Since its opening in 2014, the LEAD Factory has been continuously improved and updated to the current state of the art. Thus, the institute's learning factory also bears similarity to the requirements of real plants in this respect.
The most recent upgrade of the LEAD Factory coincided with the construction work on the offices in Kopernikusgasse. As a result, the available space in the LEAD Factory has increased from 50 m² to almost 80 m². The additional space is mainly used for the new production line, consisting of a drilling-milling machine and galvanic equipment.
The LEAD Factory is going deeper into production processes in the near future
With the additional equipment, training participants can now also gain deeper insights into production processes and new topics. The production line will be integrated into the existing teaching concept in such a way that all previous training modules can still be offered unchanged. The manufactured product in the form of a scooter also remains the same. Moreover, the production line can serve as a demonstrator on its own.
So far, the LEAD Factory has concentrated almost exclusively on assembly, but another component is now being manufactured in-house in several stages: holes are first drilled in the metal plate that connects the handlebars to the footboard to enable fastening by screws in the first place. Then the components are protected against corrosion in an electroplating bath.
The new production line helps to share knowledge about lean management, energy efficiency, agile production and digitalization. For example, real-time measurement and monitoring of the equipment raises awareness of the issue of (energy) waste. A state-of-the-art image recognition system is used in quality control and reports coating defects and drill holes outside the specified tolerances. Furthermore, new teaching contents such as Six Sigma can be offered.