Technical glossary

Balance measuring system: A balance measuring system detects vibrations of a rotating body that are the result of imbalance and analyzes these signals. On the basis of this analysis, the system determines the extent of the imbalance and calculates a recommendation for balancing.

Body pretreatment: Pretreatment is the first step in the painting process. The vehicle body is cleaned and a protective coating is applied that prevents corrosion and allows for better paint adhesion.

Cavity preservation: An additional protective coating is applied to prevent corrosion on the interior surfaces of cavities in the vehicle body.

Cleaning technology: Dürr cleaning systems remove residual particles resulting from the mechanical tooling process from workpieces. Workpiece cleaning is critical in the construction of engines and transmissions because even the tiniest amounts of residual particles can cause damage.

Common products strategy (also called common tooling strategy): Strategy pursued by automobile manufacturers, in which identical production technology is used in multiple plants, making it easier to achieve a consistent standard of quality.

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation: Computer simulation of flows, such as air, water, or paint flows.

Coolant recycling (filtration): Coolants are used in workpiece machining, for instance, for boring and milling. They cool the workpieces and tools, reduce friction and wear, and bind any metal shavings. The recycling systems cool the used coolant and remove the shavings through filtration so the coolant can be reused in the machining process.

Deburring: The process of removing from workpieces any burrs that are produced during boring or milling, for example, in the manufacture of engines and transmissions. If these burrs are not removed, they could break off later and cause damage to or even the failure of the system.

Dip-painting: Process used for priming the vehicle body. In dip-painting, the body is completely submerged in the paint. The liquid paint adheres to the entire body surface as well as the cavities. After dipping, the paint is dried and cured as in other painting processes.

Direct electrostatic charging of water-based paints: High voltage is applied to the paint atomizer to give the paint droplets an electrostatic charge. The result is more effective paint application to the earthed vehicle body, minimal paint loss, and minimal soiling of the atomizer.

Drive-by-wire: Drive-by-wire means that commands from the vehicle driver are no longer passed on to the relevant devices mechanically but electronically. The commands (e.g. steering or pushing on the accelerator) are received by sensors, processed by a computer, and then passed on to the relevant assemblies (e.g. the steering system, engine, transmission or brakes) via electric motors. Mechanical linkages like the steering rod and hydraulic brakes are not needed in drive-by-wire vehicles.

End of line: The area in the process of vehicle final assembly where fully assembled vehicles are tuned, tested, and prepared for shipping.

ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system: Software used to support resource planning within a company. If possible, ERP systems should cover all business processes, including materials management, production, sales, and controlling.

Filling systems: Systems dispensing materials essential for automobile operation (fuel, brake fluid, engine oil and coolant, transmission oil or fluid, airconditioning refrigerant, windshield washer fluid, power steering fluid, and air for air suspension systems) in the final assembly stage of production.

High-viscosity materials: Sprayable materials, often containing PVC, that are applied to car bodies to seal weld seams, to preserve cavaties, or as underbody protection. Adhesives and liquid insulation materials also fall under this general term.

Injection flood washing: Industrial cleaning process in which workpieces are placed in a closed chamber that is flooded with water and cleaning media. Jets then create currents and turbulences, and the powerful movement of the water washes any particles off the workpieces.

Marriage: Joining and bolting together of power train, chassis, and body in vehicle final assembly.

Materials flow: The conveyance of vehicle bodies and components in an automobile factory.

Paint atomizer: Paint atomizers ensure that paint is applied in an even spray stream. High-rotation atomizers reduce the paint to a fine spray mechanically and generate a bell-shaped spray stream. Air atomizers generate an ovalshaped spray stream. Electrostatic attraction is used to ensure a high degree of application efficiency (paint utilization).

Powder painting: Instead of wet paint, this process applies paint powder using spray guns or high-rotation atomizers. The paint is then baked on (i.e. melted and cross-linked) in an oven. The advantages of powder painting are a solventfree process and lower energy consumption. In addition, it is possible to achieve almost 100% utilization of powder paint.

Supervisory control systems: Centralized computer system for controlling and supervising control of a complete production plant.

Surfacer: The paint build-up of a vehicle body normally consists of the prime coat (cathodic dip coating), surfacer, basecoat and clearcoat. The surfacer coat serves to fill and level out any unevennesses in the substrate. Within the overall paint build-up it also helps to improve resistance to stone chipping and protects the prime coat against ultraviolet radiation.

System integration: On behalf of a customer, a system integrator combines multiple products, which may come from various manufacturers, into a turnkey complete system.

Systems business: Realization of complete lines that comprise multiple individual products or equipment. Examples include paint shops and final assembly lines. Systems business (complete plant or line business) is characterized by high order values and handling times that sometimes extend over several years.

Test systems: End of line testing systems test the functions of fully assembled vehicles, for example headlights and ABS.

Underbody protection: Highly viscous material containing PVC. Applied to the underbody and the lower part of door openings of the vehicle body after dip-painting. Protects the primer layer from impact with rocks.

Virtual reality: A three-dimensional, animated environment created by computer through which the user can move with the aid of software or electronic devices (such as a monitor visor). Virtual reality software is used to plan and design automobile factories, for instance. It creates a real-life image of the factory with all the production lines and processes.

Weld seam sealing/seam sealing: A vehicle body consists of various parts that are welded together. The weld seams are sealed with PVC materials to prevent water from entering.