A trusting partnership

A delegation from the Chinese branch WENZEL Measuring Machines Shanghai visited the Dadong BMW Brilliance Automotive (BBA) plant in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, a few days ago. The plant provides cutting-edge automotive manufacturing processes, including for the production of the new generation of the BMW 5 Series Li. It offers BMW's advanced manufacturing technologies as well as logistics, manufacturing and quality management systems at the highest level. When expanding the plant, BMW once again worked hand in hand with its long-standing partner WENZEL in the area of measurement technology.

“When we tested the performance of various measuring devices in the initial phase, we paid particular attention to the stability of the devices and the ease of use of the software. Compared to systems from other manufacturers, WENZEL's measuring machines imported from Germany fully met our requirements,” explains Mr. Zhang, manager at BBA's Quality Analysis Center.

Another competitive advantage of WENZEL was that, as a family company, it was able to respond quickly and flexibly to user and market demands. WENZEL develops tailored measurement solutions based on a precise understanding of user needs. It was finally decided to use a total of six horizontal arm coordinate measuring machines (CMMs) from RA series and an underfloor horizontal alarm CMM RUF to ensure the quality of the finished vehicles. The RUF-CMG is able to measure the entire lower part of a workpiece directly without lifting the product. This saves users a lot of time, whether for measuring an individual component, an assembly part or the entire vehicle.

“We have been using WENZEL's measurement systems for several years. They helped us solve many size and function measurement and analysis problems both in the project implementation phase and in the mass production phase. WENZEL's precise and reliable measurement technology was an important contribution to the market expansion of our products,” says Zhang and continues: “The RA-duplex in conjunction with RUF is our most frequently used measurement system. It is used to test at least 150 vehicles per year and operates at almost full load. We also use the other duplex systems in the RA series very frequently and there are no problems during operation. This saves us a lot of costs in customer service and in the procurement of spare parts. ”

‍

Zhang is also very satisfied with WENZEL's service. This includes WENZEL's software training and customer service. He communicates effectively with the service technicians and was also very well supported during calibration and maintenance, thus ensuring the reliable operation of the measuring devices. WENZEL's solution at the BMW Brilliance Automotive (BBA) plant currently consists primarily of tactile coordinate measuring machines. But BBA also wants to use optical sensors in the near future. “We are looking forward to the new development of optical measurement systems from WENZEL and to deepening our cooperation,” says Zhang with optimism about the future.

“WENZEL's precise and reliable measurement technology was an important contribution to the market expansion of our products”