GROB Supports Customers by Wholly Committing to Electromobility

As one of the few worldwide machine manufacturers, Grob is now, following years of involved development work, wholly committed to electromobility and is expanding its product range by this pivotal and future-facing sector. Grob is fully supporting its customers with the development and realization of new system concepts for the production of hybrid and electric drives. In doing so, the company is consolidating its global role as a capable system supplier and dependable partner to the automotive industry.

Four years ago, in response to the increasingly progressive pace of technological change with vehicle powertrains, Grob established a R&D team to focus solely on electro mobility. Close consultation with renowned representatives from the automotive industry soon revealed a high demand for mass production equipment in this sector, the focus being on two core areas, the electric motor and the battery. To accelerate the set-up and development phase, Grob consolidated its knowledge of winding and inserting technology and, in early 2017, acquired a renowned mechanical engineering partner for the production of electric motors, DMG meccanica, renamed in 2018 to Grob Italy S.r.l. In addition, a dedicated, ultra-modern development and application center for electromobility was constructed at the Mindelheim site. In close collaboration with the automotive industry, engineering processes and methods for the series production of high-efficiency electric motors and extremely compact battery modules with a high power density are being developed and trialed at the site on over 2,500 m² of space. The new Grob machine portfolio, then, comprises the entire manufacturing process for an electric motor, including the various methods of wire winding and forming, assembly and contacting.

When Grob introduced universal machining centers to establish a new, third business sector some ten years ago, the market familiarity with the existing G-modules provided the ideal basis for success. Not least because Grob, as a turnkey supplier in the system business, enjoyed an excellent reputation in the market. At the present time, projects are being set up and implemented only in close contact with the automotive industry and selected subsuppliers. The sales team has also been expanded by specialists with experience of electro mobility. Customer inquiries are coordinated in an internal sales meeting and allocated according to the technology involved. On that basis, a project team, comprising planning, innovation and sales management, is being established to create the best possible solutions for the customers.

Electro mobility is gaining importance at an increasingly fast pace, and transformations in vehicle drive technology have already begun. Grob though, with its inherent strength and experience of making highly productive manufacturing and assembly lines, has already squared up to this new challenge. The Grob Group champions a uniform procedure and sales structure, closely coordinated with the headquarters in Mindelheim. Since Europe and China are among the electro mobility forerunners and the proportion of e-drives in China for the next few years has been laid down by legislation, investments in this sector are high. With its expertise as a turn-key supplier, Grob has already mastered all the processes and technologies required to offer system concepts for reliable and cost-efficient series production (investment and follow-up costs).