The aviation industry is growing worldwide. Apart from a short interruption during the Covid pandemic, the industry has continued to see positive development, in contrast to the automotive sector. Asia and parts of Africa in particular are catching up when it comes to equipping airlines with aircrafts. A look at the sales figures puts Airbus well ahead of Boeing. The degree of automation in aircraft production is growing at the same time.
AMAS Technology GmbH is participating in this trend. As a reliable, strategic tier-1 supplier to the aviation industry, the company has constantly expanded its product range and managed to increase both the number of technical innovations and the size of its workforce. The company has been involved in engineering, jig construction, special machine construction, project engineering and service since 1995. Customised applications are made here in one location, from initial design through to the finished product. All production processes are covered, from sawing the steel profile via mechanical processing, various welding procedures and coating application, through to assembly.
The company group now has a workforce of around 140 employees at its headquarters in Neu Kaliß, Mecklenburg. The customer base also includes renowned international companies in the aviation business. Besides Airbus and Rheinmetall, this includes firms such as Premium Aerotec, Lufthansa Technik, the German Aerospace Centre and GNS (nuclear service company). AMAS holds various manufacturer qualifications for extremely difficult welding together with successful certification of the quality management system to standard DIN EN 9100, thus facilitating further expansion of its activities when it comes to aviation, aerospace, railway vehicles, defence technology and nuclear transports. Turnover volume has grown constantly, reaching around 25 million Euro in 2023. The SME company also sees good prospects in terms of the order books, which are currently filled for the next twelve months and longer.
Laser-assisted precision
Every job of work involved in the production of aircraft and aircraft components needs suitably equipped workplaces and assembly stations. The AMAS group offers its customers a broad product range. The scope includes stages, for example, as well as manufacturing systems and transport equipment. When erecting the stages, the use of laser trackers ensures compliance with the required precision that has to be warranted when joining aircraft components.
AMAS is currently building Europe’s second largest conveyor belt production line for fuselage shells. Precise replicas of aircraft and military driver cabs are used on a scale of 1:1 for training purposes. One of the most outstanding simulation products is the replica of a completed fuselage section of the A400M transport aircraft. The simulator has already been produced eight times for different countries and warrants true-to-scale training conditions. The satellite simulator is another custom-designed product made for RST Rostock System-Technik.
AMAXS Wheel moves heavy loads in a confined space
One special in-house product is the AMAXS Wheel. It combines innovation with a sophisticated design and is the best-known AMAS product. All moving stages can be fitted with AMAXS chassis. Its omnidirectional movements make it ideal for the aviation and logistics sector, particularly when it comes to high-precision positioning procedures for heavy-load transport units. For example, it is used at Airbus in Hamburg to move and turn whole aircraft fuselages in a confined space.
“We work with our customers to develop suitable solutions, and have access to the whole value chain in our company. In the end, no product is sold twice. They are one-offs every time”, emphasises Bernd Jokele. He is one of the two CEOs responsible for construction, manufacturing and final assembly. Born in Bavaria, he studied mechanical engineering in Munich, had various jobs in the packaging industry and worked in Brazil where he established a production and sales subsidiary. Before moving to AMAS at the end of 2021, he worked in Hamburg as the CEO of a company for packaging machinery. “Quality and reliability are reasons why customers choose us as a preferred supplier. That generates mutual trust and makes us strong”, says the 51-year old manager, who also ensures that the company continues to invest in research and development, automation and possible uses of artificial intelligence, parallel to his day-to-day business.
Know-how transfer needs human resources
As managing partner, Dr Axel Korn is responsible for the commercial side of the business and thus also for human resources. “Finding young talents is a particular challenge. We have addressed this situation with a regional marketing strategy. In addition to the intensive, elaborate work involved in attending trade fairs and going into schools, this year we have also worked together with the local authority Amt Dömitz-Malliß to have a bus stop erected right outside our premises. In my view, other essential aspects include working with associations, sponsoring, holiday jobs and campaigns for STEM jobs, such as our popular AMAS Girls Day. We could take on more orders and we want to do that too, but we don’t have the personal resources. That means in future we will continue to face the demanding task of accessing skilled workers to warrant the further organic growth of our firm”, explains Dr Axel Korn, who has been at AMAS since 2016. The company offers a sandwich course degree in technical product design, apprenticeships as metalworkers specialising in construction mechanics and also training for industrial clerks. External students can do their Bachelor or Master’s dissertation here: the CEO hopes that they will then stay at AMAS. Now aged 63 years old, he studied fluid mechanics and process engineering at the Technical University of Berlin and did a PhD in bioprocess technology. In the course of his career, he spent many years working in the recycling sector before becoming CEO for the energy provider E.ON in Hamburg and Hesse.
In view of the fact that aircraft engineering is currently enjoying a fair wind, both CEOs look to the future with confidence. They see the focal tasks for the company in further automation of production workflows for the aviation industry as well as expanding production capacities for the defence sector.
European Space Agency establishes Business Incubation Centre in Wismar
The Forschungs-GmbH Wismar with its InnovationPort Wismar has been the official site of the ESA Business Incubation Centre (BIC) Northern Germany since June 2024. The innovation site is thus one of the 29 start-up centres of the European Space Agency (ESA) in Europe and the first ESA BIC site in Eastern Germany.
Inclusion in the ESA BIC programme offers start-ups and young companies in aviation-related and other similarly oriented technology sectors comprehensive professional support, access to national and international aviation, and aerospace networks, premises and facilities together with financial assistance amounting to 50,000 Euro after successfully completing the application process.
The process is also accompanied by Prof. Dr Matthias Wißotzki, Professor for business model development and digital architectures at Wismar University of Applied Sciences. He says: “We are looking for both upstream and downstream applications. Upstream applications refer to ideas that supplement the aerospace status quo, in other words, all kinds of technologies that we can send into space. Downstream applications refer to approaches for using aerospace technologies or data here on earth, such as data from the Copernicus or Galileo programs.“
AMAS Technology GmbH
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