
The production halls as well as the material storage area, have already deployed existing material handling equipment. Husqvarna CZ wanted to integrate the old with the new under a single control system. WITTMANN BATTENFELD CZ, therefore, had to adapt many third-party operational devices, including 80 loaders, 21 dryers, 5 gravimetric blenders, and 2 vacuum pumps.
In addition, various peripheral and new devices from the WITTMANN Group then had to be commissioned and integrated, including 46 new loaders, 6 pumps, containers, controlled take-off adapters, and, of course, the WITTMANN M8 network control system with which all components of
the central system are now managed and controlled.
WITTMANN CZ succeeded in establishing a system in which not only numerous WITTMANN products but also many third-party components have been integrated. An extensive central conveying system was finally implemented, consisting of around 130 vacuum conveyors, 8 pumps, 12 outdoor silos and 24 middle-sized material storage stations. Two coupling stations reliably ensure that the right material reaches each of these numerous in the right outlets at the right dosage. And with the powerful GM 35
pumps supplied by WITTMANN at work, the conveying distance of more than 150 m is not a problem.
The fact that this system has now been working without any problems for two years clearly illustrates that the technical teams of the WITTMANN Group can cope even with the most challenging tasks that require the greatest flexibility. The successful reorganisation of the material handling system and its high reliability helped Husqvarna CZ to make a real noticeable change for the better. With this project, WITTMANN BATTENFELD CZ succeeded in further strengthening the previous good cooperation with
Husqvarna.
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