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edwin 02|2003
1
design • engineer • build • drive
02|2003
Edscha inside
IAA 2003
Hiding
sliding door
NEW SLIDING DOOR MECHANISM
Fresh ideas for vehicles.
As a supplier of movable systems, we’ve got a feel for what’s essential for vehicles. Together with our ability to
design complete vehicles, and with fresh ideas, our path into the future invariably looks good. And hence some
matching extras can come along too. Like extras that smell nice. But leave that to others to supply.
www.edscha.com
EDITORIAL
edwin 02|2003
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Open up!
central feature of corporate culture at
Edscha is openness. Honest and time-
ly communication is something we
care about deeply, both in-house and towards
the general public and of course our customers. That’s one of the reasons why we have
edwin, now appearing the second time.
Coincidence or not – many of our products
also center on ‘openness’. Hinge and convertible roof systems from Edscha have for decades now been providing dependable access
to cars. In that time, the demands made on
cars have risen dramatically in every respect.
Nowadays, it’s comfort above all that’s the
clincher for the buyer. We haven’t shut our
eyes to that fact either – instead we set ourselves the task of opening up new prospects
in our niches for our customers.
In this edition of edwin we’re presenting
a few of our ideas for discussion. For example
ideas for more convenient opening systems:
ranging from the next-generation door hinge,
the Notch Stop (pages 11 and 22), and an
electrically-powered rear lid developed by us
(page 14), to the alternative sliding door
mechanism that adorns the title page (page 18).
We’ve developed new approaches elsewhere too: specialists from IVM Automotive
helped, for example, to develop the existing
Junkers opposed-piston engine into an unusually efficient, lightweight, inexpensive and
clean two-cylinder design for a wide range of
applications (page 16); and they pondered how
our customers could exert a favorable effect
on the production costs and weight during the
development process itself (page 12).
More details of all this can be found in this
issue – or can be heard at the Edscha Group’s
4th Symposium in November. Its motto?
“OpenMinded”, what else!
On that note, enjoy reading it!
A
IMPRINT
Publisher:
Edscha AG,
Hohenhagener Str. 26–28,
42855 Remscheid
Coordinator: Christiane Nadol
Publishing House: corps Corporate Publishing Services GmbH,
Schanzenstraße 56,
40549 Düsseldorf
Editors: Wilfried Lülsdorf,
Michael Drosten
Project Manager: Stefanie Dodt
Art-Direction: Guido Koch, Köln
Cover Photography: John
M. John
Photos: Adam Opel AG, Audi
AG, Manfred Bernhard, DaimlerChrysler Nutzfahrzeuge,
Dorint AG, Edscha AG, John M.
John, Lars Langemeier, M. Dannenmann, Meilenwerk, Smart
GmbH, Ssangyong Motor,
Volvo Car Corporation
Lithography: F+S GmbH
Printing: Druckerei Tannhäuser
Publication dates: twice a year
CONTENTS
BUSINESS
5 News
Financial results, new joint venture in China, 4th Edscha Symposium
8 When the Machine came to Man
40 years ago Edscha opened its first branch plant in Bavaria
9 Sharper profile
IVM Automotive picks up the pace with a new structure
PRODUCTS
10 Edscha inside
The Group’s contribution to new vehicles launched at the IAA 2003
12 Lightweight doesn’t have to be expensive
IVM Automotive helps to keep costs down on lightweight concepts
14 Built-in drive
Edscha’s electric decklid increases drivers’ comforts
PROJECTS
16 Junkers for Asia
The opposed-piston engine for the 21st century: light, cheap, clean
18 Hiding sliding door
Without guide rail the sliding door becomes presentable
PROCESSES
20 Design from Germany
The IVM Automotive Design Center offers the entire design portfolio
22 For the next generation
Edscha invests in the future of hinges with a new metal-cutting line
24 Save without roof
From coupé to convertible using technical calculation
BOULEVARD
25 News
On drive-in movie theaters, elevators and wild animals crossing
26 A journey back in time
A ramble through Germany’s car museums
4
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2002|2003 Weak mar-
kets and other adversities could do little to hold up the
Edscha Group this past financial year.
