Profactor is an Austrian manufacturing company that focuses on innovation in production processes. They develop tailored solutions to help customers achieve technological advantages through research and development. Their multidisciplinary teams help both large corporations and small to mid-sized companies increase flexibility, productivity, quality and cost efficiency. Profactor's innovations provide benefits such as improved process stability, precision, quality control and production flexibility.

1. INNOVATIONS IN
PRODUCTION
L E A D I N G I N N O VAT I O N S

2. PROFACTOR THINKS AHEAD OF ITS TIMES.
A manufacturing enterprise is a complex orga-
nism: its most important key data are performance
and productivity. Increasing flexibility and the wil-
lingness to develop make it stronger and faster –
fit for the changing demands on today’s markets.
And this is a benefit when all’s said and done:
evolution makes you superior. All of this is driven
by ideas, knowledge and the ability to improve
workflows, create innovations and achieve best-
of-breed results with minimum overhead: redu-
cing costs, improving quality and productivity,
achieving new goals and growing into the future.
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3. The PROFACTOR Group’s multidisciplinary teams of specialists help our partners and
customers to achieve a technological advantage with tailor-made manufacturing solutions:
No matter whether you are a large corporation or a small to mid-sized company. After all, the
opportunities that research and development offer are not linked to the size of a business.
Our partners benefit from a variety of application-oriented solutions due to:
the stability and safety of production processes
the reproducibility and precision in manufacturing
the assurance of quality requirements and improved product quality
the flexibility and optimisation of production workflows
LEADING INNOVATIONS

4. INNOVATIVE STABILITY:
BENEFITS THANKS TO EFFICIENCY
Monitoring machines by camera often results in a
flood of information with the danger of failing to detect
critical events in good time. Innovative systems filter
video images of malfunctions for operating staff. All
of this with the utmost reliability and under changing
ambient light. On top of this, each event is logged in
a database to sustainably prevent future errors and
avoid losses.
But cost efficiency is also supported at another le-
vel in mechanical processing: by an optimum inter-
action of strategy, material, tools, cooling lubrication
and machinery. Whether this is High Speed Cutting
(HSC) or High Performance Cutting (HPC) - the main
focus is on cost-efficient processing of new materials,
or materials that are not easily machined. Analytical
approaches such as cutting force measurement, vi-
bration measurement and thermography support a
systematic and targeted investigation of the machi-
ning process. Besides selecting the right tools, it is
also vital to monitor their deployment.
At a superordinate level, the adaptability of agile con-
trol systems is vital to stable operations. In the past,
the only approach was to completely replace the
many control units in a distributed system – a com-
plex and time-consuming process: now PROFACTOR
substantially facilitates this process with modern engi-
neering tools: replacements are selectively restricted
to the program components that need replacing, thus
avoid downtime.
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5. OVERVIEW OF PROFACTOR SOLUTIONS:
Process analysis with a comprehensive range of
measuring technologies
Optimisation of parameters to improve lifetimes;
minimisation of non-productive time
Creation of machine and processing concepts
Process monitoring of handling and assembly
procedures in automated plants
Automation and real time control systems
LEADING INNOVATIONS

6. INNOVATIVE PRECISION:
EVERYTHING UNDER CONTROL
The increasing demand for increasing miniaturisation
of technical components in electronics, medicine, bio-
chemistry and automotive applications calls for special
solutions and developments in assembly technology.
Highly innovative, fully automated precision assem-
bly requires extremely sensitive grippers and sensors;
highly complex tasks necessitate founded process
development.
In the production workflow itself active noise and vib-
ration suppression supports high-precision processing.
PROFACTOR is the competency leader in this area
with practical experience from the automotive and me-
chanical engineering industries. This helps us to deve-
lop solutions for any branch of industry:
for manufacturing process optimisation,
active vibration and noise suppression and
early detection and/or prevention of damage.
OVERVIEW OF PROFACTOR SOLUTIONS:
Precision assembly, handling systems
for complex components
Automated micro handling and assembly
Micro-adhesion and micro-dosing
Active suppression of mechanical
vibrations, noise suppression
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7. INNOVATIVE QUALITY:
INFORMATIONEN MACHEN SICHER
Quality is a question of detail: This is why inline ther-
mography is used for contactless, fully automated mo-
nitoring of internal characteristics of the results within
the production cycle. A compact image processing
system, which is capable of monitoring the surface of
cylindrical mass products at a speed of up to two meters
per second to provide a seamless 360 degree view, is
also integrated.
More complex controls in piece goods production are
provided by customised, self-teaching image proces-
sing systems. These systems adapt their decisions to
match those made by a quality inspector and achieve
consistent, automated quality after a short “learning
curve”. The versatility of these options makes them sui-
table for a wide variety of requirements and guarantee
minimal reject counts in production.
OVERVIEW OF PROFACTOR SOLUTIONS:
Surface inspection in piece goods production
360 degree quality control of cylindrical objects
Inline quality controls by means of industrial
thermography
Completeness checks for assemblies thanks to
an intelligent combination of various inspection
processes
LEADING INNOVATIONS

