AWS Achslagerwerk Stassfurt is a medium-sized manufacturer of components and, thanks to more than 60 years of experience, an established service provider for the European railway industry and machine engineering sector.
In addition to our core competence, the prismatic and rotation-symmetrical computer numerical control (CNC) cutting of cast, steel and aluminium materials, we also offer manufacturing of welded components, as well as customer-specific surface treatment, assembly mounting, labelling and packaging services.
The focus of our services is mainly on mechanical processing of axle boxes and gear boxes for freight wagons and passenger wagons, regional trains, suburban trains and underground trains, as well as high-speed trains and locomotives.
We are a comprehensively certified service provider; based on our long-term technical know-how we guarantee compliance with the following standards:
- Q1 supplier of DB Deutsche Bahn
- IRIS International Railway Industry Standard, Revision 02
- DIN EN ISO 9001
- Welding of railway vehicles and components as per DIN EN 15085-2, certification level CL1
- ISO/ TS 16949
Our customers include well-known system providers for railway vehicles, important hirers of freight wagons, renowned manufacturers of wheel sets, bogies and freight wagons, as well as market-leading manufacturers of ball and roller bearings.
Axle boxes for freight wagons
AWS produces and distributes standard axle boxes of type BA182 and BA189 (Y) and type BA381 and BA388 (UIC). The housings are manufactured on a fully automated machining line consisting of 19 linked CNC machines; this ensures both a permanently excellent quality and an annual output of up to 40,000 units.
Mechanical processing
Our machinery for turning, boring and milling includes a total of 45 CNC machines of various types and concepts, in particular:
- Linked CNC processing systems for 4-axis heavy duty cutting
- CNC high-speed processing centres for 5-axis aluminium machining
- Automatic machining line for processing of Y-axle boxes BA182 and BA189
- CNC turning and milling machines
- CNC vertical turning centres (CNC vertical lathes) up to a swing diameter of 3,700mm and a machining height of 3,000mm
- CNC travelling column boring machines with rotating-sliding tables and with axis movements up to X = 13,000mm, Y = 3,500mm and Z = 1,500mm
Quality assurance and sub-contracted measurement
Our quality department provides of three air-conditioned measuring rooms with a total of four 3D coordinate measuring machines to assure and document shape and position tolerances requested by our customers. The highest possible measuring volume is 5,000mm x 3,000mm x 2,000mm. Verification of any further quality requirements is made by means of roughness testing, hardness testing, thickness testing, as well as magnetic particle inspection (MPI) testing.
Surface treatment, assembly mounting, packaging and shipment
Supplementary to mechanical processing, we also offer various surface treatments, such as electroplating and painting with customer-specific painting systems.
Subsequent pre-mounting of processed components to create complete assemblies, as well as their completion with parts provided by the customer also represents an important element of our scope of services.
Our comprehensive portfolio is completed by final picking of assembly kits, customer-specific labelling and packaging, as well as global shipment.
About AWS Achslagerwerk Stassfurt
The company AWS Achslagerwerk Stassfurt GmbH was founded as the wagon repair company An der Liethe in 1948. In 1957, named VEB Achslagerwerk Stassfurt, it was the only manufacturer of axle boxes to be integrated into the Kombinat Schienenfahrzeugbau (combine railway vehicle construction) in the former GDR.
Within scope of the German reunification, the company’s name was changed to Achslagerwerk Stassfurt GmbH, and it became a subsidiary company of DWA Deutsche Waggonbau AG. In 1995, the company passed into private hands, and it changed its name again to AWS Achslagerwerk Stassfurt GmbH.
When a financial investor acquired the company in 2006, a new management was installed and the course for continuous growth and comprehensive investments was set. Therefore, a new factory workshop with a CNC vertical turning centre and two CNC travelling column boring machines with rotating-sliding tables for processing of large parts up to a weight of 50t could be set up in 2009.