DIN ISO EN 9001: 2000 AND VDA 6.2
duction of the BMW Z4 and the Smart
Roadster tops caused sales of convertible roof systems to shoot up 30 percent to 189 million ( 145 million).
Thanks to numerous production launches, the Driver Controls division sharply boosted sales by half to 68 million ( 45 million). With 30 million,
the smallest division, Sliding Roofs for
Trucks, was also the only division reporting a slight dip in sales over the previous year ( 32 million) – but given a
very weak market it still turned in a
satisfactory performance.
In the face of these efforts, the
Edscha Group with little fanfare simultaneously prepared to meet coming challenges – with a new capital structure
(edwin 01
|
2003 reported), the reorganization of IVM Automotive (page 9), the
building of a factory in Mexico and new
Tacking against the wind
IVM Automotive
certified
espite contrary winds in the sales
markets and a rough climate in
the motor vehicle industry in
general, the Edscha Group attained its
sales targets in fiscal 2002
|
2003
(through 30 June) and extended its market positions. Between July 2002 and
June 2003 the Group sales were
948 million; this is an increase of
22 percent over the previous year
( 777 million), and almost exactly the
level envisaged since the beginning of
the year. The new division, Vehicle
Design, established by the acquisition of
IVM Automotive in July 2002, contributed 108 million to total sales.
The Hinge Systems business remained stable at 553 million (previous
year 555 million); the dramatic decline of the Brazilian real prevented reporting higher sales. The launch of pro-
joint ventures in Japan and China (page
6), and many new products (pages 10,
14, 18), orders and ideas. The future can
come now – with any weather.
D
Increasingly complex technology, the rising quality awareness
of car owners, and sharp competition require that automotive
component suppliers and service providers ensure highest quality across all processes. IVM Automotive takes this seriously.
After one year of preparations, in spring 2003 all locations and
business fields of the vehicle designer were certified to comply both with the amended version of
DIN ISO 9001 from the year 2000 as well as with
the standard VDA 6.2 for service providers. IVM
Automotive is thus the first company in its area of
business to have its processes certified as being
entirely in conformity with the new standards.
INTERNET
New in the web
Going online in the next few days – the new Internet site of
IVM Automotive. Based on the vehicle designer’s new Corporate Design (since the company was acquired by the Edscha
Group in the summer of 2002), the pages will have an entirely
new appearance, a new navigation and, of course, completely
revised or new contents. The purpose of the effort, as of the
entire reorganization of IVM Automotive (page 9):
higher quality of service
from more efficient
structures.
www.ivm-
automotive.com
i
A strong wind at the headquarters in Remscheid
doesn’t bother Edscha much
BUSINESS PRODUCTS PROJECTS PROCESSES BOULEVARD
edwin 02|2003
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6
MECHATRONICS CENTER
Live wires
Electric drives and electronic controls for mechanical components are the basis of most automotive innovations – including
rear lids, parking brakes and convertible roof systems. In
Remscheid, Edscha is therefore about to set up a Mechatronics
Center in the still-young business year 2003
|
2004. The Center
is to serve as interface between the Hinge Systems, Convertible Roof Systems and Driver Controls divisions, to the electrics and electronics experts at IVM Automotive, and not least
to suppliers and customers. Its tasks are to test motors, gears
or electronic components and to qualify them for Edscha
applications, to integrate them with mechanical components
into fully functional units, to initiate and support
cooperation with specialists, and to monitor
customer projects. To accomplish these tasks, the
Mechatronics Center will have full access to the
Edscha Group’s testing stations for entire vehicles, special measuring equipment, and test
benches for components.