8. INNOVATIVE FLEXIBILITY:
SUPERIOR “ALL-ROUNDERS”
Requirements change and solutions have to accom-
modate them flexibly: in the shortest possible time,
with the least possible cost, and with the aim of avo-
iding production downtime.
Production solutions by PROFACTOR thus program
themselves in just a couple of seconds; adaptation for
new products is possible on the fly. All tasks are per-
formed, decisions taken and planning effected auto-
nomously. This allows for ongoing optimisation of part
provision and logistics.
And talking of logistics: transport networks can also
be optimised in a holistic way with respect to load or
scheduling. The algorithms developed for this pur-
pose are modified to reflect the customer’s special
requirements on the one hand, while taking specific
production scenarios and workflows into considerati-
on. This results in best-of-breed efficiency.
Simulation-aided factory and logistics planning is an
important tool that helps decision makers to ascertain
complex relationships (for example in material flow
systems) and to identify contributing parameters: the
complete system is modelled and optimised. Simula-
tion of various operating states helps to identify critical
states at an early stage. This means that appropriate
remedial measures can be taken. The results: best-
of-breed operative safety and economy accompa-
nied by substantial reductions in commissioning and
tooling times.
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9. OVERVIEW OF PROFACTOR SOLUTIONS:
Simulation, assurance and optimisation of technical
and organisational logistics processes
Granular production planning and controls
Automation of small batch sizes down to one-offs
Self-teaching, robust 3D image processing systems
for object identification
Automated process planning and robot programming
LEADING INNOVATIONS

10. PROFACTOR GROUP:
FIT FOR COMPETITION
The PROFACTOR team guarantees the applicabi-
lity of state-of-art scientific findings resulting from
intensive contacts with national and international
universities and research institutes: for small to
mid-sized enterprises and for global players.
Since the PROFACTOR Group was founded
in 1995, the group’s innovative technological
solutions have helped it grow from a 4-man
production research team to Austria’s No. 1 in the
field of applied production research: today, more
than 120 staff works in multidisciplinary teams at
several locations to guarantee the success of our
partners and customers.
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11. HOLISTIC PRODUCTION SOLUTIONS PAY DIVIDENDS!
PROFACTOR FOR A SUSTAINABLE
COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE.
APPLIED RESEARCH FOR A HEALTHY ECONOMY.
RESEARCH: MID-SIZED ENTERPRISES SPEAK OF WIN-WIN SITUATION.
PROFACTOR RINGS IN A
NEW INDUSTRIAL AGE!
LEADING INNOVATIONS

12. PROFACTOR GmbH
Im Stadtgut A2 | 4407 Steyr-Gleink | Austria | Tel. +43(0)7252 885-0
Fax +43(0)7252 885-101 | sekretariat@profactor.at | www.profactor.at
PROFACTOR Research and Solutions GmbH
Forschungszentrum | 2444 Seibersdorf | Austria | Tel. +43(0)7252 885-900
Fax +43(0)7252 885-901 | office@profactor.at | www.profactor.at
This project is sponsored by the EFRE (European Fund for Regional Development),
the Republic Austria, the State of Upper Austria and the City of Steyr.