After its already consolidated leadership in the garage equipment and telematics applied to fleet management, with this industrial facility TEXA positions itself among the world’s leading companies even in the electric drive industry.
An advanced technology centre dedicated to the mobility of the future. This could be the definition, in a few words, of the new TEXA e-Powertrain plant just inaugurated in Monastier di Treviso. Fruit of an investment – to date – of more than 20 million euros, it covers an area of over 24,000 square metres and is dedicated to the production of sophisticated inverter systems, vehicle control units and motors for the propulsion of electric vehicles. A new manufacturing hub that will further enrich the territory and bring benefits also from an employment viewpoint: once it is fully started, it will employ at least 100 people among engineers, specialised technicians and line operators.
This industrial facility will make TEXA one of the world’s leading companies in the strategic area of electric drive, after its already consolidated leadership in the garage equipment and telematics applied to fleet management.
TEXA decided to invest in this field already in 2018, when it started its first research and development activities on axial flux electric motors and in the units to transform direct current into alternating current, the inverters, which are essential to manage the torque and delivered power in an electric vehicle. According to the expansion plan, right beside the current e-Powertrain plant, a new building will be raised shortly: it should extend on three floors and have a total area of 15,000 square metres.
“In 2018 – commented Bruno Vianello, TEXA President – I decided to invest significantly in research and development to design and produce in Italy sophisticated components for this new generation of vehicles. Once again our solutions found favour with the market, so much as to sign two multi-year agreements, covered by trade secret, with important global car manufacturers. I am extremely proud to inaugurate this new production plant, but I am even more proud to have reached this point of my entrepreneurial career while preserving the concept of “Made in Italy”, which is of prime importance to me”.
Production areas: the cleanrooms
The e-Powertrain plant was built in sections of approximately 1,000 square metres to accommodate different automotive customers, each in its own reserved cleanroom. Today, two ISO 8 cleanrooms are active: special production areas with a filtering technology that allows constantly controlling the atmospheric pressure, humidity, and particle pollution. These precautions are essential to guarantee that the most important phase is carried out properly: assembling and testing the inverters and the electronic devices for the new technologies relating to the electric drive.
There are also the Automotive Engineering department, which designs the new systems and lines dedicated to the e-Powertrain products, the Prototype Laboratory and the Technology Laboratory. The latter contains tools used for the morphological and chemical characterisation of the particulate collected during studies and measurement campaigns on components. The unit is completed by another area, called “Incoming Quality Inspection”, to check the quality of incoming raw materials.
Technological solutions for safety and protection
Prime importance was also given to the technological solutions used to build the e-Powertrain plant, which fully meet the manufacturers’ requirements and comply with the latest regulations in the electronic industry. For example, the entire production and warehouse area is certified as EPA (Electrostatic Protected Area). Moreover, building an ESD-controlled work area guarantees TEXA customers the utmost quality level when storing, handling, and assembling all electrostatic-sensitive components. Any personnel working in the cleanroom wears protective equipment and ESD footwear that guarantee a suitable protection of sensitive parts. Not only the operational personnel must use protection systems, but whoever enters the cleanroom: managers, technicians, cleaning staff, everyone must wear a disposable lab coat, shoe covers and head caps. Moreover, to monitor anyone entering the EPA, TEXA has decided to use innovative stations built into the entry turnstiles to measure proper grounding.
A multi-certified plant
Over the years, TEXA was able to optimise its internal organisation and the management of company processes, through a qualitative path and obtaining specific international certifications. Although recently built, even the e-Powertrain plant can boast the most important certifications in the automotive industry: ISO/IEC27001, TISAX, IRP, IATF16949.
ISO/IEC 27001: international standard for information security management systems. It defines the requirements for planning, establishing, implementing, monitoring, re-examining, maintaining and improving the information security management system in a company. For TEXA, having obtained this certification means committing every day to the management and protection of information and resources, guaranteeing the compliance to legal requirements.
TISAX®: it is an assessment approach for information security, in some ways similar to the ISO/IEC 27001, but focused on the needs of the automotive industry. The TISAX® evaluations contribute to creating a common approach that is recognised in the entire supply chain and are acknowledged by vehicle manufacturers.
IRP: it is an extremely strict audit that requires being TISAX® certified as a precondition. The audit establishes a series of standards that a company working in the manufacturing industry, such as TEXA, must meet for the protection of vehicles against theft and tampering.
IATF16949: it is a specific standard for the automotive industry and provides the requirements for a quality management system for continuous improvement, prevention of defects and reduction of variations and waste in the supply chain.
