Competitors collaborating on powertrains

[kscarbel2]

Dagens Industri  /  September 13, 2016

Volvo and Scania may be tough competitors. But to develop the production of heavy powertrains, they shall cooperate in a new research lab.

The lab is backed by German experts from research organization Fraunhofer (https://www.fraunhofer.de/en.html).

The new research center at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, called Powertrain Manufacturing for Heavy Vehicles Application Lab, will be inaugurated on Tuesday.

In addition to Fraunhofer and the KTH Royal Institute of Technology, the lab will be supported by the RISE Research Institutes of Sweden (http://www.ri.se/en/about-rise).

Partners Scania, Volvo and tool supplier Sandvik Coromant (http://www.sandvik.coromant.com/en-us/pages/default.aspx) will invest about 10 million each.

Fraunhofer’s vast organization includes 24,000 employees operating at 67 institutes in Germany. With a turnover of nearly 20 billion, Fraunhofer is Europe's leading organization for applied research.

"Swedish industry and academia came to Fraunhofer and wanted to cooperate. We are a German organization with a mission to support German industry, but we also see it as important to increase innovation throughout Europe, "said Jannik Henser, managing director of the new research lab.

The lab also coordinates a research and development cluster which includes Chalmers University of technology in Gothenburg. The plan is to bring in more business as a partner.

The research should primarily focus on improving the production process. This may involve material selection and machining of camshafts and engines.

"This laboratory will be a gateway to the collective expertise of the Fraunhofer Institutes in terms of applied manufacturing technology," says Jan Ohlsson, head of the Volvo Group's production organization for trucks and powertrains.

The first steps were taken three years ago when both Volvo, Scania and Sandvik found ways to cooperate with Fraunhofer.

"It has previously been a bit difficult to unite the industry in the East and the West on the issue," says Lars-Henrik Jörn Wing, director of the global industrial development at Scania.

He sees no problem with competition issues.

"We believe that we can do a great deal of research and development together. It is not primarily a competitive tool, but a way to strengthen the industry in Sweden. "