JAPAN
Edscha-Ohi growing
The joint venture of the Edscha Group established in January
2003 in the Japanese city of Yokohama is developing at a rapid
pace. Though initially the joint venture with the local hinge
manufacturer Ohi Seisakusho Co., Ltd., only targeted the
development and sale of hinge systems, as of 1 July, EdschaOhi Co., Ltd., has appreciably widened its scope of business:
now it also looks after the interests of the Convertible Roof
Systems and Driver Controls divisions in Japan – this is the
first step by these divisions into the world’s third largest car
manufacturing country. The workforce of the joint venture is
growing to keep pace with the tasks: Edscha-Ohi currently
employs eight people; in
the business year
2003
|
2004 which has just
commenced it is planned
to take on another three
employees in Sales, Design
and Quality Assurance.
NEW JOINT VENTURE IN CHINA
Edscha goes East
Anhui Edscha Automotive Parts Co.
Ltd. (AEA) is the Hinge Systems division’s response to the booming Chinese
automotive market.
Since mid-June, Edscha AG has been
running a second joint production ven-
ture (50:50) with AEA in Hefei in
Anhui province. Shanghai Edscha
Machinery Co. Ltd. (SEM), the first
joint venture of the Group in China, has
grown so fast since it was founded in
1994 that it will soon reach the limits of
its capacity. At present, SEM produces
easily six million hinges and door
checks annually, thus serving around 30
percent of the Chinese market for passenger car hinge systems. With the new
joint venture this market share passes
the 50 percent mark.
AEA is located around 450 kilometers west of Shanghai in the vicinity of
major automobile plants. Under the
name Jiang Nan, the factory previously
was one of the principal competitors in
the regional market for door hinges and
was not privatized until early 2003. The
technological strength and worldwide
presence of the Edscha Group persuaded the new owners to serve the Chi-
nese market jointly with Edscha in future. AEA currently supplies almost five
million hinges and door checks annually, mainly to Volkswagen and General
Motors.
Processes and product quality will
soon reach Edscha standard, and output
and sales will thereafter grow by at least
20 percent annually. AEA will then also
supply other Asian markets, including
the Japanese joint development and
sales venture Edscha-Ohi Co., Ltd., in
Yokohama, launched in January 2003.
In the medium term, AEA will additionally manufacture pedal boxes and
parking brakes for the Driver Controls
division.
The Edscha Hinge Systems business
division, producer of some 250 million
hinges annually, with 19 production
facilities in 13 countries, is the world’s
leading supplier of hinges to the automobile industry.
Chinese employees at AEA familiarize themselves with Edscha products
edwin 02|2003
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11–21 September 2003 (9/10 press days)
IAA INTERNATIONAL MOTOR SHOW
PASSENGER CARS • Frankfurt/Main
9 October 2003 PRESS CONFERENCE
ON FINANCIAL YEAR 2002
|
2003
• Steigenberger Parkhotel, Düsseldorf
16 October 2003
MEET@ FH WIESBADEN • Campus
Career Contact Fair, FH Rüsselsheim
23 October 2003
CONNECTA • Campus Career Contact
Fair, FH Regensburg
29 October 2003
W & I TAG • 6th Siegen Economics and
Engineering Day, Uni Siegen
5 November 2003
HOKO • Campus Career Contact Fair,
FH München
17 or 18 November 2003
BONDING KARLSRUHE • Campus
Career Contact Fair, Uni Karlsruhe
18–20 November 2003
4TH EDSCHA SYMPOSIUM • Dorint-
Hotel An der Messe, Cologne
8 or 9 December 2003
BONDING AACHEN • Campus Career
Contact Fair, RWTH Aachen
10–19 January 2004
N.A.I.A.S. • North American International
Auto Show (Detroit Motor Show), Detroit, USA
21 or 22 January 2004
BONDING KAISERSLAUTERN • Cam-
pus Career Contact Fair, Uni Kaiserslautern
27 or 28 January 2004
BONDING BRAUNSCHWEIG • Campus
Career Contact Fair, TU Braunschweig
January 2004
COMPANY AND INDUSTRY CONTACT
FAIR • University of Applied Sciences
(HAW), Hamburg
February 2004
HALF-YEARLY REPORT 2003
|
2004
4–14 March 2004 (2/3 press days)
74TH GENEVA MOTOR SHOW • Geneva,
Switzerland
26 or 27 April 2004
BONDING BOCHUM • Campus Career
Contact Fair, Ruhr-Uni Bochum
ovember is mostly a dreary
month. The world outside is
grey, car sales sag, and most
automobile designers and procurement
managers retire to the four walls of their
offices.
