News from the floor on Day 2 of the show included an announcement from Averna, an industry-leading developer of test solutions and services for communications and electronics device makers, that it has acquired Europe-based Test & Measurement (T&M) Solutions for an undisclosed amount.
T&M Solutions develops multidisciplinary solutions to test, measure, inspect, assemble and validate products in nearly all segments of the production industry. Headquartered in Belgium and with offices in the Netherlands and Poland, T&M Solutions is a National Instruments Gold Alliance Partner and has 100 employees, including 70 engineers with almost 50 NI certifications.
“This major expansion into Europe signals Averna’s strategic positioning to accelerate growth and become a truly global test engineering powerhouse,” said François Rainville, vice president of sales and marketing for Averna Test & Measurement Solutions. “We are proud to welcome T&M Solutions’ customers and employees while providing all our customers with additional expertise and increased worldwide presence.”
Elsewhere on the show floor, simulator and simulator software manufacturer Cruden celebrated the launch of a no-cost version of its Panthera simulator software suite, making it available to automotive and motorsport engineers and students. Users can run simulations, modify and expand vehicle models, add interfaces to hardware and use custom cars and tracks, with no licence restrictions.
“We’ve held nothing back – every feature of the professional Panthera software that is needed within the desktop simulation environment is there,” said Maarten van Donselaar, CEO of Cruden. “Users are able to interface with the vehicle model they choose and hook up to a steering wheel and pedals. However, visualisation in the free version is limited to a single channel.”
Panthera Free was tested extensively by students and lecturers in the mechanical engineering faculty of Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, and is being demonstrated at Stand 1169 in Hall 1 at the Messe Stuttgart. Cruden is issuing the new, free software (subject to registration) directly from the stand and will make Panthera Free available after the show as a no-charge download from the company’s website.
On the AVL stand, the news announcement was that the powertrain testing technology company had signed an agreement with Greenlight Innovation to develop a fuel cell system testing product line.
The planned test platform is designed for heavy-duty and light-duty transportation fuel cell engine developers and OEMs. It will interface with AVL’s PUMA Open 2 control software, AVL Team SUITE, software products and simulation platforms, as well as test hardware such as regenerative load banks, e-motor dynos and environmental chambers. The new testing product line will be manufactured by Greenlight, a Canadian supplier of testing and manufacturing equipment for hydrogen fuel cell, electrolyser, battery and energy storage markets; it will be sold by AVL and its affiliates worldwide.
“The cooperation between AVL and Greenlight Innovation unites competences, especially in the areas of powertrain development, testing systems and fuel cells,” said AVL CEO Helmut List. “This enables us to develop technologies for the testing of fuel cell powertrains, which will allow OEMs to meet future challenges.”
Meanwhile, Dekra was today publicising the news that it has opened its first vehicle inspection station in the greater Lisbon area of Portugal, and is planning eight additional stations to follow by the end of the coming year.
Dekra inspects 26 million vehicles around the world every year, and in Portugal there are plans to reach a capacity of 200,000 vehicle inspections by the end of 2017. “Our goal is to be one of the three largest providers in the area of periodic vehicle inspections in Portugal in 2020,” said Clemens Klinke, head of Dekra’s automotive business unit. “We then want to perform a million vehicle inspections each year.”
Dekra has been active in Portugal since 1991 and currently employs 120 people there. With the launch of vehicle inspections, 200 new jobs will be created by 2020.
The final news story of the second day of the three-day event was distributed by French company V-Motech, which informed visitors of the official relocation of its head office. The firm is now headquartered in Linas-Montlhéry, France, in a 1,600m2 building that houses offices and tool stations, a laboratory for the development of pollutant measurement and analysis solutions, and a space dedicated to the maintenance of all test means.
The third and final day of Automotive Testing Expo Europe will open on Thursday, 2 June at 10:00hrs (CET) and close at 15:00hrs (CET).
