Komax Group demonstrates automation expertise in Next2OEM project with Audi

Since February 2023, the Komax Group has been involved in the Next2OEM research project together with partners from the automotive industry and under the leadership of Audi. Funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy and the European Union, the future-oriented project shows how digitalized, automated wire harness production and assembly can succeed along the entire value chain – from the development and production of the wire harness through to final assembly in the car body.

In the project, a wire harness for the center console was taken from a current Audi vehicle and manufactured automatically. In an interlinked process, the consortium partners have built a technical feasibility demonstrator at the Audi plant in Ingolstadt in an area covering 400m², whereby technology from the Komax Group is used: The fully automatic wire harness manufacturing machines Zeta 640 and Omega 850 with an additional ultrasonic welding station, an automatic twisting unit for the production of unshielded twisted pair wires in sequence, a forming board including housing holders and integrated testing modules, and a robot cell for spiral and spot taping, and attaching clips, as well as an integrated inline vision inspection unit.

During the project period of around three years, numerous experts from the Komax Group contributed their expertise and significantly influenced the success of Next2OEM. The goal was a maximum degree of automation. The advantages of an automated process chain have been clearly demonstrated: Lower logistics effort, fewer manual work, error reduction, shorter response times for adjustments, greater resilience in the supply chain, the reduction of necessary test steps, a continuous data process and – specifically for the consortium leader Audi – an increase in vertical integration while maintaining the same direct material costs. The project will be officially presented today at a media event at Audi in Ingolstadt.

More information on the Next2OEM project on Komax Stories: see an interview with Audi.