ZF reaches the milestone of 700 thousand axles produced in Brazil

ZF has reached 700 axles produced at its Sorocaba unit. This is in the year in which it celebrates four decades of nationalization of these components for the agricultural and construction sectors in Brazil.

The unit, which has a physical test space dedicated to performance validation, serves international markets and became the ZF Group's global development competence center in 2018.

The figure of 700 axles produced is evidence of ZF’s increasing production speed. In 2017, the company announced that it would manufacture 500 axles over 32 years; in the last eight years, an additional 200 have been produced, representing an increase of around 60 percent in the production rate compared to the previous period.

According to Juliano Alquati, business development manager at ZF South America, “ZF is the only supplier of agricultural axles in the country to work with a robust and complete local infrastructure, which involves everything from the development of customized solutions, production structure to the final cycle that takes place in the physical space for testing the equipment.”

The milestone reached includes all axles produced at the unit, both for agricultural applications, from the TSA and APL families, and for construction, from the MTB and MSB families. These include front axles for tractors and agricultural machinery with powers ranging from 75 to 240 HP, as well as front and rear axles for backhoe loaders. Production serves the Brazilian and Argentine markets.

Global Competence Center

Brazilian expertise in axle development already has a rich history of evolution and it was precisely this know-how in the business that was responsible for the ZF Group's recognition in highlighting Brazilian engineers for the task of developing axles for all markets around the world.

One of the most successful examples of development was the TSA23 axle for the agricultural sector, which has been very well received by the market since its launch in 2017. Its design and application, developed entirely by product engineering in Brazil, were conceived mainly to meet the needs of the end customer and automakers in a customized way, which, according to Juliano Alquati, has become a major differentiator for ZF in this market over the last few years. The TSA23 was developed for use in agricultural tractors with a power range between 160 and 240 HP after several technical visits in the field. Its design provides much more stability in steering, providing more control on autopilot and robustness, ensuring a longer service life than those available on the market.

Physical testing space

The infrastructure designed to serve the agricultural sector in South America is being expanded with the new physical testing space also located in Sorocaba.

The site is used to perform tests and validations on the performance of the axles that equip the main agricultural machines on the market. With approximately 1.000 m², the space was designed to simulate challenging scenarios, taking into account the real conditions faced in the field, such as uneven terrain and situations that require high axle oscillation, which allows their durability and robustness to be validated.

“Working with a new physical testing space that validates our local developments puts us ahead of the competition in terms of innovation, while meeting the demands for more efficient and sustainable products, strengthening our leadership position in the sector,” emphasized Juliano Alquati.