Important strategic move for sports car production

Porsche is taking over the toolmaking division of Kuka Systems GmbH with locations in Schwarzenberg in the German state of Saxony and the Slovakian town Dubnica. Under the name of Porsche Werkzeugbau GmbH, the business unit with more than 600 employees will become a fully owned subsidiary of the Stuttgart-based sports car maker Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG. Kuka Systems GmbH belongs to Kuka AG, Augsburg, a world-leading supplier of robot-based automation systems. The takeover is still subject to approval under antitrust law.

“By taking over the toolmaking division, Porsche is making important moves for the sports car production of the future,” says Matthias Müller, President of the Executive Board of Porsche AG. “From a strategic point of view, the integration is a major step for us. There is additionally a decades-long tradition of craftsmanship and technology linking our companies.”

Dr Oliver Blume, Member of the Executive Board – Production and Logistics at Porsche AG, explained the importance of toolmaking: “Innovative tool concepts are enabling us to implement the emotional design typical of Porsche with the maximum possible quality. The employees of our new subsidiary are distinguished by their very high level of expertise across every step of the toolmaking process. We are especially able to profit from this expertise in complex aluminium parts relevant to lightweight design,” said Oliver Blume.

“We are delighted to welcome more than 600 specialists into our Porsche family,” said Uwe Hück, Chairman of the Group Works Council. “I can assure the new colleagues that Porsche – Executive Board and employee representatives together – will ensure that the jobs are safeguarded in the long term. That is what Porsche stands for and also what we stand for.”

The company from the Ore Mountains has a tradition that dates back over 100 years and high levels of expertise in the fields of method planning, engineering design, toolmaking and systems solutions for forming and cutting tools in the automotive sector.

Visitors to the EuroMold Show can see machining demonstrations on a DMG Mori Seiki, programmed with the WorkNC CAM system, creating a Porsche 919 model.

Fast, precise and reliable manufacturing!

The HSC series of DMG MORI clearly focuses on tool and mold making and the manufacturing of mold inserts or dies, with surface quality being the highest priority. Constant process conditions are extremely important because of the long run duration. These parts are manufactured precisely and in the shortest time with HSC30 linear and  HSC 70 linear milling centers.

The Porsche 919 was programmed by DMG application engineers with the support of the WorkNC CAM System in a scale of 1:10 and machined on a HSC 70 linear milling center.

• Material: AlMg4, 5Mn
• Dimensions: 465 x 200 x 125 mm
• Machining time: 60h

The live machining demonstration can be seen on the DMG MORI booth at the EuroMold trade show in Frankfurt Hall 8, booth F10. WorkNC can be seen in Hall 8, booth F22.

WorkNC CAM software is the premier automatic CNC software for surface or solid models in mold, die and tooling businesses for 2 to 5-axis CNC programming. WorkNC is best of breed, complementary CAM software that enhances all design and manufacturing systems by providing the most reliable, efficient, easy-to-program cutter paths, resulting in unmatched productivity and safety.

Vero Software, the specialists in CAD/CAM software development, work hand in hand with experienced tool and die makers – both in development as in customer service. This is the only way to be at the cutting edge of your industry. Therefore, we have specialized in your industry and we are precisely aware of your requirements and turn them into feasible solutions.