"Dürr and GROB introduce compact battery cell manufacturing facility concept - Boosting innovation while halving production area"
In an exciting development for the lithium-ion battery industry, engineering companies Duerr and GROB have unveiled a new concept factory for battery cell production. The innovative factory will make its debut at this year's "The Battery Show Europe" trade fair in Stuttgart.
The concept factory aims to revolutionise battery cell production by reducing space and energy requirements while increasing performance and battery cell quality. Duerr AG's CEO, Dr. Jochen Weyrauch, described the factory as the next generation of battery cell production.
One of the key technologies in the new factory is Duerr's optimised dry coating process. Unlike traditional methods, this process uses a dry-mixed active material pressed into a free-standing film using calender machines. The film offers advantages in material efficiency, as excess film material can be returned to the production process before lamination onto the collector foil. Moreover, the dry coating process eliminates the drying process and the recovery and treatment of solvents, saving space, energy, and costs.
Duerr's process also enables battery cells to be filled in a single step without residual gas, using electrolyte filling at up to 30 bar. This method improves the foil's processability for downstream notching and stacking.
Duerr's subsidiary iTAC's MES/MOM software will be used to control and plan all production steps in battery manufacturing. This software will complement the equipment technology from Duerr and GROB, which is designed to establish them as system suppliers of battery production equipment in Europe and North America.
The system achieves 95 percent availability thanks to a high-quality magazine buffer system for the electrodes. GROB's new generation of Z-folders, which integrate the notching process, achieves higher performance with less space.
German Wankmiller, CEO of the GROB Group, stated that their expanded portfolio covers almost the entire value chain for battery cell production with their own technologies. The aim of their cooperation with Duerr is to solidify their position as leaders in the lithium-ion battery industry.
In a significant move, Duerr will be appearing with a new name concept for the first time, bringing together its products for electrode coating and electrolyte filling under the new name XcelLi. The new concept factory will undoubtedly be a major attraction at "The Battery Show Europe" this June.
However, it is worth noting that the companies presenting the largest exhibitions in June 2025 at "The Battery Show Europe" and showcasing this new concept factory have not been explicitly named in the available search results. No specific information was found about which companies meet these criteria. Nonetheless, the anticipation for the event is palpable, as the industry eagerly awaits the unveiling of this groundbreaking technology.
