Würzburg’s tram operator has commissioned HeiterBlick GmbH to manufacture and deliver 18 new vehicles. These vehicles are five-section modular low-floor trams. They have been designed to suit the idiosyncrasies of a sophisticated infrastructure with steep sections of track and a gauge of 1,000 millimetres. The first vehicles in this series are due to start carrying passengers around Würzburg in 2022. HeiterBlick’s engineering partner is HÖRMANN Vehicle Engineering GmbH. 

The MESA®26 train radio system has been in use in one particularly sustainable setting since 2020 – Austrian railway operator ÖBB’s Cityjet eco, a variant of its Desiro Mainline (ML) multiple units, which is fitted with hybrid battery equipment and thus allows for easy retrofitting with a battery system.

In Norway, the name KARI is synonymous with the new era of passenger information. The system from Funkwerk Systems GmbH ensures that passengers nationwide, from Oslo to Bergen, are supplied with real-time visual and audio information about rail services. ‘The passenger information covers more than 300 stations,’ said Christian Ringler, managing director of Funkwerk Systems. Bane NOR, Norway’s national railway agency, had some specific targets in mind. They wanted to improve passenger satisfaction, but they also wanted to have fully automated control over information output while simultaneously cutting down on manual processes.

Richter+Frenzel (R+F), a specialist wholesaler of plumbing and heating supplies, was setting up a logistics hub in Reichertshofen, a town near Ingolstadt, to be used to supply its branches and trade customers all over the country. A key aspect of this new-build project was a fully automated system for storing and gathering small parts. The team from HÖRMANN Logistik GmbH won R+F over with their intralogistics method. ‘Our concept for implementing the system centres on an AutoStore® small-parts warehouse. A conveyor system connected to it with integrated case erectors and sealers links the picking area to palletising and despatch,’ said Oliver Vujcic, managing director of HÖRMANN Logistik.

Early in 2020, HÖRMANN Digital assembled its first development team, which realised its first project later that same year. This was BugJack, an innovative ticketing tool that has arisen out of a collaboration with HÖRMANN Logistik. The tool is designed to help handle bug reports at customers’ logistics centres. Previously, when a bug report came in, customers would call the service provider. Only then would the error be fixed, usually requiring a site visit by an employee from the service provider. BugJack offers the option to use intuitive and digital methods to report bugs quickly and easily, provide clear tracking of the bug-fixing process and produce documentation that can then be used to help deal with future errors. BugJack is also the basis for further digitalisation of the service process and the integration of additional functions such as condition monitoring and predictive maintenance.

Ströer SE & Co. KGaA, a leading German company that operates internationally and works on marketing for online and out-of-home advertising, is handling this project. The company manages around 300,000 units of advertising space. Ströer commissioned HÖRMANN Kommunikation & Netze GmbH to carry out the extensive electrical and metal construction work involved in upgrading advertising facilities at numerous underground railway stations in Munich and Hamburg.

Automating and increasing the performance of fine sheet press line 2 is a key focus for the HÖRMANN Automotive press shop in Gustavsburg. The production of large pressed fine sheets for structural parts and outer skins has been a core area of expertise for the company for many years. ‘We have invested in new technology to meet the challenges presented by our most recent new orders, such as side panels for light-duty commercial vehicles and driver cabs,’ said Andreas Müller, managing director of HÖRMANN Automotive in Gustavsburg.

In 2020, MAT Maschinentechnik relocated a system to a different factory to improve logistical processes for an OEM in the steel industry. ‘The customer chose to call upon our dependable expertise, having already commissioned us for a number of previous projects,’ said Gerhard Jacobi, managing director of MAT Maschinentechnik.

HÖRMANN Industrieservice GmbH improved takt time at an OEM’s assembly facility and optimised the workplace while taking ergonomic and environmental factors into account. The company worked with the customer to devise a plan that would improve the loading and unloading of two adjacent machines used to process components.