Adhering instead of plugging

tesa solves the complex issue of hole covering intelligently with its core competence: adhesive tape solutions that adhere reliably throughout the vehicle’s lifetime and at the same time are much easier and faster to process than conventional plugs – even by robots in the future.

Mar 13, 2020

Hole covering, or closing holes in the vehicle body, is a major topic in the automotive industry. That’s because there are up to 220 holes in a single body that must be covered during the automotive manufacturing process. That’s about 10 billion holes per year. tesa is solving the complex issue of hole covering intelligently with its core competence: adhesive tape solutions that adhere reliably throughout the vehicle’s lifetime and at the same time are much easier and faster to process than conventional plugs – even by robots in the future.

But why does a car body have so many holes? There are various reasons. For example, there are threaded and drilled holes that must be permanently or temporarily closed. Other openings allow hard-to-reach components to be assembled, serve transport purposes, or are required in the dip coating process so that the coating can flow in everywhere and back out again, thereby ensuring complete corrosion protection.

However, in order to prevent moisture or dirt from penetrating into the car body cavities during its use phase and to reduce air turbulence noise while the car is moving, the openings must of course be resealed. This is often still done with plugs made of plastic, rubber or metal, a process that requires a great deal of time, work and personnel, because the holes have different sizes and shapes. In order for the plug to fulfill its purpose, it must fit precisely and be pressed into the correct opening with sufficient force.

Up to 220 holes per car body Most of them must be filled in during the production process.

We specialize in tailoring the shapes, sizes and characteristics of our products to our customers’ needs.

Alexander Knittler,

Product Management tesa Automotive

Prefabricated die cuts instead of plugs The adhesive points are easy to remove from the base and stick to the holes.

With its hole covering product range, tesa has created an alternative: pre-fabricated die cuts in various sizes and in various adhesive tape designs that offer decisive advantages over conventional plugs. While the plugs must fit exactly, it is possible to close different sized holes with one size of stamped part. This reduces complexity and saves time.

Also, applying the die cuts is much easier than pressing plugs into holes. That saves work. Another advantage is the adhesive points are many times lighter than plugs. That saves weight, an essential requirement of the automotive industry when it comes to fuel savings in gasoline engines, or range in electric vehicles. In addition, the adhesive tape solutions can offer different added benefits like impermeability, heat resistance, noise reduction and puncture resistance.

Manual work on the production line Until now, the adhesive die cuts had to be applied manually or in a partially automated manner.

TRUE LIGHTWEIGHTS COMPARED TO PLUGS

In the automotive industry, efficiency is the name of the game. The reduction of weight in vehicles has become not just an obligation but an attitude. Every gram counts for the designers. The tesa® adhesive tape solutions are up to 85% lighter than traditional plugs.

Our hole coverage robot is a successful example of the way tesa is shaping the future of adhesive technology.

Dr. Norman Goldberg

tesa SE, CEO

And tesa takes it a step further. Despite die cuts being easier to use, closing the holes is an ergonomic challenge for production employees. Some holes are in hard-to-reach places. This requires the employees to work in uncomfortable and sometimes unhealthy positions during processing. tesa has developed a solution for this in collaboration with technology partners: a robotic head that can apply the die cuts in a fully automated way, and therefore faster. Incidentally, this too is a decisive competitive advantage for die cuts compared to plugs, which make automated insertion practically impossible, or allow only partial automation, due to their prefabricated shapes and differing hole contours.

For more information, please give us a call or drop an enquiry to us via the contact form.

Automated Hole covering process with robotic equipment

Simplification in the production line The robotic head applies the die cuts in a fully automated and highly precise way.

Adhering instead of plugging

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