New Innovation Center for maxon France

The maxon Group is reaffirming its ambitions in the French market. The drive specialist, headquartered in Switzerland, is investing EUR 10 million in a new Innovation and Production Center for its sales company maxon France in Beynost near Lyon. Both sales and workforce are expected to grow strongly over the next few years.

The specialist for mechatronic drive systems is gearing up for the future in France. maxon's long-standing partner MDP, which was integrated into the Group seven years ago, is now officially called maxon France. At the same time, a new Innovation and Production Center has been completed at the new site in Beynost near Lyon. The building, with a total area of 4200 square meters, provides space for 60 offices, a mechatronics production hall and among other things, a warehouse (900 m2). It meets high environmental standards, was built using 80 percent recyclable materials and is equipped with photovoltaic panels and a rainwater collection system. The competence center focuses on the design, development and production of customized drive systems. The new IDX compact drive product range can be used extremely flexibly in industrial, robotics and logistics applications with the most stringent requirements - in automated guided vehicles, for example - and can also be configured online. In addition, maxon France continues the distribution of multi-technology drives and accessories (MDP product range).

The investment in the subsidiary offers numerous opportunities for the local market. maxon is pursuing the ambitious goal of achieving sales of EUR 40 million in France by 2030. This goes hand in hand with a planned expansion of the workforce. The number of employees at maxon France is to be doubled from 50 today to 100. Bianca Braun, Member of the Board of Directors of maxon Group, explains: "We are pleased to be able to strengthen our presence in France with the creation of maxon France and our new site. We want the French market to benefit from maxon Group's stability, agility and high-tech mechatronic production capabilities, especially in the context of current economic development initiatives. By welcoming our Center of Innovation and Production dedicated to mechatronic systems, France is also playing a major role in the Group’s global development of mechatronics."

maxon French Lab for the promotion of innovative projects

The new site in Beynost will also be home to the "maxon French Lab" from the end of 2021. The Lab will provide a competence platform in the field of mechatronics, focus on training researchers, engineers and technical sales specialists, and support research projects at maxon France. As part of the group-wide Young Engineers Program, innovative projects by young talents will receive increased technical and financial support from maxon. In addition, the maxon French Lab will accompany French start-ups in the fields of e-mobility, industrial automation, and robotics - from conception to series production.

Alain Pontille, Managing Director of maxon France, says: "The inauguration of this new site is an expression of a promising French-Swiss collaboration. We hope to launch the maxon French Lab by the end of the year to pursue our ambitions towards more training and sharing of mechatronic knowledge."