The drive toward lower carbon emissions and greater sustainability is affecting every area of the automotive powertrain production process. Highlighting this shift in mindset, vacuum carburizing equipment specialist ECM Technologies says it has been seeing increased investment by drivetrain suppliers in more efficient equipment.
For example, Neapco, a driveline component supplier with operations in Europe, recently installed one of the company’s flex systems for vacuum carburizing. This, says ECM, enabled the customer to reduce total CO2 emissions at its factory in Düren, Germany, by 23% (an 81% reduction on a one-to-one basis between the Flex system for vacuum carburizing and existing atmosphere carburizing furnaces).
The company also notes that demand for flexibility from suppliers has attracted orders. In the case of one hydraulic pump manufacturer that invested in a Flex system, the modular nature of the setup, which allows for easy expansion, alongside the capability to accommodate automated systems such as robots, AGVs and vision systems, proved a decisive factor in its adoption of the new equipment.
Further information on ECM’s furnaces can be found here.
