LINAK used to buy machined aluminium profiles from European suppliers on an eight week lead time. A fully automatic production line, built in close collaboration with AKEA Automation and BILA, brought that work home to Sønderborg and cut the lead time to 24 hours. The line was one of three finalists for the DIRA Automation Prize 2025.
What the line does
The line takes six metre aluminium profiles and carries them through the full sequence without manual handling:
- Profile handling and infeed
- Cutting to length
- Milling and machining
- Measurement and quality inspection
- Assembly of slides to fine tolerances
Robots move the material between stations. The same line handles multiple product variants, which is the part the DIRA jury singled out. Nigel Edmondson, director at MADE and a member of the jury, pointed to the combination of automated processes reaching from the handling of very large items through to precision assembly across variants.
Why six metres is hard
A six metre aluminium profile is long, light for its size, and easy to deflect. It cannot be picked up the way a billet can. Support has to follow the part through every station, the datum has to survive being moved, and a profile that has just been milled has to arrive at the measurement station in the same geometric condition it left in.
Handling therefore dictates the layout of the line, and the machining follows.
What LINAK gained
Malte Bastiansen, project manager at LINAK, put the outcome in production terms: costs down significantly, delivery time from eight weeks to 24 hours.
LINAK gained on three fronts:
- Lead time from eight weeks to 24 hours
- Lower production cost and stronger competitiveness
- Heavy lifting and manual process steps removed from the working day
Taking the heavy lifting of six metre profiles out of the working day made the line an ergonomics improvement as well as a throughput one.
Production brought home
The work moved from European suppliers back to Sønderborg. The case for it was lead time. An eight week external lead time is eight weeks of forecast risk, inventory and freight; 24 hours in your own building is none of those things.
Kasper Nørgaard of AKEA Automation described the pride in producing production equipment of that size and efficiency for a Danish customer.
The same problem in other industries
The window, door and facade industry runs the same geometry through the same operations, which is what the AKEA Aluminium Machining Center is built for: cut to length at angle, multi-side milling and drilling, printing and labelling, sorting and handling.
The engineering question is identical in both cases. How does the part get from station to station without losing its reference, and how many variants can run through the line before setup time eats the gain.
Talk to us
AKEA Automation is a Danish owner-led project house with more than 30 years in special purpose machines and automation, everything in-house from development and design through programming, test and service, up to complete turnkey lines with integrated robot handling. For project development, contact Kasper Nørgaard.
Frequently asked questions
What does an automated aluminium profile production line do?
It moves profiles through cutting, milling, measurement and assembly with robot handling between stations, so a long profile is processed end to end without manual lifting.
How much lead time can automation remove?
On the LINAK line, machined profile lead time went from eight weeks with external suppliers to 24 hours in-house.
Who built the LINAK production line?
LINAK built it in close collaboration with AKEA Automation and BILA.
Why is handling six-metre profiles difficult?
The part deflects under its own weight and loses its reference if it is not supported through every station, so the handling design determines the layout of the whole line.
Which industries use aluminium profile machining centres?
Actuator and industrial component manufacturing, and the window, door and facade industry, which runs the same long profile geometry through cut to length at angle, multi-side milling and drilling.