TPV AUTOMOTIVE awarded another gold and silver for innovation by Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Posavje

On 20 September, 2021, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Posavje conferred awards for the best innovations in the Posavje region in 2021. The awards committee consisting of seven members awarded four gold, three silver and two bronze innovations in total. TPV AUTOMOTIVE received one gold and one silver.

GOLD AWARD

Battery tray sealing with cross weld

Innovators: Boris Menič, Vili Malnarič, Gregor Jordan, Dario Novak, Lea Gregl, Nina Prah

Description of the innovation: Our sealing innovation is implemented in EV of one of leading EV manufacturers. With the use of our innovative solution we solve the problems with sealing that occured with the previous solution. We are achieving battery tray sealing with deep penetration of MIG weld and FSW from the opposite side. This way we create a barrier wich prevents leaking of air and battery fluid as well as exposure to other fluids and dirt. That way we protect the battery modules from exterior infulences and we enable safe and reliable operation of EV. With the implementation of innovation in the production process we established a process that is suitable for use in automated serial production with high reliability of achieving sufficient sealing.

SILVER AWARD

Innovative welding tool for perfect ergonomic experience for operators

Innovators: Miran Ferenčak, Katja Sajtl, Kristjan Kežman

Description of the innovation: TPV AUTOMOTIVE has developed innovative welding tool with automatic folding for a key component in a completly electric vehicle Volvo XC40 Recharge. The tool enables the worker simple and stable process of insertion of mass produced components in to the welding jig. With innovative approaches and advanced systems we prevent possible defects that could occur if the component would be welded incorrectly. Innovation is a unique solution and relates to our mission ”We connect inovative solutions” and our vision ” Creating mobility of the future”

Congratulations to all the innovators!

TPV AUTOMOTIVE receives five awards for innovation

On 15 September, 2021, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Dolenjska and Bela krajina (GZDBK) conferred awards for the best innovations in the Dolenjska and Bela krajina region in 2021.

The awards committee consisting of eight members awarded five TPV AUTOMOTIVE innovations in total, one gold and three silver and one bronze;

GOLD AWARD

Process development Volvo

Innovators: Jože Blažinč, Boštjan Dobovšek, Lea Gregl, Maja Hribar, Gregor Jordan, Mario Leskovec, Dario Novak, Boštjan Piletič, Matija Požgaj, Aljaž Rebselj

Description of the innovation:

At TPV AUTOMOTIVE, we worked with Volvo to develop an innovative process for the production of an electric car battery tray, which improves the production process and contributes to a lower carbon footprint of the product. Due to the innovative approach, we have been selected as the most suitable supplier of an aluminium battery holder, which is a key component of the Volvo XC40 recharge car. Thus, we gained a very important strategic business in the field of electrification and production of components for electric vehicles on the market.

SILVER AWARD

Quality Control Robot Cell EAGLE

Innovators:

  • TPV AUTOMOTIVE: Anton Juratovac, Mateja Koblar, Jurij Kranjc, Hidajet Kurbegović, mag. Vili Malnarič, mag. Rajko Marinčič, Anton Petrič, Boštjan Piletič, dr. Tomaž Savšek
  • FINI Novo mesto: dr. Urška Florjančič, dr. Anatolij Nikonov, dr. Tomaž Savšek
  • Alpineon: dr. Tomaž Černe, dr. Žiga Golob, dr. Stanislav Gruden, dr. Jaka Kravanja, dr. Aleš Mihelič, dr. Boštjan Vesnicer, dr. Jerneja Žganec Gros, dr. Mario Žganec

Description of the innovation:

We developed the quality control robot cell EAGLE which enables visual bypass or frequency quality control of geometrically complex products. The quality control is performed by an innovative machine vision system built on our patented solutions. The innovation boasts several new breakthrough solutions resulting in significant advances well beyond the state-of-the-art. The product has been validated and demonstrated in a simulated operational environment. The innovation has a strong market potential in factories of the future in the automotive as well as in related industrial sectors.

SILVER AWARD

Robotic weld gap tracking

Innovators:  Uroš Brinc, Janez Jereb, Tilen Kovačič, Marko Malnarič, Boštjan Piletič

Description of the innovation:

Due to the tendency to lower consumption and lower carbon footprint, the weight of the vehicle is of great importance. Lower vehicle weight can be achieved by using thinner high-strength steels, which due to altered mechanical properties and smaller thickness cause welding position problems, which we solved by using an advanced system that allowed us to make a viable product and gain business.

The system for our innovation consists of a burner sensor and advanced software. The system uses real-time read data to define the actual position and width of the weld gap to the robot. This will significantly improve quality, productivity and reduce congestions.

