Out in front Buhler Motor

OUT IN FRONT

Buhler Motor is a pioneer in the design, manufacture and sale of mechatronic drive solutions. Industry Europe looks at its activities.

Headquartered in Nuremburg, as well as in North America and Asia, Buhler Motor is one of the pioneers in the design, manufacture and sale of small brushed DC motors and electronic commutated (EC) brushless motors. Today the company’s expertise also extends beyond the motors themselves to the development and production of actuators via software and electronic controllers and injection moulded plastic parts, allowing the group to be a single source supplier for complete drive systems.

“We operate within three key segments,” says a company spokesperson. “These are Automotive, Industrial and Healthcare. My area, the Industrial market, includes Transport and Aviation, as well as Agriculture and Building; all of these segments are global.”

Within these three major divisions, products fall into three sub groups, he continues. These may be defined as catalogue products, variations on those stock service products and customer-specific solutions.

Advances in aircraft technology

Buhler Motor has been looking into the area of aircraft seat actuation systems for some time. The announcement of the introduction of its PAXCOM aircraft seat actuation system at last year’s Aircraft Interiors Expo (2013) represented a major step forward for the group.

“PAXCOM was developed in collaboration with Dornier Technologie,” says the spokesperson. “It is an integrated movement system for business and first class areas within commercial aircraft and it includes a motor that moves the seat, the passenger control unit, the interface for the user and the power supply, as well as all the cabling and harnessing that brings it all together.

“These PAXCOM systems are our third generation of seat actuation systems but we have always developed them with a single customer in mind before.”

PAXCOM is 20 per cent lighter than any other currently operating system and is 15 per cent smaller in size, ultimately representing long-term savings for the airline operator. Additional improvements also include a 30 per cent reduction in noise. All these additional benefits have been developed with cost reductions and no compromise on quality or functionality.

“All of this has contributed to the excellent interest,” adds the spokesperson. “We

expect this to become a very significant part of what we can offer and to contribute to our growth as a company as we move forward.”

Investing in production

Buhler Motor produces some 20 million units on an annual basis. Unlike products within other areas, such as automotive, however, volumes of the specialised, higher priced PAXCOM will probably remain low. This is a high grade system, which is likely to be produced in numbers totalling between 1000 and 2000 by the company in Europe.

“At the moment we produce the systems at our facility in Nuremberg, Germany,” he says. “We have invested in our production areas and developed our manufacturing capabilities to ensure we are ready to do this. In the future, we will continue to make significant investments and to ensure we dedicate resources to this area.”

Global growth

Initial sales are likely to be within Europe but there has also been interest from customers in North America and Asia. Buhler Motor, which employs approximately 1600 people, has facilities in Mexico, the Czech Republic, the US and China, as well as in Germany.

“Europe is our most mature market but we are excited about the potential we have in America and Asia as well,” he says. “We are looking for growth in all our three core segments and have some exciting new products in other areas within Industrial as well - in door automation within Building, for example.

“Future growth is likely to be organic and will be linked to new products, such as these aircraft seat activation systems. We see great opportunities for the future with these, right across the globe.” n

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