Founded in China in 2001 in Ningbo, Physis manufactures a range of electric motors with a workforce of over 1,000 people and currently turns over around 125 million euros each year. Its laminations are already stamped on Schuler machines, but now the company has ordered a “state of the art’ Smartline SA315S — it has a press force of 315 tons and a bed width of 2.7m.

The new machine can process coil gauges of just 0.2mm and less – the thinner the laminations, the lower the eddy current losses and the better the efficiency of the electric motors. The laminations are interlocked by the press into packets which will later form the core of the electric motor.

To make the Smartline’s slide work within tolerances of hundredths of a millimetre, the electronics of the bottom dead centre control check the position of the upper die during every stroke and adjusts where necessary.

Schuler will manufacture the press parts at its Chinese production site in Dalian and install the machine in September this year.