Update for the material flow in battery production

00:00:00: Hello everybody and welcome to a new episode of our tech podcast by Bosch Rexroth.

00:00:15: My name is Robert Weber and it's a pleasure to talk to you.

00:00:18: Andreas Letsch.

00:00:19: Andreas, welcome to the podcast.

00:00:22: Hi.

00:00:23: We want to talk about batteries, but before we start, please introduce yourself briefly

00:00:31: to the listeners.

00:00:34: So I'm working for more than two decades for everything which is related to production

00:00:39: and especially production of green technologies.

00:00:43: This means for example photovoltaics, batteries, fuel cells, e-motors, everything which is

00:00:49: related to green tech.

00:00:52: You were at the battery show a few weeks ago.

00:00:55: How was it?

00:00:56: It was a great show and this was the first time that they moved to Detroit downtown.

00:01:03: This is a larger site because the old one was too small and to be honest, the large

00:01:10: site was already completely full.

00:01:13: Is there a new ecosystem emerging?

00:01:17: Well, yes, it's starting, but of course a lot of customers were there.

00:01:21: It was growing like hell and a lot of visitors were there.

00:01:26: This is a good sign as the EV market is under pressure.

00:01:29: Well, if you look to the numbers from a worldwide perspective, the numbers are still increasing.

00:01:36: So we have in total ...

00:01:37: But not in Europe.

00:01:39: In Europe also, but of course it's going down especially in Germany, which is for us,

00:01:44: of course as Germans, a huge market and of course a large pity because we are proud of

00:01:50: our German automotive companies and of course they are struggling right now because of course

00:01:54: also cutting, subsidizing and all this kind of stuff.

00:01:59: But coming back to the complete market, still the market worldwide is growing and there

00:02:05: were some months already in China, for example, where every second car was a battery electric

00:02:11: vehicle.

00:02:12: I think this trend will be there and it will still grow.

00:02:17: Nevertheless, currently of course we have a crisis in automotive industry.

00:02:22: What does Bosch Rexroth offer to the EV industry?

00:02:28: We offer the complete legal pricks to realize the material flow.

00:02:32: What does it mean?

00:02:33: So all the puzzle pieces which you need to build up machinery and also to realize the

00:02:39: movements along the factory, that's what you get out of our products.

00:02:44: So it starts, for example, if we talk about electric production, take the motors which

00:02:49: are driving the coils, the controls for these motors and drives.

00:02:54: So you combine all components?

00:02:57: Yes.

00:02:58: And they are all used to realize the material flow.

00:03:03: But it's not about the single processes.

00:03:04: So we are not taking care of the laser process itself, but we take care that the piece which

00:03:10: you want, for example, to laser weld or to cut with the laser, that this is at the right

00:03:15: spot.

00:03:16: So you and your team play a crucial role when it comes to the material flow and battery

00:03:21: production, right?

00:03:23: Yes.

00:03:24: Are these all green field projects and how difficult is it to establish a new material

00:03:30: flow in a brown field?

00:03:31: Well, most of the projects, if we talk about battery module assembly and battery pack assembly,

00:03:37: they are brown field.

00:03:39: So you have already an existing plant where you produce, let's say, classical cars and

00:03:45: then you're switching to the new battery electric vehicles and there you install it.

00:03:50: Of course, then you have space constraints and a lot of pillars in the hall and all the

00:03:55: stuff.

00:03:56: So from, let's say, the building perspective, it's brown field, but you need to realize it

00:04:01: with a new equipment in this space.

00:04:05: If we talk about the battery cell manufacturing, these are green field projects.

00:04:10: So you need to build also large facilities.

00:04:13: You need a lot of energy there.

00:04:15: Yes.

00:04:16: I was allowed to visit the BMW plant in Leipzig a few weeks ago.

00:04:20: It's an EV plant.

00:04:21: AGVs and AMRs dominated the production there.

00:04:26: How do you put that together?

00:04:28: How do you approach and AGV and AMR approach?

00:04:32: Well, in a traditional approach, definitely, because in a lot of cases, then you have to

00:04:37: take a huge robot, for example, to transfer the battery from the AGV-AMR to our conveyor

00:04:43: sections, for example.

00:04:45: But we realize now within my team, together with colleagues from engineering, that we

00:04:51: can transfer it directly from an AGV-AMR to our conveyor system, making life much more

00:04:59: easier.

00:05:00: And I think this is very crucial for the future, because you need these seamless material flow

00:05:05: solutions where it's quite easy to interact and also to reconfigure such lines.

