The hall in Building III does look a little futuristic: The room is bathed in light, the temperature is controlled precisely, and the activity level among the workers in blue protective suits is high. Schreiner ProTech’s PCS Process Center (PC PCS) is state-of-the-art in terms of technical cleanliness and was opened after a construction period of barely one year.

When Christian Liebetrau says that the air is clean he means that literally. Among the equipment enabling the clean air is a new venting system that completely recirculates, filters, and treats the air in the production hall up to ten times per hour. That’s a key step for compliance with technical cleanliness. Conformity with new and future technical cleanliness requirements was a major element in the entire planning process for the new process center. Currently, Schreiner ProTech’s PC PCS surpasses the requirements of a cleanliness room according to VDA 19 and even a clean room certification according to ISO 14644 is conceivable. Those prospects convince customers too.

Perfect cleanliness and top quality: Those were two of the objectives to be considered in the creation of the new process center because the requirements for technical cleanliness are increasing especially in the automotive industry due to the constantly growing number of electric vehicles and consistent miniaturization of electronics. However, the stringent requirements are beneficial also in manufacturing of other products because automatic machine stops due to minute contaminations are reduced, which ultimately not only saves money but also benefits the environment.

In an area of roughly 900 square meters, the new facilities offer an innovative, efficient work environment enabling seamless collaboration between all manufacturing- related stations—from the receiving department to the final product. “Due to the spatial proximity alone, our employees are able to efficiently communicate along the entire PCS value chain,” explains Head of the Process Center Christian Liebetrau. “Due to that collaboration, challenges can be recognized and jointly resolved clearly faster.

However, the timing for the new opening posed a challenge. Among other things, all the machines had to be moved from various buildings and new machine technologies set up concurrently to ensure a consistent and smooth manufacturing process for the customers of Pressure Compensation Seals. “Visually, the Pressure Compensation Seal may hardly have changed in recent years,” adds Adrian Marggraf, Product Manager PCS, at Schreiner ProTech, “but by consolidating all the product-related manufacturing areas we’ve raised the subject to the next level and are now setting quality standards in the field of pressure compensation solutions due to the most advanced testing and machine technologies.”

No doubt, the move of a precision die-cutting machine from the previous facilities to the new process center last summer marked an important intermediate step in the project. The special challenge of the move was the need to transport the 6-ton machine in one piece to avoid errors in dismantling and reassembling it. That not only was a logistical feat but also marked a milestone in the creation of the process center.

Drawing on ample expertise and a steadily growing product portfolio, the Schreiner ProTech business unit has successfully established itself as a complete solutions provider in the market for Pressure Compensation Seals in the last 25 years. Now, with the new process center, Schreiner ProTech is ready for the next level because the PCS team is already in the process of planning and procuring new technologies and machines that will continue to secure the company’s innovation and quality advantage for the next product generations as well.