In an announcement at a press conference at the SPS/Drives Fair in Nuremberg on Nov. 23, Beckhoff Automation Managing Director Hans Beckhoff announced a joint venture with Fertig Motors GmbH to develop servomotors specifically for Beckhoff’s PC-based Control and EtherCat–the networking technology championed by Beckhoff.
The first of these products will be presented at the end of 2011. The Motion division is being strategically expanded with new product lines in the category of servo drives, servo terminals and servomotors. Production capacities for Beckhoff drive technology are currently being expanded. The target is to grow the Motion division in the medium term to 25 percent of total sales.
Fertig Motors was established in March 2010 as a joint venture between Beckhoff Automation and Erwin Fertig, the former CEO and founder of Elau. Fertig currently has a team of 15 experienced motor and drive technology developers. The production facility is currently under construction and will begin series production at the end of 2011. “Our goal is to develop the next generation of servomotors: more dynamic, more energy-efficient and available at a low cost. Our team of highly motivated specialists is looking forward to this new challenge and is going about its work with enthusiasm. In order to ensure maximum quality standards and to guarantee high availability, all motors should be “Made in Germany,” stated Fertig.
With the new standard product lines as a basis, the intent is to also develop and manufacture application-specific motors in the future. In this way, Beckhoff and Fertig Motors strive to provide their customers and their customers’ applications with ideally suited motion products. The existing standard servomotor series from Beckhoff – the AM2000, AM3000 and AM3500 – will continue to be expanded even further.
Hans Beckhoff added, “We have always specialised in hardware and software, and naturally we have extensive know-how in drive technology. However, our knowledge will now be decisively deepened with the development of our own motor series, especially in the area of highly dynamic magnetic mechanics and the associated control algorithms. We are delighted with this new partnership and we are convinced that we will be able to offer our customers even more powerful system solutions as a result.”
