Representative case
8 PPM module and PACK line for a storage integrator in the Gulf
An integrator that imported finished PACKs moved assembly into its own hall: one 55 m line built for a 60 Hz grid, first PACK about six months after contract.
- Output
- ≈ 2.4 GWh a year, two shifts
- Takt at site acceptance
- 8.0 PPM over 72 h
- First-pass yield
- 99.3 % (equipment)
- Contract to first PACK
- ≈ 6 months
The starting point
Where they started
- Customer
- A battery energy-storage integrator that builds commercial and utility cabinets and, until this project, imported finished PACKs from China.
- Where
- Gulf region
- Before
- An empty 70 × 24 m hall, 314 Ah LFP prismatic cells from a Chinese cell maker under contract, a plan to move to 500 Ah-plus cells within two years, and a local-content target in its own supply contracts.
Requirements
What they needed
- About 2.4 GWh a year on two shifts, with modules of 13 cells and PACKs in the customer’s own housing
- Every machine built for the site’s 400 V, 60 Hz supply, not China’s 380 V, 50 Hz
- Stations that can be re-tooled for 500 Ah-plus cells instead of replaced
- Equipment-caused first-pass yield of at least 99 %, written into the contract
- Local operators and maintenance staff able to run the line without expatriates after ramp-up
What we supplied
Equipment, by stage
-
Power
Cell processing
- Robotic depalletizing with vision
- Barcode scan, OCV test and NG reject
- Cell flipping and grouping
- Manual adhesive station
-
Power
Module stacking and welding
- Two stacking and pressing stations
- Terminal addressing and polarity check
- Busbar laser welding
- Module EOL test
-
Power
PACK assembly and test
- Cooling-plate leak test
- Automatic thermal-adhesive dispensing
- Six PACK assembly stations
- PACK EOL and full-pack leak test
-
Make
Around the line
- 200 W pulsed laser cleaner (Maxwave MW-C200) for fixture and terminal rework
- MES link for per-cell traceability
- Spare-parts kit worth about 2 % of the equipment
- Laser-safety guarding and training
Acceptance
How it was proven
- Factory acceptance in Wuhan with 2,000 of the customer’s own cells: four hours at rated takt, pull tests and cross-sections from every welding head, and the full set of EOL records
- Two of the customer’s engineers in Wuhan for the FAT; the rest of the team watched live on video and received the recording and the data
- Site acceptance: 72 hours at rated takt with production cells, first-pass yield counted on equipment causes only, as the contract defined it
Results
What it achieved
- Takt at factory acceptance
- 8.2 PPM over 4 hours
- Takt at site acceptance
- 8.0 PPM over 72 hours
- First-pass yield, equipment causes
- 99.3 %
- Operators per shift
- 21, as designed
- Contract to first PACK
- ≈ 6 months
- Trained on site
- 28 operators, 4 maintenance technicians
Schedule
From contract to running
- 01
Scope and cell trials
Scope aligned station by station; the customer’s cells run through stacking, welding and EOL trials in Wuhan.
Weeks 1–4
- 02
Build and FAT
Line built for 400 V, 60 Hz; factory acceptance with 2,000 customer cells, on video.
Weeks 5–16
- 03
Ship
Crated by segment; sea freight and customs clearance with the conformity certificates the destination requires.
Weeks 17–21
- 04
Install and commission
Four ZeroLine and Stratavolt engineers on site; first PACK off the line at the end of commissioning.
Weeks 22–25
- 05
Site acceptance and ramp-up
72-hour run, then shift-by-shift ramp-up to rated takt by week 33.
Weeks 26–33
Who did what
One contract, several factories
ZeroLine
- Put three competing quotes side by side station by station, so the customer compared like with like
- One contract for the line, the laser cleaner, the MES link and the spare parts
- Set the FAT protocol with the customer, witnessed it and sent the video and data
- Export documents, conformity certificates, freight and insurance
- Led installation and training on site; remote support in the customer’s working hours
The factories
- Stratavolt designed, built and commissioned the line and ran the factory acceptance test
- Maxwave Laser built and tested the pulsed laser cleaner
Write down how yield is counted before you sign. “Equipment-caused” and “all causes” can differ by several points in the first weeks, while operators are still learning.
Behind this project
The solution and services it used
- Battery and energy storage Module and PACK assembly lines, from cell sorting to end-of-line test.
- Factory acceptance and inspection Nothing ships before it has run. You watch the test, then you pay.
- Shipping and compliance Export documents, crating, one consolidated shipment, and the papers your market needs.
- Installation and training Engineers on your site until it runs at rate, and a team that can run it after.
- Spare parts and support Spare parts, video support, service partners and upgrades for the life of the equipment.
More cases
Other projects, end to end
- From plasma and TIG to fiber laser: a sheet-metal job shop in Central Europe A 35-person shop stopped outsourcing stainless cutting and welds thin stainless about four times faster, with a smaller laser than it first asked for.
- FTTH materials for 30,000 homes in East Africa, in four lots An ISP moving from fixed wireless to fiber bought every passive item for two cities from one supplier, lot by lot to its rollout plan, at prices fixed for three lots.
- Pre-terminated cabling and optics for a 200-rack data hall in Southeast Asia A colocation operator opened its second data hall on the planned date, with cabling made to its rack drawings, labelled for the installer and tested piece by piece.
- Pulsed laser cleaning for tyre moulds in South Asia A tyre plant moved mould cleaning from off-line dry-ice blasting to laser cleaning in the press, and cut press downtime per mould from about 4.5 hours to 1.5.
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