Thyssenkrupp has broken ground for construction of a EUR15m (US$16m) new steering technology test and development centre in Liechtenstein at its steering business headquarters in Eschen, with completion slated for the first half of 2019.
“Combining and expanding our test and development activities will enable us to serve our automotive customers better and more quickly with new solutions and products,” said Thyssenkrupp Components Technology CEO, Karsten Kroos.
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“This applies in particular to the large number of new orders for electric power-assisted steering systems we have received in recent months. We will also be addressing new development trends in chassis and steering and translating them into market-ready products.”
For electric power-assisted steering systems, Thyssenkrupp has received auto industry orders worth around EUR8bn in this and last fiscal year.
Based on the steering technology, the new test centre will drive current development projects such as steer-by-wire, e-mobility and the development of driver assist systems as a precursor to automated driving. For example, in the area of basic research, measuring technology will be used to examine new materials and test their suitability for use in future products.
Four- to six-week endurance tests will allow the quality and service life of these products to be mapped across the entire vehicle lifetime. Work in the acoustics centre will focus on further optimising the acoustic performance of the steering systems.
“The results of the various test series will feed automatically into our digital test models,” added Kroos. “New software-based analyses will allow us to identify the relevant development parameters and test them in a virtual environment. This will make prototyping significantly more efficient and save on cost-intensive development time.”
In addition to the new test centre in Liechtenstein, Thyssenkrupp already operates a software and development centre for steering technology in Budapest. This centre brings together the company’s software development activities for electro-mechanical steering systems and, among other things, develops new software functions for improved driving safety.
Thyssenkrupp’s global steering business employs around 8,000 people at 16 sites in eleven countries across four continents.
