Partnership Eirich and Siemens for the battery industry
Eirich and Siemens Digital Industries sign memorandum of understanding for cooperation in the field of lithium-ion battery factories
Eirich, the expert in mixing and preparation technology, and Siemens Digital Industries, technology and innovation leader in the field of industrial automation and digitalization, are joining forces to accelerate efforts to improve the efficiency of lithium-ion battery projects and to speed up project processing times. As part of this collaboration, Eirich will be supplying equipment and installations equipped with hardware and software products from Siemens. Over the next seven years, production capacities for lithium-ion and other batteries are set to rise tenfold, so it is going to be all the more important to optimize production.
2024 is turning out to be a really interesting year for the battery industry. Changes in battery production, technological innovations and efforts to rethink supply chain strategies are all on the agenda. In addition, the importance of sustainability and safety will continue to grow.
Eirich and Siemens announced at the end of 2023 that the two companies would be embarking on a collaboration in order to pool their knowledge, know-how and efficiencies in order to achieve greater successes together.
Looking at the complete lifecycle
The two companies will be providing the battery industry with suitable machinery and digital solutions and will support the entire lifecycle of these machines with additional hardware and software products. Here, both partners will be involved in everything from the original design stage through digital twins, simulations, commissioning and production all the way to OT/IT integration in the production lines and production facilities of end customers.
“We are absolutely delighted to be working together with such as strong partner as Siemens so that, in the future, we can help bring about decisive changes in battery cell production. By signing this Memorandum of Understanding and pooling the know-how of the two companies, we will be able to open up important new developments for the battery industry – developments that will be essential in order for this crucial industrial sector to produce more cost effectively, more quickly and more sustainably,” explains Stephan Eirich, Co-Managing Director.
Gigafactories are the key to climate-neutral mobility
Manufacturers of lithium-ion batteries are faced with numerous central challenges, as gigafactories for battery production present a whole new range of requirements for the existing processes – in particular in the production of electrodes. The combination of Eirich process technology and 170 years of Siemens’ expertise in the fields of intelligent infrastructure in buildings as well as in automation and digitalization in the processing and manufacturing industries will open up a whole new world of opportunities. Eirich mixers, which have been specially developed for battery cell production, will be equipped with new technological developments from Siemens in the areas of operation, simulation, and drive technology.
Marc Deyda, Siemens Head of Strategy & Communication Battery, gets to the heart of the planned collaboration: “To ensure that climate-neutral mobility is available for everyone in the future, high-performance and commercially attractive batteries are absolutely essential. To do this, we need to deliver optimized production transparency and fast processing speeds – but, above all, we need high efficiency, from product design to production launch and recycling. Together with Eirich, we will be working on the development of sustainable solutions and helping to shorten ramp-up times for so-called gigafactories.”
