Work hard, play hard @VCST
11 October, 2021
September 30th was a good day for the VCST plant in Sint-Truiden. As VCST is focusing on the future of automotive and electrification in particular, it was a delight to witness the introduction to the first new all-electric car of one of our American OEM clients.
A project with a challenge
VCST is involved in the production of the gears in the planetary system of the Power Drive Unit. As electrical cars need to be as light as possible to travel a good amount of kilometers. Therefore, the parts in the car need to be as compact as possible, too. This proved to be a challenge, as the production process for the gears in this electrical car is different than for typical gears in traditional ICE cars. Hence why we are very proud to be part of a successful product after the realization of the necessary investments to fully optimize the production of these specific gears.
The techniques used to manufacture these gears are called skiving and honing. VCST has added these techniques to their processes to meet the new challenges that are brought to the table by battery electric vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles.
Teamwork at its best
The search for a solution in this project required extensive teamwork in the BMT Group under challenging conditions. Even though the how and what regarding a solution for this project were worked out at the headquarters in Sint-Truiden, Belgium, series production is fully implemented in Mexico. Add Covid-19 to the list and you have a recipe for a stressful project. We applaud the collaboration between Mexico and Belgium giving that the moving back and forth of production in times of production shut-down was not at all an easy task. We think it’s fair to say that the BMT Group catchphrase ‘Stronger together’ really lives up to its meaning.
No successful product launch can be left uncelebrated. That’s exactly what the plant in Sint-Truiden did. To celebrate, a full day with a lot of interesting topics on the agenda was planned. The introduction of the car and ongoing projects were discussed, but the highlight of the day was no doubt the ability for the attendees to take the car for a spin themselves. That way they really indulged in the experience of electric driving.
It’s fair to say that the event was a success and shines a light on an electric future of automotive. We are excited for future projects and of course, future celebrations!
