Bonfiglioli strengthens R&D capabilities

Bonfiglioli, designer, manufacturer, and distributor of a complete range of gear motors, drive systems, planetary gearboxes and inverters, is in the process of strengthening its research and development capabilities in India at its Chennai facility to meet the demand of OEMs working on stricter product standardization. The global in-house R&D team develops breakthrough, mechanically and electrically integrated technologies that change the way companies do business.

Sharing details Mr. Stefano Baldi, Group Sales Director, Bonfiglioli Riduttori SPA and Mr. Kennady V. Kaippally- Country Manager, Mobile and Wind Solutions, Bonfiglioli India, said, “We are strengthening our capabilities by synergizing our strong engineering expertise in mobile off-highway equipment and in the wind power industry. Our plan is to have a coordinated R&D programme by converging our entire team of 35 people under a single roof. We are collating the application data with the duty cycles of the equipment along with the OEMs service team working on the ground. This is enabling us to select the right designs and make appropriate improvisations in the testing and production systems.”

They added, “Based on the critical performance criteria of manufacturers of hoisting solutions involving speed, gradients, lift capacities, duty cycles, braking requirements and wind velocity, we develop the gear boxes and drives. In case of customer specific requirements, we validate our designs by carrying out accelerated life tests under actual running conditions. This is an important step in strengthening our R&D systems. We will also increase investments in field mapping and testing equipment. However, field mapping will be supported to a fair extent by the tools from OEMs, thanks to advanced telematics.”

Bonfiglioli supplies track, wheel, swing, drum and winch drives to JCB, Caterpillar, Stetter, Wirtgen, Tata Hitachi, CNH, Potain, Liebherr and other major customers, manufacturing construction equipment in India.