But not this year! For the fourth time
since 1995, 1998 and 2000, Edscha AG
is inviting selected customers from the
ranks of car manufacturers and automotive component suppliers to attend a
technical symposium, which will be
held on November 19, 2003 (conference
day), in the Dorint An der Messe (at the
trade fair), Cologne.
Edscha IVM Automotive
EVENTS
4TH EDSCHA SYMPOSIUM For many years Edscha has
been dependably opening vehicle doors, lids, hoods and roofs.
In November for the fourth time we invite our customers to
open up too – to our latest ideas relating to vehicle bodywork.
Taking as our motto “OpenMinded”,
on this day we intend to make our product and development skills tangible in
the field of doors, hoods, lids, roofs and
complete vehicles – they have been greatly expanded since the purchase of IVM
Automotive in July 2002. We will present
our freshest ideas and put them to
discussion. In-depth contributions by
outside speakers and a panel discussion
will complement the program. The symposium will be chaired by Franz W. Rother, editor-in-chief of the leading German automotive industry journal “Automobilwoche”. Following the day program, Edscha invites the participants to
attend a joint evening event – but we’re
keeping it a surprise!
Personal invitations will be sent out
in the course of September. Overnight
accommodation has been reserved at
Dorint An der Messe (at the trade fair),
Cologne for both the evening before,
Tuesday, November 18, and for Wednesday, November 19. If you do not receive
an invitation and wish to attend, please
contact us at info@edwin.de or phone
+49. 2191.363-363. We’d be happy to
see what we can do for you.
Open for Edscha?
N
OpenMinded
4th Edscha Symposium
Cologne, 18 – 20 November 2003
Franz W. Rother,
editor-in-chief
“Automobil-
woche”
8
employs approx. 1,200 people on a factory site
of 47,000 m
2
. During the last business year,
plant revenues came to about 225 million,
equivalent to almost a quarter of the Group’s
entire sales – and a no less important factory
in the region’s economy today than in the sixties. By the time the plant celebrated its silver
jubilee in 1988, it was already – according to
Franz Josef Strauss, then prime minister of
Bavaria – “one of the most successful industrial developments in the Bavarian Forest”.
LEAPS AND BOUNDS
Since 1986, the plant owes much of its success
to the addition of a new business division:
Convertible Roof Systems. At the request of
BMW, Edscha – as a specialist in moveable
connections – assumed responsibility for the
production of the roof linkage for the first
Series 3 convertible. These days, Hengersberg
produces some 65,000 soft and hard tops a year
for four different car models – an impressive
figure and yet only half the division’s entire
production. Four more plants have since been
set up around the world; a fifth is currently
being built in Mexico.
At the Hengersberg division headquarters,
85 design engineers provide for the future: a
well filled order book means the Hengersberg
convertible roof production is booked out for
years to come. No doubt many there glance
upwards through the open roof in gratitude.
Rafael Zelek
hank Heaven for forty years of
Edscha Hengersberg. Church dignitaries such as the Abbot of the
nearby Niederalteich Monastery and the
Bishop of Passau were among the first to
give the start-up their blessing on June 7,
1963: “May the plant bear abundant fruit
for all who work here.” Fritz Eberle, then
mayor of Hengersberg, also rejoiced at the
prospect of a rich harvest on the day “the
Machine came to Man”. And the machine has
indeed brought wealth to the region.