00:05:10: And if you think about, let's say, take such a...

00:05:14: a huge robot, even moving this kind of robot to handle a one or two ton battery.

00:05:20: That's an enormous effort to install it in another place.

00:05:24: If you can... just can say, okay, let's send the AGV AMR to another section.

00:05:30: That's an easy stuff.

00:05:31: But we still need this kind of conveyor sections also for the battery packs because we all

00:05:38: want to improve throughput.

00:05:40: So throughput is very crucial to the speed.

00:05:42: Looking into the future, right?

00:05:44: Yes, looking into the future, but also today to be really cost competitive.

00:05:49: It's all about throughput.

00:05:51: We've just walked through your factory here in Stuttgart and you showed me a few things.

00:05:56: I was very impressed.

00:05:58: But from my point of view, other companies can also build that it's not rocket science

00:06:03: or am I wrong?

00:06:05: What is your USP?

00:06:07: Well, of course, in the first place, it looks not like.

00:06:10: But we see, of course, also what is happening in the market.

00:06:14: And what we offer is a very broad and large portfolio.

00:06:19: And if you combine this in a clever way, then you can have precision and speed at the right

00:06:25: sections where you do, for example, the special processes.

00:06:28: And you can go with less accuracy to move the parts, let's say to the next station.

00:06:34: And if you combine this kind of legal pricks, which we have in a clever way, this is a

00:06:40: good way to optimize, of course, in respect to costs.

00:06:45: And this is really about costs per transport.

00:06:49: And at the end, if we want to survive and also be competitive, it's very crucial that

00:06:56: we reach the cost targets.

00:06:58: And the unique thing is we have this broad portfolio so that we can have the different

00:07:03: versions in other cases.

00:07:05: Other competitors, they want to sell their stuff, let's say at maximum meters and another competitor

00:07:12: will try to sell his meters.

00:07:15: We have such a broad portfolio that we can optimize it to get with the customer from

00:07:20: one hand.

00:07:21: Do you need new skills in your team?

00:07:25: Yes, because in respect to battery, you need to understand, of course, the customer and

00:07:30: that those processes, which are needed for batteries, they differ completely from the

00:07:35: old internal combustion engine world.

00:07:39: So it's not about metal cutting and grinding and this kind of stuff.

00:07:42: It's more about coating.

00:07:44: It's about high precision.

00:07:47: It's wet chemistry involved.

00:07:50: And also in respect to the surroundings, we have clean and dry room.

00:07:55: And all those, let's say, environmental stuff and also the developments, you need to understand

00:08:00: to really provide the right solution to your customer so that it's fitting.

00:08:05: And in my team, we have, for example, guys coming from the chemistry world, but also

00:08:09: coming from machinery and also from automotive.

00:08:13: So we are combining this to really support the customer in the best way so that we find

00:08:19: the right solution, which is fitting to his demands.

00:08:23: We have talked a lot about production now.

00:08:26: What about the recycling of the battery?

00:08:28: Does your technology help there too?

00:08:32: So we thought about recycling also coming from our experience that we do the assembly

00:08:40: of the batteries and, of course, also end of line testing.

00:08:44: And end of line testing means, for example, that we take large DC drive and use this as

00:08:50: a sync source system to charge and discharge and test the batteries.

00:08:55: And why shouldn't we do it the other way?

00:08:59: And so we started something like two or three years ago already to discuss about it.

00:09:04: And we said, hey, if we assemble, we can disassemble.

00:09:07: If we can charge, we can discharge.

00:09:09: Let's try the other way around.

00:09:11: And that's how we developed a complete set of solutions which fit to the recycling market.

00:09:18: And we realized now one of the first automated lines to do the battery discharging there.

00:09:25: So there you need our tightening tools to untighten.

00:09:28: You need our conveyor system.

00:09:30: And of course, also our drives to do the discharging.

00:09:35: Let's look at the market at the end.

00:09:36: How will the EV market develop?

00:09:39: The EV will stay there.

00:09:41: So there's no doubt about it because battery electric vehicles are the most efficient way

00:09:48: today to drive.

00:09:49: And of course, this will still grow because it's all about efficiency.

00:09:53: I think this is a large driver in nature as well as for economics.

00:09:58: And therefore, I see this as one of those trends which might be inhibited in some way by some

00:10:05: political stuff.

00:10:05: But on the long run, the battery electric vehicle will be the car of the future.

00:10:11: Andreas, thank you for your insights.

00:10:13: Thank you for the tour.

00:10:14: It was a pleasure.

00:10:16: Thank you so much.

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