PRODUCTION PROCESS Towards the ﬂexible and near-net-shape production of three-dimensionally curved extrusion proﬁles Markus Schneider • Gregor Koehler • Dirk Becker • Alessandro Selvaggio • A. Erman Tekkaya • Christian Munzinger • Volker Schulze • Matthias Kleiner Received: 23 October 2009 / Accepted: 9 June 2010 / Published online: 23 June 2010 Ó German Academic Society for Production Engineering (WGP) 2010 Abstract The present paper describes the new develop- ments in continuous extrusion of curved proﬁles by a ﬂexible production method which is composed of a short process chain starting with the extrusion press, a deﬂection tool, one robot for the ﬂying cutting of the proﬁle and another robot for supporting and handling the proﬁle. Because of the ﬂexibility of this complete system according to the proﬁle curvature it is convenient for small- volume production. In order to reach high proﬁle accuracy all kinematic systems in the process chain have to be synchronized with the proﬁle speed caused by the extrusion process. The results of the investigation of different existing synchronization methods identify the need for an additional measuring system to compensate the large deviation of the cut proﬁle length. By adjusting parameters of the synchronization the accuracy of the proﬁle length could be strongly improved. Furthermore inﬂuencing parameters like die deformation during the extrusion pro- cess are measured and combined with the results of the cut proﬁle length over the process time. Keywords Flying cutting  Continuous proﬁle extrusion  Accuracy  Synchronization 1 Introduction Lightweight constructions are of particular importance regarding the means of transportation due to continuously rising energy prices, safety requirements and requirements M. Schneider (&)  G. Koehler  C. Munzinger  V. Schulze wbk Institute of Production Science, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Kaiserstr. 12, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany e-mail: schneider@wbk.uka.de URL: www.wbk-ka.de G. Koehler e-mail: koehler@wbk.uka.de URL: www.wbk-ka.de C. Munzinger e-mail: munzinger@wbk.uka.de URL: www.wbk-ka.de V. Schulze e-mail: schulze@wbk.uka.de URL: www.wbk-ka.de D. Becker  A. Selvaggio  A. E. Tekkaya  M. Kleiner IUL Institute of Forming Technology and Lightweight Construction, University TU-Dortmund, Baroper Str. 301, 44227 Dortmund, Germany e-mail: dirk.becker@iul.tu-dortmund.de URL: www.iul.tu-dortmund.de A. Selvaggio e-mail: alessandro.selvaggio@iul.tu-dortmund.de URL: www.iul.tu-dortmund.de A. E. Tekkaya e-mail: erman.tekkaya@iul.tu-dortmund.de URL: www.iul.tu-dortmund.de M. Kleiner e-mail: matthias.kleiner@iul.tu-dortmund.de URL: www.iul.tu-dortmund.de 123 Prod. Eng. Res. Devel. (2010) 4:561–569 DOI 10.1007/s11740-010-0246-1