Project Panamera

Perfect Cooperation:
IHNEN AURICH / Läpple Anlagenbau

With the launching of the “Panamera” the highgraded brand Porsche was able to tie on to its former success. The youngest member of the Porsche family did a brilliant entry into the market. The sales figures in Germany, USA and Asia support this statement. In the USA alone 1,747 cars have been sold since autum las year. Even though it was more quiet around the car builder from Stuttgard-Zuffenhausen in the last time, he is successfully back with this new product. Porsche is going new ways with the Panamera. For the first time a travel sports car for the whole family has been designed but regarding dynamic and power it remains a Porsche. With four doors and a length of five meter he offers a more spacious interior than former models.

Headed by Läpple Anlagenbau GmH from Heilbronn, IHNEN AURICH participated in the installation of the production plants for the new Porsche. The company Läpple GmbH got the order to provide the installation for the production of the consolidation whereas IHNEN AURICH provided the necessary steel construction for the installation construction. When it comes to the premium brands of the car industry such as Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz and BMW, Läpple has great experiences in plant construction. They are a specialized plant builder for the shell and structural parts in the car body work. This is why VW (the mother company of Porsche) placed an order with the company from Heilbronn. And Läpple Anlagenbau was looking for a steel constructor, who was able to deliver high-quality constructions just in time. Besides, the partner for steel construction had to have experience in integrating steel construction during the normal production processes. What really turned the scales to carry out this big project in cooperation with IHNEN AURICH was Ihnen´s decades of experience in cooperating with the car industry.

The “Project Panamera” was a big challenge for both partners, requiring a technical supreme performance. With the construction of the consolditation Läpple covered all the joining processes in the plant construction of the car industry. They had to get over a big hurdle to provide a welding connection between the special steel and the super high strength steel. A task which was even waved aside by welding institutes. “We accepted the technological challenge and in the end passed it successfully. It was also new territory for us” said Michel Keicher, head of the customer and order management of Läpple Anlagenbau. (Bild: Läpple Anlagenbau GmbH Projekt-Team)

Finally Läpple succeeded in unifying the two work materials, achieving first-class results and providing a further proof for their innovation power.

Little space for complex plants

IHNEN Aurich got the order to plan and deliver the steel construction for the total plant construction and build it into the production sequence. Only for the “Project Panamera” Läpple installed a similar manufacturing hall on 10,000 m² in Hannover. At the beginning of the project Ihnen delivered a.o. the maintenance platforms. In the course of the project there were constant scopes of changes which had to be integrated by IHNEN under difficult conditions. As most of the steel construction had to be installed shortly before the start of production, all the steps designed beforehand at the drawing board had to fit precisely. An absolute neat work was necessary with little space to move.The difficulty: the ceiling of the basement level of the production facility only had a hight of 3.50 meters. The steel construction had to be planned in such a way that the 127 robots would not be limited in their movements and functions and would not damage the material within the production plants. “A sportive challenge for us and in the very end we successfully coped with it” said Tayfun Sentürk, Läpple Anlagenbau project leader.

A logistical supreme performance

Not only the limited height of the ceiling of the basement level was a challenge, also the just in time delivery from Friday night to Sunday needed a logistical supreme performance. “Due to our long-term experience in working for the car industry, we were able to integrate our steel construction into the highly-complex plants”, says Johann Meyer, head of the construction planning department at IHNEN AURICH. To ensure the functioning of all sequences a test run was carried out in the night from Sunday to Monday. The result: the project could be continued on Monday smoothly and without any problems.

“This is what we call quality. Everything fitted. The carrying out of the project was excellent, all planning and logistic requirements were implemented” said Fritz Klenk, head of electrical control technology of Läpple Anlagenbau. (Grafik: Panamera in Zahlen)

Panamera is built in Hannover

The Porsche Panamera is built at VWN (Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles) in Hannover and the shell is delivered to VW Leipzig. In the metropolis of Saxony the vehicles are equipped according to the customer´s demands and delivered into the whole world.

Once again, Porsche has been able to place a sportive luxury limousine on the market which guarantees driving fun and an irresistibly power. Läpple Anlagenbau and IHNEN AURICH contributed decisively to the new prestige object of Porsche. A cooperation project “made in Germany”.