Welding robots Comau for first Foton Daimler trucks in China

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Comau has built an automated welding system for Beijing Foton Daimler Automotive Co. (BFDA), a joint venture between Daimler Trucks AG and Chinese truck manufacturer Foton Motor. The robotized automation solution is supporting Foton Daimler’s production of the first localized heavy-duty truck for the Chinese market, named Actros, which is based on the Mercedes-Benz global platform and uses Daimler’s truck technology.

“We are honored to have been selected by Foton Daimler to work on this milestone which paves the way to localizing its first heavy-duty truck – stated Gaetano Cantalupo, head of the Asia-Pacific countries cluster at Comau -. Daimler is a global leader in the automotive industry, not only because of its large volume of business, but also because of its pursuit of technological advancement. Winning this project is a recognition of Comau’s capabilities, expansion of its customer base and expansion into new business modules”.

Featuring 100% process automation, the new production line is designed to be flexible enough to manage complex models and variable output. The Comau’s welding system will help BFDA meet both current and future goals, including target annual production capacity of 50,000 units.

The customer tasked Comau’s engineering team with mastering the Daimler Integra 6 standard to create an automated, flexible, intelligent, and digital welding line for both the door area and the framework of the instrument panel. The robotics supplier built a system to ensure cycle efficiency and streamline workflows. The welding system features proprietary Comau products, such as RH-Clean, an automatic cleaning roller device that can be used with different types of rollers and pre-hemming tools. It also includes a quality-control vision system that uses QUISS camera detection and is equipped with a kick-in/kick-off process to ensure the quality of the parts after gluing.

Finally, the project uses virtual commissioning technology to help test and optimize the new production line while shortening the actual commissioning time. This reduces labor hours and potential post-site commissioning risks. “Throughout this successful collaboration, the Comau team has played an important role in improving the competitiveness of our products – said William Sparenberg, head of Mercedes Benz Truck Factory -. We are particularly impressed with their expertise”.

BFDA and Comau expect mass production of the high-end Actros truck to start in the second quarter of 2023.

Turin, Italy-based Comau provides industrial automation, collaborative and wearable robotics, autonomous logistics systems, and digital services and products. The unit of automaker Stellantis has more than 45 years of experience, more than 4,000 employees, six innovation centers, five digital hubs, and nine manufacturing plants in 13 countries.

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