Vibracoustic adds material development center in Germany

WEINHEIM, Germany—As new mobility trends push auto makers, they in turn push their suppliers for material science solutions.

Vibracoustic A.G. is investing to make sure it can deliver.

The firm has opened a new material development center at its Weinheim location where 25 material experts will work closely with its engineering team to support new prototype compounds and conduct comprehensive testing.

The site employs about 350 total and spans about 23,700 square feet. Investment details were not disclosed.

"Our material expertise is one of our key competencies and one of the reasons why we are a go-to partner for our automotive customers when it comes to solve noise, vibration and harshness challenges," Joerg Boecking, chief technology officer of Vibracoustic, said in an email. "To further strengthen our expertise and to address current and future automotive NVH challenges, we have concentrated our development and engineering facilities at our Weinheim location."

Vibracoustic said the center "further strengthens its position as a leading global automotive NVH expert by securing innovative, high-performance and extensively tested materials for its products to increase the driving comfort of its customers vehicles."

The firm can conduct analytical and physical material testing in the new lab. The site also allows for corrosion tests to produce quality, durability and performance metrics provided by automotive original equipment manufacturers.

The site also includes a rheology laboratory to evaluate and refine deformation and flow characteristics of both solid and liquid materials. Boecking said it will provide its material experts state-of-the-art equipment and capacities to develop, test and evolve new materials and compounds for both the current and future needs of Vibracoustic's automotive customers.

The proximity to its engineering and prototyping area in Weinhein will allow for a quick and efficient development process, Boecking said. The prototyping area will develop new raw compounds in small batches, which can be mixed and vulcanized to conduct further testing, Vibracoustic said. There also is a microcellular urethane shot machine to enhance testing and production of the foam material.

Boecking said electrification is the main driver of new NVH challenges for the automotive industry. Those engines—be it a hybrid or fully electric vehicle—create vibrations in different frequency areas compared to combustion engines, requiring new material characteristics and opening new opportunities for material science companies like Vibracoustic.

Lower temperatures around electric motors compared to combustion engines gives Vibracoustic more flexibility in using different kinds of materials to address the new NVH challenges within electric vehicles, Boecking said.

"The combination of our new facility and competencies in material development and the existing engineering, prototyping, benchmarking and testing infrastructure in Weinheim optimize our development efforts in creating new solutions for current and future NVH challenges," Boecking said.

Based in Darmstadt, Germany, Vibracoustic employs more than 10,000 people at 43 production and engineering locations in 19 countries. In 2018, Vibracoustic reported sales of $2.37 billion and is a subsidiary of the Freudenberg Group.

Of its 43 sites, 21 are research and development labs employing 1,000 engineers worldwide. Boecking said in addition to the new center in Weinheim, sites in Forsheda, Sweden; Nantes, France; South Haven, Mich.; and Wuxi, China; also are focusing on material science.

"All facilities work in close collaboration with each other as well as with our engineering, testing and production facilities," he said.

In addition to the new center, Vibracoustic recently invested about $4.5 million at its Polish plant in Sroda Slaska to modernize production, also adding new capacity for microcellular polyurethane components. Boecking said the firm also is constructing a new production site in Chongqing, China, with production for NVH components set to begin in 2020.