New Romanian development center for BEM Marine Power

New BEM facility in Craiova, Romania (Photo: BEM Marine Power)

BEM Marine Power has reported plans to setup a new ‘innovation site’ in Craiova, Romania.

BEM is part of Bayerische Elektrische Maschinen, a company based in Ingolstadt, Germany. Together with offices in Hamburg, the company operates two manufacturing sites in China, Wuxi, near Shanghai and Wuhan.

“What was originally a small start-up has grown into a rapidly scaling company in just ten years, doubling its revenue almost every year,” explained Robert Beck, director of both BEM Marine Power and Bayerische Elektrische Maschinen.

BEM has been developing frequency convertor-ready generators and hybrid generator-motor systems with startup solutions. According to Beck, these technologies “have already made a significant impact on the industry and enabled entirely new standards to be set.”

At the Craiova plant, BEM, together with local research institutes, the company is planning to develop the next generation of these systems.

“Our Romanian engineers have the task of designing fully autonomous ship-ready components - solutions that can be integrated directly in future fully autonomous vessels without further modifications,” said Beck.

These latest systems are set to go a step further than the existing models. They will be designed as standard for efficient DC rectifier systems, with optimized electrical characteristics to support future digital ship systems.

“These products, which we market as Full Electric Ship or Full Electric Vessel ready, will permanently change the market for electric machines in the marine sector,” emphasizes Beck.

Craiova is located some distance from the sea, but as Andrei Beldiman, electrical engineer and sales director at the BEM Group said: “You don’t need a port to develop the future of shipping. What you need is know how – and that’s exactly what we have here.”