- New development, production, and advance commissioning center for test benches
- International training center for customer training and software application
- Unterschleissheim site continues to grow
Munich, June 26, 2018. The mobility of tomorrow imposes increasingly stringent requirements on the testing facilities and equipment used in the automotive industry. KRATZER AUTOMATION, supplier of turnkey test bench technology, is meeting demand for increasingly complex test bench and testing equipment, particularly for electric drives, by opening a development, production, and commissioning center at its headquarters in Unterschleissheim, near Munich.
“Our customers are involved in simultaneous research and development on a wide range of different concepts for future vehicle drives. We supply them with the right test bench and testing technology. The development cycles in which new developments need to reach market readiness are growing shorter and shorter. As a result, both our clientele and the range of test bench technologies we offer for the industry are constantly growing,” says Uwe Krummenoehler, the COO and the person responsible for test systems at KRATZER AUTOMATION. “Worldwide, our partners are asking for increasingly complex, more flexible test benches with ever higher performance values. We are up to these challenges, since we supply our customers with the right modular test bench solutions, quickly and reliably.”
The company, based in the north of Munich, produces and supplies turnkey test equipment worldwide for conventional drive concepts and their components, from turbochargers to the entire vehicle and from individual test benches through to entire testing centers for future drives based on hybrid concepts, fuel cells, or purely electric drives that use batteries to store energy. KRATZER AUTOMATION handles the entire process of development, project planning, and setting up the equipment on the customer’s premises.
With all this in mind, KRATZER AUTOMATION is now establishing a development, production, and advance commissioning center at the Munich site. The facility will serve for the technical development and production of test benches which will then be set up on customer premises worldwide.
At the same time, the company is also adding capacity for training employees and customers.
Krummenoehler points to the rapid pace of change in electric mobility as an example: “There is more complexity now in testing and trials for electric drives in particular. As the performance our test benches are required to deliver grows more and more demanding, testing and development require more time and effort. We are meeting this challenge by pooling development, production, and advance commissioning activities in a single location.”
Murat Demir, head of customer projects, adds: “We set up our systems under a wide range of different conditions all over the world. From establishing the right infrastructure and safety devices to modernizing equipment and systems on existing premises, a wide range of fields having to do with the actual test bench need to be coordinated and taken into account during project planning. We have to consider this level of complexity and the various circumstances that apply in different regions when we make our preparations. To do that, we plan and test the setup of our systems in detail beforehand so that we can realize our projects on-site in the allotted time. Our new production and commissioning center will be a huge help with this.”
KRATZER AUTOMATION is a full-service provider, not just a hardware supplier. The company develops the PAtools software, which is needed for operation, in order to automate testing processes, along with testXplorer, which is used to manage test data and for integration into the customer’s IT environment. Suitable solutions are available for smooth testing processes, planning the use of test benches, and to provide and prepare the resulting data. Comprehensive training and instruction of operators is therefore a highly important factor when these systems are commissioned.
The complexity of the applications involved and the vast store of data need to be handled as efficiently as possible. Based on extensive training systems and tailored user training sessions, individual training and “train the trainer” concepts alike are offered. Both are important for smooth operation within the customer’s organization.
Krummenoehler firmly believes the new development, production, and commissioning center will allow KRATZER AUTOMATION to handle projects even better in the future: “All signs point to growth. The new space will help us meet future requirements and challenges.”
About KRATZER AUTOMATION:
For more than 35 years, KRATZER AUTOMATION has been supplying software solutions geared toward use in processes for the international automotive industry and the transportation sector in Europe. KRATZER AUTOMATION has more than 370 employees and maintains sites in Munich, Stuttgart, Kassel, and Wolfsburg. The company is active internationally through its own affiliates in China, the United States, France, the United Kingdom, and the Czech Republic.
In the test systems business segment, KRATZER AUTOMATION plans, realizes, and modernizes test systems for engines, turbochargers, transmissions, and further drive components. The company focuses in particular on test systems for energy-saving, ecofriendly drive concepts, with special attention to the specific requirements that apply to hybrid or electric drives, battery and fuel cell technology in automotive development.
The company demonstrates its social responsibility in a variety of ways, concentrating especially on providing support for youth both locally and beyond the region. KRATZER AUTOMATION also sponsors an art award in recognition of disabled artists, which has been granted annually since 2012.
Press contact:
KRATZER AUTOMATION AG
Jens Isenbeck
Head of Marketing & Communications
Gutenbergstr. 5
85716 Unterschleißheim
Germany
Phone: +49-(0)89-32152-521
Fax: +49-(0)-89-32152-599
E-Mail: ka-info(at)ni.com
Internet: www.kratzer-automation.com
