In top gear ZF

in top Gear

ZF is one of the world’s largest automotive suppliers offering clear added value not only for vehicle users and manufacturers, but also for the environment and society as a whole. In addition to its latest product innovation, Industry Europe reports on the opening of the group’s new transmission manufacturing site in Hungary.

IN an eventful 100-year history, the German ZF has seized its entrepreneurial opportunities and developed from its roots as a supplier specialised in the aviation industry to a global mobility technology company. Today ZF is one of the leading technology companies in the field of driveline and chassis technology and active and passive safety technology; its turnover in 2017 reached €36.4 billion. The group has an extensive product range that includes transmissions and steering systems, chassis components and complete axle systems and modules.

ZF allows vehicles to see, think and act. More than six per cent of the company’s annual revenue is invested in research and development, focusing mainly on efficient and electric driveline technology. With its wide range of products, ZF contributes to the development of transport and services not only in the field of passenger cars but also in commercial vehicles and industrial applications.

New eAmT technology

ZF’s recently developed electrified Automated Manual Transmission (eAMT) technology is an innovative concept for the hybridisation of front-transverse vehicles that integrates the company’s electric axle drive system (eVD) and an automated manual transmission (AMT) into one system.

For the hybridisation of price-sensitive small to compact vehicles with front-wheel drive, the greatest challenges are currently additional cost and development effort as well as limited installation space. “With eAMT, ZF has developed a fully-fledged plug-in hybrid drive for front-transverse vehicles,” said Norman Schmidt-Winkel, functional developer of electric drives at ZF. “This increases flexibility for vehicle manufacturers. They can use existing platforms to implement conventional drives or plug-in hybrids. The ZF concept integrates an automated manual transmission and an electric axle drive system on the rear axle into one unit. In some vehicle classes, automatic transmissions are out of the question for reasons of weight, space or cost. In this scenario, the automation of manual transmissions is a great way to significantly increase comfort and efficiency for drivers, as they don’t need to actuate the clutch or change gears.”

Thanks to electric drive and intelligent drive management, eAMT’s shift comfort and performance are almost on par with more costly torque converter or dual clutch transmissions. As soon as the AMT disengages in order to engage a new gear, there is a tractive force interruption. This is normal for automated manual transmissions due to their design. With its Traction Torque Support function, the new eAMT almost completely compensates for this short break in accelerative force. The electric drive on the rear axle precisely bridges this break with a perfectly timed insertion of torque. A ZF eAMT demonstration vehicle based on a current compact SUV platform underscores just how well this balance of force between the front combustion engine, the automated transmission and the rear electric drive works in real-world applications. New production facility in Hungary

Today the ZF group provides jobs for nearly 146,000 employees in 230 locations in almost 40 countries. The company has been manufacturing transmissions in Eger, Hungary for more than 20 years. In September 2018 the ZF Group opened a new factory to produce eight-speed automatic transmissions for passenger cars. The investment will create more than 770 jobs by the end of next year, adding to the 1265 people ZF Hungária Kft employs at present. The investment, worth HUF 31 billion, was supported by an HUF 6.7 billion state grant. The 40,000m2 plant will have a capacity to produce 150,000 transmissions a year.

Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, who was present at the factory’s opening ceremony, said that Hungary is now a significant player on the central European car manufacturing industry and recalled that 2017 saw record production in the Hungarian automotive industry, valued at over HUF 8000 billion. With this new project ZF brings a new cutting edge technology

to Hungary. This will provide new opportunities for local suppliers including small and medium businesses as ZF Hungária intends to increase its ratio of Hungarian suppliers from the current 2 per cent to 15 per cent in the near future.

“All products being produced in Eger will be exported, which means as a result of ZF’s investment Hungary’s export output will increase by HUF 200 billion per year,” said Mr Szijjártó.

Michael Hankel, vice-president of the ZF Group, said the company had decided to build the new plant in Eger because the local labour force has great experience in making transmissions, besides which the city and local region has good infrastructure. “The eightspeed automatic transmission is one of our best selling products, of which we will produce 3 million this year. With this new plant we have extended our global production network so we can create a competitive structure within the ZF group.” n