Big Leap in Automotive Manufacturing: How Stabilus Redefines Automation with the Expert Brands ACE and Destaco

Since April 2024, industrial automation leader Destaco has joined the Stabilus Group, enhancing a powerhouse of comprehensive solutions for the industrial sector. This union brings forth a suite of products and services from both entities, particularly augmenting the field of automation with Stabilus’s expertise brands of ACE and Destaco at the forefront.

Stabilus Group offers an outstanding product lineup, renowned for their industrial gas springs, shock absorbers, and air springs that adeptly control motion, regulate speeds, and decelerate loads with exquisite precision. Destaco, on the other hand, has carved its niche with unparalleled manual clamps, power clamps, robotic end-of-arm tools, grippers, and indexers for automation. The synergy between Destaco’s gripping and clamping mastery with Stabilus Group’s motion control expertise spawns an unprecedented spectrum of innovative product offerings and advisory services from a single provider. This fusion not only heightens productivity for manufacturing entities but also fosters sustainable modernization and optimization for production lines through leading-edge technologies now under the Stabilus Group banner.

Synergies for Future-Oriented Automation in the Automotive Industry

In the automotive industry, ACE’s shock absorbers and Destaco’s clamping and gripping components illustrate a perfect synergy within the manufacturing process. They ensure top-notch efficiency and quality, particularly during car body assembly, where precise automated welding and fastening of vehicle components are critical. Destaco’s range of electrically or pneumatically operated clamps, grippers and sheet metal grippers holds parts in exact position, while ACE’s industrial shock absorbers proficiently manage the kinetic energy of robot movements to guarantee precision in robot motion and welding points, cycle after cycle. Notably, ACE’s adjustable and self-compensating shock absorbers diminish the transmission of unwarranted forces that could compromise weld quality, while Destaco’s pneumatic power clamps have the ability to adjust to different thicknesses of metals using its tolerance compensating capability. All of this results in less wear and tear inside and out to the robot, as well as enabling more uptime due to eliminating the need to adjust tolerances in clamping applications.

Enhancing Efficiency in “The Marriage” of Automobile Assembly

The “marriage” phase of automobile production, where the powertrain meets the body, also benefits from Stabilus and Destaco solutions. Varied positioning systems courtesy of Destaco, paired with ACE’s industrial gas springs, perform flawlessly in aligning the engine and chassis, lightening workloads and preventing installation errors. From Destaco’s conveyors and feed escapements to slides, indexers, rotaries and servo positioners all the way to the clutches for a wide variety of requirements and loads, Destaco’s solutions always ensure the precise placement of the engine in the chassis. ACE’s push-and-pull type Industrial gas springs perform additional tasks that support or replace the muscle power of the operating personnel by facilitating the lowering of the engine into the engine compartment. This prevents damage or misalignment during installation.

Making Customers Champions of Competitiveness

The collaborative approach to integrating Destaco’s clamping, gripping, and positioning systems with ACE’s innovative motion and vibration control technologies ensures highly efficient, top-tier solutions across mechanical and plant engineering. Stabilus Group clients enjoy reduced rejection rates, fewer damages, and increased production consistency not only in the automotive sector but also in broader industrial automation processes. By providing a comprehensive and future-proof array of automated assembly line components from a single source, Stabilus Group sets a new standard for customer competitiveness.

Beyond ACE and Destaco, Stabilus Group’s other expert brands like Hahn Gasfeder GmbH and Fabreeka bring additional top-quality gas springs and vibration isolation solutions. This ensemble enhances customizable, flexible service offerings tailored to distinct customer needs. Stabilus Group’s unified service delivery ensures a global presence for customers, supplemented by the convenience of dedicated, responsive sales contacts and a wealth of resources like online sizing tools, configuration software, application engineering, and customer support.

As Stabilus Group consolidates expertise across its brands, it emerges as an unrivaled force in industrial automation, promising clients innovative, high-quality, and individually customized services. This merger signifies more than just a pairing of products — it’s a commitment to shaping the future of industrial automation, making clients more competitive and production processes more efficient, backed by a world-class support system that defines the essence of a truly integrated solution provider.

Experience Automation Expertise Live

Customers and interested parties can now experience and put to the test the advantages of this integrated offering. Stabilus and expert brands such as ACE and Destaco are represented worldwide at 45 locations in 19 countries, both with their own sales organizations and through distributors. In the field of automation, Stabilus and Destaco will be represented at The Assembly Show, in Chicago, Illinois, USA, at FMB, the trade fair for mechanical engineering, in Bad Salzuflen, Germany, the China International Industry Fair in Shanghai, and the Precisiebeurs in ‘s-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands in the fall of 2024.