Nowadays, the car body production is mostly automated. Production operations are performed on workstations which are physically separated from each other. This paper describes the development of the workstation for bonnet crimping of a new car model. Crimping is performed by robots, while the main function of the workstation is to grasp and to position the bonnet. This ensures precision and repeatability of the process. Furthermore, terms and elements which are often used in bodywork production are explained, such as references used for positioning the workpiece. The workstation for the previous car model, which is located on the same line, is also described. Its biggest shortcoming is complicated maintenance. A variety of devices were found in the review of patents and the market. Those devices can be used for grasping and positioning of the bonnet, such as pneumatic and electric clamps, linear cylinders and guides for obtaining precise movements. Then, the client’s technical requirements and limitations were presented to define the direction of the workstation development. It has been defined that pneumatic energy will be used to obtain motion, so devices such as electric clamps could be discarded. Regarding the defined direction of the workstation development, a functional decomposition of the workstation was created. All functions and subfunctions that a workstation must have are shown in functional decomposition. Using the devices from patent and market review, a morphological matrix was created for all the functions from the functional decomposition. The morphological matrix has been divided into two tables. The first table refers to the solutions of the functions by which the concepts differ. The second table contains solutions of the functions that have already been defined by the client or that are not essential for this paper. Therefore, the solutions of functions in the second table are directly placed in design detailing. Then, the concepts have been evaluated according to the criteria from technical requirements of the workstation and the concept which goes into design detailing was selected. In design detailing, suitable devices for moving the elements (pneumatic clamps and pneumatic cylinders) have been selected regarding their required force. Finally, calculations for critical elements have been made.