SILVER AWARD

Costs reduction by optimizing the design of the ENGINE PROTECTION

Innovators: Boštjan Dobovšek, Lea Gregl, Gregor Jordan, Matija Požgaj

Description of the innovation:

The innovative design of the product improves its price competitiveness, which has enabled the company to gain business. In this way, we reduced the weight of the vehicle and contributed to the reduction of emissions throughout the life of the vehicle. With this solution, we eliminated additional CNC machining of the final product which greatly shortens the production time and eliminated the additional CNC machine.

BRONZE AWARD

Robotization of handling in press

Innovators: Matjaž Kofalt, Primož Kozan, Ivan Radman, Nenad Rađenović, Samo Tomc

Description of the innovation:

The innovation represents ergonomic arrangement of the workplace, as with its implementation, manual shifting of products in the tool by two operators has been replaced by robotic shifting of products in the tool. Innovation also represents an additional contribution to the automation of production in the company and consequently to the increase of competitiveness. The existing two operators have been replaced by one, which now takes care of the smooth operation of the line.

Congratulations to all the innovators!

Innovation meetup #4

We participated on 4th innovation meetup organised by the Slovenian chamber of commerce. The hidden guest on the meetup was Head of Innovation at TPV Automotive – Stefan Cvijanović.

He presented our innovation practices and spoke about approaches in innovation and how to implement innovation in the automotive industry. The participants got firsthand view of how innovation works at TPV Automotive and how we cope with new challenges and continuously improve our production and buisiness procesess. We are looking forward to the next meetup in october you can find more information here: INOVACIJSKI MEETUP | Inovativna Slovenija (gzs.si).

 

TPV AUTOMOTIVE is one of the most innovative companies in Slovenia

Slovenian chamber of commerce, has made an analysis of the top recipients of awards for innovation in the past 6 years. TPV Automotive is ranked 6th among the 858 companies in Slovenia that applied their innovations from 2015 to 2020.

We have recieved 3 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze awards on the national level.

We are extremly proud of our achivements and we will work on innovation and getting even better in the future.

We will talk about our innovation achivements and our innovation activites in the company on our TPV Innovation day which will be broadcasted on the 23.3.2021 – you can apply for the event here

You can read and see our achievements in the Slovenian chamber of commerce analysis here 

TPV AUTOMOTIVE awarded gold for innovation by Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia

After having received seven awards for innovation at regional level, TPV AUTOMOTIVE was awarded with national gold by Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia.


Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia awarded the most innovative individuals, companies and other institutions at national level. These awards represent the highest national recognition of innovative achievements for Slovenian companies and promote innovation in Slovenia.


By winning gold at regional level, TPV AUTOMOTIVE’s »Universal robot »BIN PICKING« cell« was one of the 43 innovations that qualified for the final, and achieved great success by winning gold at national level as well.


The innovation is a product of cooperation between TPV AUTOMOTIVE and ALPINEON. The two companies joined their knowledge and experience in Industry 4.0 and created a novelty on a global scale. With the help of advanced machine vision, the universal robotic bin picking cell recognizes and picks up individual disordered items of complex shapes, sorts the items and arranges them for further processing. This significantly simplifies the production process, which would otherwise require ergonomically demanding and time-consuming manual labor. The worker is rid of difficult and repetitive motions and placed in the role of a supervisor. A simple user interface allows it to be easily and quickly adapted to any product.  Bin picking ensures greater workflow accuracy, speed and reliability. In addition, it is insensitive to environmental effects such as darkness, cold and viruses such as Covid, enabling uninterrupted operation regardless of the conditions, resulting in higher cost efficiency.


The award-winning group of innovators
 behind the innovation consists of Boštjan Piletič, Jože Pezdirc, Dario Novak, Miroslav Kuharič, Alen Černelč, Boris Antolovič, Jernej Knežič, Matjaž Sotler, mag. Igor Lekše, Mišo Pereško, Srečko Basarac from TPV AUTOMOTIVE d.o.o., and dr. Mario Žganec, dr. Aleš Mihelič, dr. Stanislav Gruden, dr. Boštjan Vesnicer, dr. Žiga Golob, dr. Jaka Kravanja, dr. Jerneja Žganec Gros from ALPINEON, d. o. o.


At regional level, TPV AUTOMOTIVE has received seven awards in 2020 altogether, namely one gold, five silver and one bronze.


Dr. Ivan Erenda, Director of TPV AUTOMOTIVE, pointed out that »innovation awards are an indicator of our competencies that stretch on a global scale. Innovativeness is one of our company’s key values and a significant competitive advantage, which is why we are extremely proud of our innovators. In 2020, 43 of our excellent innovators have been awarded. I am also glad that all of our other employees display innovativeness at work.«

TPV AUTOMOTIVE CO-CREATES THE SAFEST VOLVO EVER BULIT

We are proud to co-create this phenomenal vehicle!

With our extensive competences in lightweight materials, lightweight construction, electrification and advanced production processes TPV AUTOMOTIVE is immensely proud supplier of one of core safety components for the safest Volvo ever built!

