Driven by innovation NAF

Since it produced its first axles over 50 years ago, NAF AG has been recognised for its ability to provide customers with innovative and practical drive solutions to their individual requirements. Peter Mercer reports.

DRIVEN BY INNOVATION

NAF Neunkirchener Achsenfabrik AG is a third-generation family-owned German company that has been producing axles and gearboxes for agricultural, construction and forestry machines for more than 50 years. Today its 450 employees at its headquarters and production centre in Neunkirchen am Brand in Bavaria produce axles, planetary drives, gearboxes, differentials and other drive components for customers all over the world. NAF AG is widely recognised as the market leader in powered bogie axles for forestry machines.

The company was founded in 1960 by George Hemmerlein, a member of the Bavarian state parliament, and entrepreneur Kaspar Lochner from Munich, and it initially produced steering and rigid axles for construction machines. In 1970 a research and development centre was opened in Munich. In 1974 the company’s ownership changed, and in 2002 the formal status changed to a stock company, but all the shares are still held by the family.

A key year in the development of NAF AG was 1976 when it began to produce bogie axles for forestry machines. “At that time four manufacturers of forestry machines in Scandinavia started to use hydrostatic drive lines and we received orders from all four for bogie axles with internal gearboxes,” says CEO Alfred Saam. “These were produced in quite small quantities in different designs for each customer but it was an important step for us into the forestry machine sector. Axles and other driveline components for the forestry industry today account for around two-thirds of our business. Indeed those four companies that approached us nearly 40 years ago are still regular customers. In addition, our speciality is still the flexibility in development and production that we demonstrated in meeting their different requirements and we continue to work very closely with customers to exactly fulfil their needs. In particular our Munich-based R&D team uses the latest technology, as well as more than 45 years of experience, to bring our customers innovative and practical drive solutions.”

Today NAF AG’s products for forestry applications include transfer cases, planetary rigid axles, planetary bogie axles and portal

bogie axles for forwarder and harvester drive lines as well as planetary steering, rigid and bogie axles for skidders. For forestry trailers the company provides planetary rigid axles and high speed planetary bogie axles.

Global expansion

NAF AG’s first expansion outside Europe came in 1999 with the founding of a sales office in Edmonton, Canada. “The owner of the company had actually studied in Edmonton so he knew the country well and had many connections, especially in the forestry industry, explains Mr Saam. “Today the office offers spare parts and technical services to customers not only in Alberta but to many in North America.”

Expansion eastwards then followed in 2007 with the setting up of a sales and service office – NAF Russia Ltd – in Ekaterinburg, mainly to serve the developing Russian construction machinery industry. In 2011, NAF established a strategic sales partnership with company Gili in Qingdao, China. This office now supports NAF AG sales of axles and other drive components for construction and lifting equipment, scissor lift loaders for container handling and even for aircraft towing vehicles.

Continuous product development

NAF’s motto is ‘Driven by Innovation’ and it continues to invest 5 per cent of its annual turnover in new product development. Its R&D team at Munich is focused on developing innovative, high-performance drives that are extremely durable, serviceable and environmentally friendly. The company has also developed a flexible ‘building block’ modular production system that combines the advantages of individual and serial production process. This means not only that small production runs can be carried out with similar cost levels in comparison to high volumes but that there is a considerable inventory cost saving as a result of using common components in different products.

In its 54 years of business, NAF AG has registered many patents. In 1996 they patented oil-immersed multiple disc brakes in axles for construction machines. Later they transferred their know-how in forestry machine axles to develop bogie axles for construction machines and a range of drive components for articulated dump trucks. Then, in 2008, the company took

another step forward in technology for the construction industry with its development of planetary drives with integrated, self-cooling oil-immersed disc brakes. Today NAF AG offers complete drivelines for construction equipment such as wheel loaders and mobile excavators – including transfer cases, planetary steering axles and planetary rigid axles – as well as drive line solutions for articulated dump trucks and a range of axles for motor graders and rollers.

Three years ago NAF AG introduced a major innovation to its solutions for agricultural applications with its centrally driven steering axle, with adjustable track width, for combine harvesting machines. Up until then the only way to combine all-wheel drive with adjustable track width on harvesters was to employ two hydraulic hub motors, one on each wheel. NAF’s innovation was to develop a centrally driven system with just one motor on an adjustable track width steering axle. This centrally located design provides a weight optimised design, simplified hydraulic control and a doubling of the tractive effort in comparison to two motor systems. The adjustable track-width was integrated into the central drive concept to ensure the highest performance in all harvesting conditions and facilitate the use of tyres of different sizes and at different pressures to suit all conditions.

And the innovation continues. Last year NAF introduced a new bogie axle for very heavy construction equipment such as motorgraders and articulated dump trucks with payloads of up to 50 tonnes. And in 2014 it is bringing to market a shiftable planetary drive system for on-highway trucks that will enable them to perform efficiently in off-road conditions as well.

NAF AG exports around 80 per cent of its €103m annual production, mostly to other European countries but it is seeing continuing growth in its North American, Russian and Chinese markets too. “We expect our sales in North America to grow from the current level of 6 per cent of turnover to around 10 per cent in the next four years and there is considerable potential to increase sales to Russia from today’s 4 per cent,” says Alfred Saam. “Of course, demand in China is certain to continue to grow too and we are looking at 5 or 6 per cent there, probably mostly in drive systems for construction machines. But actually, all over the world, cities are expanding, agriculture is becoming more mechanised: more people means more food production and more construction everywhere. All these machines need better drive systems and NAF is ready to provide them.” n