Drives & Controls April 2022

NEWS n WEG is investing €23.5m to build a 22,680m2 electric motors factory in Santo Tirso, Portugal, where it already has a 16,300m2 low-voltage motor factory. The new plant will expand WEG’s production of large motors. Operations from an existing factory in Maia, 24km away, will be transferred to the new facility, centralising manufacturing at a single site. The new factory is expected to start operating in the first quarter of 2024 and will create around 100 new jobs. Alberto Kuba, managing director of WEG Motores Industrial Business, says that the strategic investment is an important step in WEG's business expansion plans for Europe. “We are not only making investments to increase production capacity, but also improving our operations in Portugal,” he explains. “In addition to moving the production of medium- and high-voltage motors, flameproof motors, electrical panels, automation solutions and service support to Santo Tirso, we are also planning to increase the electrical motors range for larger sizes.” WEG started its own operations in Portugal in 2002 when it bought an electric motor factory in Maia. In 2015, the company began building a new motor factory in Santo Tirso. It invested more than €30m in the 45,000m2 plant, which was inaugurated in 2018 and produces customised LV motors. It is WEG’s largest factory in Europe. Production at the plant is vertically integrated and brings together machining, rotor manufacturing, winding, assembly and test laboratories. WEG currently employs more than 700 people in Portugal. WEG invests €23.5m in a new motors factory in Portugal ABB IS TAKING a stake in a Swiss start-up that has developed a technology that allows mobile robots to navigate autonomously through complex, dynamic environments, close to people and other objects. The company, Sevensense Robotics, founded in 2018 as a spinoff from ETH Zurich University, uses AI (artificial intelligence) and 3D mapping technologies that are calimed to be more accurate than today’s 2D systems, resulting in navigation that is more cost-effective than systems based on laser scanners. ABB’s partnership is part of a strategy to develop the next generation of flexible automation technologies to expand its robotics and automation portfolio, following its acquisition last July of the Spanish AMR (autonomous mobile robot) manufacturer, ASTI Mobile Robotics. www.sevensense.ai ABB invests in 3D navigation start-up CMZ Sistemi Elettronici is a company of Soga Energy Team cmz@cmz.it cmz.it MOTION CONTROL CUSTOM-MADE SINCE 1976 Hardware Software Service Come to Italy and join our OPEN DAYS with factory tour MAY 24-25-26, 2022 ITALIA smart production solutions sps CONTACT OUR AGENT IN UK AND IRELAND david.ede@sogaenergyteam.com You can switch to CMZ, the Italian company specialized in motion control solutions here presenting its best-seller FCT640 modular controller whose technological soul is fully conceived and developed by CMZ: √ CODESYS 3.5 √ integrated I/O units (digital and analog) √ simple setup through dedicated CMZ FCT tool √ large choice for motion and communication libraries by CMZ. For all those looking for a compact, easy to programme controller! MODULAR PROGRAMMABLE PLC CONTROLLER CMZ pubblicità 178x124 ORIZZONTALE FCT.indd 1 25/02/22 12:22 13 www.drivesncontrols.com April 2022 When completed in 2024, WEG’s new factory in Portugal will create about 100 jobs