Intralogistics provider Cimcorp is targeting the production of batteries for electric vehicles, while its parent company continues its global expansion. Entry into this new market is being achieved through a partnership with its parent company, Murata Machinery, and AGVE.
“Last year, one in five new cars worldwide was an electric vehicle, and the growth was substantial,” says Veli-Matti Hakala, CEO of Cimcorp. “The supply chain for electric vehicle batteries needs to be strengthened to support this growth and its opportunities. Our automation solutions help to efficiently increase production and scale it up as planned.”
Cimcorp's robotics and automated handling technologies, which have been used in tire factory logistics since 1991, are now to be offered to electric vehicle battery manufacturers in their gigafactories across Europe. Negotiations are reportedly underway with key industry players.
V.-M. Hakala
Cimcorp's automation solutions, it is said, are well suited to optimizing the process chain in electric vehicle battery manufacturing and to covering the entire material flow from raw material receipt through electrode manufacturing, cell assembly, as well as formation and aging to shipping.
The company offers automated buffer storage for different temperature zones – both at ambient temperature and in high-temperature environments – as well as driverless transport vehicles, conveyor systems, and gantry robots that ensure precise material transport to and between process machines. This also includes cleanrooms and dry rooms.
Image: Cimcorp
In buffer warehouses, raw materials, components, or finished cells are stored on pallets, which are handled by automated storage and retrieval systems with a lifting height of up to 40 m. Each warehouse is equipped with a warehouse control system to manage material movements, and Cimcorp also has integrated execution software for efficient real-time control of all processes.
In robot handling, Cimcorp's suspended portal robots, unlike rail-guided vehicles (RGVs), keep the hall floor free of obstacles.