TPV AUTOMOTIVE receives one gold and four silver awards for innovation

On 9 September, 2020, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Dolenjska and Bela krajina  conferred awards for the best innovations in the Dolenjska and Bela krajina region in 2020.

The awards committee consisting of seven members awarded five TPV AUTOMOTIVE innovations in total, one gold and four silver.

  • Gold was awarded for »Universal robot »BIN PICKING« cell« to Boštjan Piletič, Jože Pezdirc, Dario Novak, Miroslav Kuharič, Alen Černelč, Boris Antolovič, Jernej Knežič, Matjaž Sotler, mag. Igor Lekše, Mišo Pereško, Srečko Basarac of TPV AUTOMOTIVE d.o.o. and dr. Mario Žganec, dr. Aleš Mihelič, dr. Stanislav Gruden, dr. Boštjan Vesnicer, dr. Žiga Golob, dr. Jaka Kravanja, dr. Jerneja Žganec Gros of ALPINEON, d. o. o.

Description of the innovation:

The innovation is a complete novelty in the global market. We have developed and produced a universal bin picking cell capable of recognizing and picking 3D objects of complex shapes in a packaging unit. The modular concept of the robot cell makes it easy to integrate into various systems. Due to the easy 3D model import of new objects into the program, the users can independently adjust the cell to their needs. The cell can be applied in most industries faced with the problem of moving pieces from scattered to oriented. The cell is also useful for integration in applications where the operator position is non-ergonomic. For testing purposes, the company has integrated the first cell into a production line for welding seat components.

  • Silver was awarded for »Geometry optimization of reinforcement triangle with regards to process manufacturability« to Simon Miklič,  mag. Vili Malnarič, Miha Končar, Marko Malnarič, Stane Nemanič, Ines Rajkovič and dr. Tomaž Savšek.

Description of the innovation:

The innovation develops geometry optimization of reinforcement triangle, which protects the battery of an electric vehicle against mechanical damage. The diploma thesis was created in cooperation between the Faculty and a company that is a development supplier in the automotive industry. In the thesis, we successfully reduced the mass of the product compared to the reference product and developed a technologically and cost-effective product. The innovative product has been validated by the end customer and is being produced in a large-scale production. The newly acquired knowledge also helps carry out similar projects in the company.

  • Silver was awarded for »Innovative shape of bushing for prevention of bushing – tube separation and assuring drainage of surface protection fluids during the coating process« to Mitja Glavan, Jurij Kuretič, Silvester Urek and Franc Bevc.

Description of the innovation:

One of the leading car manufacturers approached TPV AUTOMOTIVE and SiEVA group with a problem concerning bushing insertion into a car hood mounting component. Due to exposure of the assembly, it was necessary to provide an adequate surface protection to achieve the desired product lifespan. The manufacturer also faced problems with bushing fixation in the assembly. Potential changes of the whole assembly concept would result in project delays, delays in start of production and cost increase. A group of innovators has developed a completely new form of bushing that effectively solves the problem of bushing fixation and at the same time ensured a complete surface protection of the assembly, increasing product lifespan and reducing cost.

  • Silver was awarded for »Robotization of palletization on automated transfer line with scanning system« to Mišo Pereško, Igor Lekše, Veljko Goleš, Andrej Kirm, Domen Murn and Črt Bučar.

Description of the innovation:

The innovation replaces a worker with a robot in repeated operations of loading and removing products from welding tools. A worker has restrictions on repetitive movements, so errors in production may occur. By robotizing the line, we relieve the operator, prevent the possibility of errors and increase the frequency of products. The current system and experience can be transferred to other jobs with repetitive movements and a large number of operations. This way we are one step closer to TPV AUTOMOTIVE’s vision which strives for Industry 4.0 and competitiveness increase in the market.

  • Silver was awarded for »Innovation platform TPV Innovation Station« to Stefan Cvijanović, Krunoslav Šimrak, Amira Cvijanović, Davor Tramte, Petra Sajtl, David Škarja, Anja Čampa and Nika Testen.

Description of the innovation:

In order to encourage innovation and development of new products and processes, TPV AUTOMOTIVE launched an innovation platform called TPV Innovation Station. The aim of the platform is to help individuals and start-ups achieve their goals. We provide them with extensive experience, cutting-edge equipment, financial resources and an innovative environment where we have been generating and developing innovations for many years. We also use the platform to announce prize challenges inviting external partakers and TPV AUTOMOTIVE employees to participate with their own innovative solutions.

LAUNCH OF MOTULII

On 2 July, we took part in the public launch of Motulii at the premises of Podjetniški inkubator Bela krajina. Motulii is a lift platform that enables a fast 3 metre lift of vehicles weighing up to 2.5 tons. This is a great way to put your product in the limelight and attract potential buyers. We could say that Motulii is an interactive billboard.

TPV AUTOMOTIVE supports innovators and good ideas, so we wish the creative mind behind Motulii and Podjetniški inkubator Bela krajina best of luck with their product.