Drive specialist is building the future at its Markt Indersdorf location

On 19th November, the ground-breaking ceremony for extensive construction work by Sumitomo Drive Technologies took place at its Markt Indersdorf location. In the presence of numerous guests from political and economic domains, and from  workforce, including the Mayor of Markt Indersdorf Franz Obesser,  District Administrator of Dachau Stefan Löwl, Executive Vice President of Sumitomo Heavy Industries Ltd, Toshiharu Tanaka, Vice President of Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Shaun Dean, CSO and COO of Sumitomo (SHI) Cyclo Drive Germany GmbH (SCG), Florian Butzmann, as well as  Chief Technical Officer, Dr. Johann Hopfner,
the go-ahead was given for a Global Research & Development Centre for precision gearboxes and geared motors.
With the addition of the Competence Center, Sumitomo (SHI) Cyclo Drive Germany GmbH (SCG) has consolidated its position in the EMEA economic region and within the Power Transmission Control (PTC) division of the Sumitomo Heavy Industries (SHI) Group. Together with the acquisitions Lafert Group and Invertek Drives, the synergy effects between gearbox, engine and control specialists can be bundled more efficiently, flexibly and quickly. The entire investment volume is self-financed by the SCG Group.

Expansion of the development departments

So far in Markt Indersdorf, customer-specific adjustments have mainly been made to the elements of the precision gearboxes and geared motors that are produced at the location.
With the new building and the associated establishment of the Global R&D Center, the complete development and customization of precision gearboxes and geared motors in Markt Indersdorf will now also be possible.
Together with the Global R&D Center for Industrial Gearboxes at the location of the SCG subsidiary Hansen Industrial Transmissions (Edegem/Belgium), this development expertise will then be available for all product areas of Sumitomo Drive Technologies within the SCG Group. These are excellent conditions for the Markt Indersdorf business location. Both the state of Dachau and the city of Markt Indersdorf have therefore supported the construction right from the start. As was the case at the beginning of the company's history over 70 years ago, the R&D Center once again brings together all the company's development know-how at the location.

Major employer in the region

With this Sumitomo is and remains one of the most important employers in the region.
The executive planning envisages a doubling of development capacities/teams – within the next 24-36 months. A not-inconsiderable part of the development team is expected to be hired in the coming years. A further increasing diversification of the teams is also expected (a mixture of expertise from local employees, Munich, Japan and the other Global R&D Centers worldwide is planned).

What happens at the Global R&D Center

Focus here is on testing and developing new products in order to increase capacities. Application-specific customer requests can be validated directly on-site in Markt Indersdorf and do not have to take the indirect route via Japan. This saves time and money. The whole product development process is quicker, more flexible and more efficient. Global R&D and the previous local development departments, which mainly handled customizations, will work in an interdisciplinary way in future. The existing development team, headed by Mike Wandersee,
will also move into the new building upon completion. Laboratory and test areas will be tripled to over 900 sqm and the office floor space quadrupled to over 800 sqm, distributed over two floors. In the test area of the center, lifetimes of individual gearboxes/gearbox components/engines will be examined and subjected to stress tests, among other things. Technical features of the gearboxes are also assessed there. The laboratory will conduct (basic) research on new materials. All in all, as in the days of Mr. Braren, Markt Indersdorf site will design, develop,
test and build experimental set-ups once again.

Environmental protection is an important component

With the involvement of the city, a landscape-compatible development was also planned through an adapted land use and development plan. All new buildings, for example, do not exceed the previous height of the existing buildings. A photovoltaic system on the roof with a peak output of 80 kwp is primarily intended for in-house consumption but can also be fed into the local power grid in the event of overcapacity. The energy efficiency class of the entire building corresponds to the current state of the art. Among other things, triple-glazed windows will be used. In addition, the existing test rooms will also be relocated to the new building,
with noise emissions shifting away from the adjacent residential area.