Magnomatics, a high-technology company that develops and manufactures energy-efficient products based on magnetic gear technology, has announced The Proving Factory as the production partner of both its MAGSPLIT power split and PDD wheel motor devices.
The MAGSPLIT device will be the first to go through The Proving Factory. Three sub-assemblies are being produced over the next few months to test and finalize the manufacturing and assembly process – ‘prove out’. There is a development contract for the MAGSPLIT device in place and this product is the subject of several other contract discussions. An order is in negotiation with a commercial vehicle OEM for the PDD wheel motor device, which is due to go into production with The Proving Factory in quarter one of 2015.
Chris Kirby, Managing Director of Magnomatics, said, “Magnomatics originally joined The Proving Factory to meet the medium-volume requirements of automotive customers with its MAGSPLIT power split device. Now, just 18 months on, we have signed up The Proving Factory as our production partner for both the MAGSPLIT product and our PDD commercial wheel motor.
“Over that time the relationship has continued to strengthen and we’ve seen the value The Proving Factory can give us in terms of engineering knowledge and manufacturing techniques. As a result our technologies are much more proven and we are closer to market.”
Nick Rodgers, director of The Proving Factory, said, “We are proud and excited to announce that Magnomatics has chosen The Proving Factory as production partner on both its MAGSPLIT and PDD wheel motor devices. The founding aim of our business was to support technology developers in producing their innovations at the levels and to the quality OEMs need to incorporate them into vehicles and it is good to see that vision coming to fruition through companies such as Magnomatics.”
The Proving Factory is a unique organization in the automotive sector which ‘de-risks’ the process of industrializing and manufacturing proving volumes, up to 20,000 units per year, of advanced propulsion technologies for vehicle manufacturers. Supported at the show by the technology developers who are currently working with the business to prepare their low-carbon designs for production, The Proving Factory is demonstrating how it takes a technology from a one-off model to pre-production prototypes and on into production. Pre-production trials of the first technologies will start later this year, with production of the first advanced technologies in early 2015.
