Freudenberg Sealing Technologies (FST) and its Japanese joint venture partner NOK are collaborating in the robotics arena. A co-development project with a joint visit to the customer is bearing fruit. The company is a gearbox manufacturer in Japan that specializes in automation and robotics.
Past spring, Achim Ströhle, Global Segment Director, Machine Tools, and Daniel Frölich, Director, Research & Development, left Japan wearing satisfied smiles. Teaming up with NOK, they had visited the headquarters of a leading global manufacturer of precision gearboxes for industrial robots after presenting a sealing system developed in Germany for grease-lubricated robotic gearboxes.
This kind of visit to a customer is a rarity in Japan because access to its market is difficult. NOK mostly supports its domestic customers by itself. From this standpoint, the joint approach illustrates the close, trusting relationship between the two joint-venture partners.
Global Robotic Days
Freudenberg and NOK have worked together for decades in the sealing business, and this cooperation has picked up speed in robotics in recent years. Launched in 2017, the companies’ Global Robotics Days are one of the results. At the time, the triggers for the event were a joint development project and the momentum building in the market. The project is now heading into the home stretch.
A bit of background: During the Global Robotic Days, representatives of FST, NOK, NOK Freudenberg (China) and corporate sibling Klüber Lubrication share views and information on requirements and trends in robotics. The high level of global teamwork is also reflected in joint events such as TechDays and international trade show appearances.
After a pandemic-related break, the Global Robotic Days are expected to resume shortly and press ahead with the commercialization of the jointly developed solution.
“We at FST and NOK have to combine our strengths to provide the best possible support to global robotics players. Global key account management is one way to do this. We introduced the approach at the request of our customers in 2018, and it has proven effective in the market since then. Our major robotics customers operate globally. They expect us to give them customer-focused support from a single source everywhere in the world,” Ströhle said.
Japan As Pioneer
Japan has always been a pioneer in industrial automation as well as the development and production of robots. The demand for industrial robots is steadily rising in networked manufacturing landscapes. There is also growth potential in medical service robots, caregiving, housework and food service. These business sectors are taking shape globally today. The leading robot manufacturers and their suppliers are at home anywhere in the world.
One of the fruits of active FST-NOK cooperation is the development of gearbox seals for grease-lubricated robotic gears. “To this point, there has not been an all-around satisfactory sealing solution in the market,” Ströhle said. The partners agreed on a so-called special development agreement (SDA) to change that.
In the process, the two sides pursued different approaches in their development work and in the test procedures for prototypes. But they continually kept each other informed about their progress. “We were able to learn a lot from each other as we shared information. Each of the approaches ultimately led to results. They work,” Frölich said.
Ideal Solution: Premium Sine Seal
FST’s Premium Sine Seal (PSS) emerged as an ideal solution for the grease-lubricated robotic gearbox, which is largely in use in Asia. In the West, oil, not grease, is the lubricant of choice. The PSS is a further development of FST’s successful MSS1 (Modular Sealing Solution). It offers outstanding performance with a more compact design and 100 percent sealing with less friction and much longer – maintenance free – operating lives. The suitability of the sealing system was demonstrated in the Simmerring® test facility and in customer tests.
“On this basis, we presented the PSS to our Japanese customer’s German subsidiary, among other contacts,” Ströhle said. Here FST got a good hearing. But the company headquarters in Japan makes the final decisions on such basic technical questions – which made an on-site visit in Japan necessary.
Executives there expressed considerable interest in FST’s solution. “The customer wanted greater protection from dirt and abrasion in the form of a dust lip at the sealing point of the gearbox output,” Frölich said. That was not considered much of a technical hurdle. Ströhle added: “Our customer expressed the clear desire that we keep developing the PSS so it can be used in the entire range of the company’s gearbox applications.”
NOK and FST will now be testing each other’s solutions, with FST testing the seals from Japan in its test facility in Weinheim, and with NOK testing the PSS in its own industrial robots. “We are now entering the commercialization phase. Our solutions have different advantages and strengths. Now we need to work together and find out how we position the two products in the market and which of them is the best fit for particular customers or applications,” he said.
Outstanding Robotics
The business in sealing systems for robotics and automation is on the upswing for Freudenberg Sealing Technologies (FST) internationally. This is clear from the list of awards that Sales General Industry (GI) bestowed last spring for sales success in 2022. The robotics and automation field appeared twice on it.
The entire robotics team won the “Best Strategic Segment Development Award 2022” for achieving its ambitious three-year growth goal.
“The team not only achieved it by becoming the No. 1 seal supplier to all the important European OEMs, but also positioned important innovations to secure market share gains in the future,” said Timo Furrer, Vice President, General Industry, explaining the jury’s decision. Over the past few years, the team has acquired some well-known customers. “Targeted, cross-segment cooperation was just as important as the international coordination between Europe, China and North America,” Furrer said.
The jury also paid tribute to effective international cooperation with the second award that Sales G.I. bestowed. Dimitrios Tsituridis (FST) and his Chinese colleagues at NFC – Liu Yang, Cai Jie Ning and Shen Ren Hua – received the “Best International Collaboration Award 2022” for their ongoing, fruitful business development with the robot manufacturer Kuka on two continents. The robot manufacturer started up its new plant in China amid the coronavirus pandemic and a partial shutdown. “Cooperation between the teams made it possible for the customer to ramp up its production without interruption.” Kuka repaid the long-standing good business relations and reliability under tough conditions with record sales.
