The heart of the Italian automotive industry beats in Turin. The Fiat Group was founded here in 1899, and the Lingotto district is largely shaped by it. The Lingotto building, with a test track on the roof, was once the largest car factory in the world. Fiat-Chrysler, now part of the world's fourth largest car manufacturer Stellantis, still produces cars in Turin. One of the factory halls where Maserati manufactures the "Quattroporte" and "Ghibli" models is only a few hundred meters away from Kuka's Italian branch.

Two PMC production halls are also located just a few hundred meters from the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) plant in Melfi. The Italian automotive supplier specializes in the production of body parts and is involved in the construction of the Fiat 500X, Jeep Renegade and Jeep Compass car models, among others. PMC's production is largely automated: More than 100 Kuka robots work in modular cells. They apply sealant, weld, check quality and process components.

The collaboration between PMC and Kuka began when the manufacturer was looking for a strategic and reliable partner to realize a new fully automated production line. The requirements that Kuka was confronted with in Italy set the pulse of manager Osvaldo Casetta racing. "In short: a 54-robot line with just six manual operators had to be able to meet the requirements of two different vehicle models," says Casetta, describing the initial situation.

The biggest challenge was the tight deadline. PMC wanted a maximum of seven months to pass from the start of conception to the first produced part - an extremely short time frame.

There were also other important points to consider: "Production had to be designed for 20 shifts per week, adapted to the needs of the customer Fiat-Chrysler." Just-in-time production only allowed a short maintenance break on Sunday morning, "the buffer to the main production line didn't allow any more leeway," explains Casetta. "Our focus was therefore on maximum availability; PMC could not afford a production downtime under any circumstances." In a nutshell: "We wanted a zero-defect strategy for a turnkey solution," says Vincenzo Marchesiello, Production Engineer at PMC in Melfi. "A sustainable concept, robust design and reliable products were the basic requirements for this."

Smart software: rehearsals until the real thing

Kuka hit the PMC nerve with the right automation portfolio. The modular solutions consisting of cells, robots, application packages, user-friendly software and the associated service matched PMC's just-in-time philosophy. The Kuka team simulated the future production environment down to the smallest detail in order to be able to implement all the specifications by the start of production, thus optimizing the processes and workflows.
There are quite a few of these at the PMC plant: Nuts and brackets are welded onto components of various sizes, ranging up to almost the length of a car, sealants are applied and various inspection processes ensure the high quality of the work carried out. Even the transportation of the components between the cells is largely automated. Support is provided by multi-axis turning units that bring massive body parts into the correct position.

In conjunction with the sophisticated control software, very small parts such as seatbelt reinforcements, nuts for electronic wiring or pins for fastening the interior plastics are welded onto large parts such as wheel arches. In the end, the entire body interior of the three vehicles is produced in this way. Just seven months after the contract was awarded, PMC delivered the first components to Fiat-Chrysler, which were produced with the help of the KR-Quantec robots.

A partnership that lasts

Automated production is paying off for PMC. "With the modular welding cells from Kuka and the support of the planning team, we are able to keep pace with the ever-increasing market requirements," emphasizes Marchesiello from PMC. Consistently high quality with maximum productivity and low costs - this is the mix that PMC believes is the reason for the success of its collaboration with Kuka.

Accordingly, PMC also relies on Kuka's support for its plant in Brazil: a total of 78 robots from Augsburg work in the fully automated production line. All parties involved attach great importance to defining the cooperation as a partnership of equals. "We will soon be expanding the production of components for the Jeep Compass and are looking forward to having Kuka on board again," says Marchesiello.

Sebastian Schuster, Global PR & Content Manager at Kuka