Centre of excellence
for threaded fasteners

In order to meet the future challenges of the automotive industry, the Automotive Division has established a future-focused centre of excellence in Turnov in the Czech Republic.

Added Value

Extensive services combined in one location
Because of the new created synergies customers benefit from cost and time savings

Gebäude neu — The new production platform in Turnov was put into operation in 2004

From production plant to centre of excellence

The Turnov site was the first SFS subsidiary in Eastern Europe when it was founded in 1996. Building the new production facility began in 2004, followed by the creation of the administration centre in 2008. The original product facility was mainly focused on the manufacture of cold formed components and semi-finished products for various industries and the construction sector. Investment in a HT line, a laboratory for fastener development work and new equipment for optical sorting created the infrastructure for the manufacture of threaded fasteners for the automotive sector. Four years of planning and preparatory work followed before, in 2019, the first projects reached series maturity: from the initial advice and engineering design support through to development and manufacture, featuring complete SPC quality control systems for customers like Continental, ZF and Bosch.

Mensch an Maschine — For the first time new projects can be realized from development, through production, to delivery on site

A comprehensive support package on one site

One of the first customers able to benefit from the comprehensive package on offer from the centre of excellence was ACL Automotive. As a specialist Czech manufacturer of roof rail systems, ACL Automotive is a full development partner to Škoda. Their products are fitted to some fifteen different Volkswagen estate and SUV models. Receiving the commission to produce bolts suitable for fixing the rails into steel nuts on the vehicles represented an excellent opportunity for SFS in the Czech Republic to demonstrate the capabilities of their new centre of excellence. Using the TAPTITE 2000^® thread forming screw, ACL Automotive was able to benefit from a solution which was simpler, faster and more economical than the previous product.

A customer’s perspective: ACL Automotive in conversation with SFS

The following interview with Tomáš Böhm, owner and project leader at ACL Automotive, describes how he found the collaboration with SFS, why SFS is such an important development partner and the significance of the new Czech centre of excellence for ACL Automotive.

Why did you decide on SFS as the development and supply partner for your latest project?

“For us it was the years of experience and a high level of know-how which were the decisive factors in the choice of a suitable development partner. The local operative or practical issues represented further critical considerations: was a development lab available on-site? Could application requirements be tested directly by the supplier to eliminate possible pitfalls? Of course, we also had to consider the cost-benefit ratio. The close proximity of the site – just 20 km away – was another plus point for SFS. It meant that we could get together quickly and easily to discuss emerging requirements.”

What was the significance of the new centre of excellence in the success of the project?

“From our point of view, the new centre of excellence helped to concentrate synergies and utilise the available resources more efficiently. We are really impressed with the different support services offered by SFS from a single, local centre. In such a demanding environment as the automotive market, it is important for us that SFS is willing and able to proactively support us as a reliable partner by our side, to help us develop products and successfully bring them to market. We are already looking forward to realize further projects together.”