Andritz Soutec, a manufacturer of laser welding systems, has shipped its SOUSPEED laser welding system to India, marking the first installation of this machine in the country. The system is being delivered to Caparo’s facility in Bawal, Haryana, where it will be installed and commissioned.
Andritz Soutec has supplied 16 SOUSPEED systems since 2014 to customers in Austria, Germany, France, the United States, Canada, Mexico, China, and Brazil. The unit destined for Caparo is the company’s 17th system. The SOUSPEED is typically used to produce B-pillars for car bodies but can also weld other automotive parts within its working area.
The Andritz SOUSPEED system is a high-speed laser welding system developed for the production of tailored blanks in the automotive industry. It is designed for linear weld seams ranging from 100 to 600 millimetres in length and is capable of delivering 40 to 100 percent more output compared with existing Tailor Welded Blank welding systems.
The system can weld thin materials, including boron steels such as USIBOR and PHS-Ultraform, through the use of gap-controlled filler wire technology. It offers high positioning accuracy with blank positioning better than 0.3 millimetres, supported by a patented positioning process. Integrated quality control is carried out by the Souvis 5200 system, which monitors welding stability and standards.
SOUSPEED enables fast product changeovers, with the transition between products possible in a few minutes, and maintenance carried out within 10 minutes. Welding speeds reach up to 10 metres per minute with filler wire and 14 metres per minute without filler wire. The system has a minimum cycle time of 1.5 seconds per part and a maximum belt speed of 30 metres per minute. It is also capable of welding small or complex shapes and mismatched blanks.
The system includes the Soublog platform, which is Industry 4.0 compatible and allows unique IDs to be printed on blanks for recording production and quality data digitally. It also supports additional applications such as dimpling and flipping welded blanks during production.
Technical parameters include weld seam and blank lengths of 100 to 600 millimetres, welded blank widths ranging from 300 to 2400 millimetres, and the ability to maintain a weld length to blank width ratio of 1:5.
Andritz Soutec is part of the Austrian group Andritz and manufactures laser welding systems for the automotive industry, with a focus on applications such as Tailored Welded Blanks.