LONG TIME COMING
It was almost a century before the descendants of company founder Eduard Scharwächter dared open a plant so far from their
roots in Bergisch Land. The reasons lay
somewhat closer to home: a lack of space and
manpower prevented the Company from expanding in Remscheid, while the border region
in the East offered plenty of
both. As a result, the fifties had
seen many thousands of people
migrate to the industrial regions.
Even the 25 jobs (later 70) initially offered in hinge production
(3,600 m
2
of operating area)
meant a considerable boost to
the region.
Four decades and several
expansions later, the plant now
40 YEARS AT HENGERSBERG In June 1963, Edscha
opened its first branch plant. For the people of the Bavarian For-
est this meant jobs – for the Edscha Group the birth of the Com-
pany’s most important out of today’s 24 plants around the globe.
When the Machine
came to Man
T
THEN AND NOW
These days Hengersberg is the
headquarters for the Driver
Controls and Convertible Roof
Systems division. Hinge system
production capacity is also
significant.
edwin 02|2003
9
he ability to respond even more quickly and efficiently than before to custo-
mer requirements – this was the intention of the Vehicle Design business division
(IVM Automotive) and also the reason for its
new organizational structure. Their aim: consistent use of specialized know-how and
resources throughout all locations.
Since May 2003, IVM Automotive has
been subdivided into five business fields:
Complete Vehicle Development, Design,
Vehicle Body and Interior, Samples and Prototype Manufacturing, and System Development and Integration, with the latter comprising the segments Calculation and Simulation,
Electrics and Electronics, Engine/Drivetrain/
Chassis, and Testing.
MATRIX RELOADED
IVM Automotive will continue to focus in the
future too on developing complex modules
and complete vehicles including project control and coordination. The new feature: every
location will have access to the know-how
and services of all the business fields on the
spot; the skills available in every single business field will however be concentrated at a
central location and coordinated from there.
The business field Complete Vehicle Development for example is located at Bad Friedrichshall; Design and Electrics and Electronics are mainly at the Rhine-Main location;
Vehicle Body and Interior, Samples and
Prototype Manufacturing, and Engine/Drivetrain/Chassis predominantly in Bad Friedrichshall; and Calculation and Simulation
plus Testing in Ingolstadt. Sales and Customer
Support operate on the basis of key accounts
for all locations. The opportunities for IVM
Automotive on the French market are current-
ly being analyzed from Edscha’s French location, at Les Ulis.
“The new matrix organization forges links
between locations that have previously
worked largely independently of each other.
This will create synergies with which IVM
Automotive will continue to expand its market position”, says Managing Director Ulrich
Mellinghoff, commenting on the reorganization of the 1,000 or so engineers and technicians in Germany. “As an efficient engineering partner, we will also be offering to a
greater extent contents to the OEM as opposed to external capacity reserves. That will
make the use of our services easier to plan for
our customers – both OEM and system
manufacturers – from the cost angle”, says
the former BMW manager. The positive
responses from the customers confirm that the
vehicle designers are on the right track with
this new setup. Christina Kaulhausen
PRECURSORS
Ulrich Mellinghoff (53, left) has
been the spokesman of the
management since March
2003 and is in charge of the
Sales and Engineering fields.
He is assisted by Frank Braun
(43), who as managing director
has been in charge of the commercial aspects and the locations since April 2003.
IVM AUTOMOTIVE After the takeover of IVM Automotive
by Edscha in the summer of 2002, nine in-house teams
worked to raise the profile and structure of the vehicle designer. The results have been implemented since May 2003.
Sharper profile
T
ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
Locations
Wolfsburg
■ Complete Vehicle
Development
■ Design
■ Vehicle Body and Interior
■ Samples and Prototype
Manufacturing
■ System Development
and Integration
VW
Rhein-Main
Les Ulis (France)
Bad Friedrichshall
Stuttgart
Sindelfingen
Ingolstadt
Munich
Ford, Opel
PSA, Renault
DaimlerChrysler, Porsche
Audi, BMW
Business areas Key accounts
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