FlexProp AB

Robust low-weight grippers

FlexProp AB specialises in the development and sale of lightweight robust fixtures and grippers in composite materials, mainly for the automotive and aircraft industries. The company has built up unique know-how and a promising market position with customers such as VAG (Audi) and Volvo.

Thanks to the company’s specialist knowledge of composite materials it is able to reduce the weight of the products to, in some cases, less than a tenth of the current weight. This results in greater flexibility and simpler handling when retooling production lines, with significant cost savings and environmental benefits for customers.

FlexProp was previously wholly-owned by the founder Karl-Otto Strömberg. Fouriertransform acquired 37 percent of the shares in the company by investing SEK 10 million in a new share issue.

FlexProp received its first commercial order in 2007 for 28 fixtures for Volvo Trucks’ cab plant in Umeå and in autumn 2009 Audi decided to build a pilot line based on the company’s technology. Contacts have also been established with Scania, Vinci/Airbus, ThyssenKrupp and BMW.

Brief product description

High-precision fixtures and grippers are required in the assembly of cars, trucks and aircraft to position the body parts that are to be joined together. Historically, such fixtures were therefore made of steel, which made them difficult to handle and very heavy – weights in excess of 1,000 kg occur frequently in the industry.

FlexProp has produced equivalent fixtures with a lattice structure made of composite materials. Through a combination of advanced materials and a patented method, the fixtures can be produced with the same high precision as conventional fixtures but with extreme mechanical properties which reduce their weight by up to 90 percent. Their unique mechanical properties have a positive impact on the environment, investment costs and reinvestment costs, while at that same time making the process noticeably more flexible.