The year in review | 2019 at KEB America

This month we entered into the year 2020! We’re excited for the new year and all it will bring. New technology, great customer service and application engineering support for motion control and automation systems will continue to be our focus in 2020 as it has for over 40 years.

But before we jump into that, let’s take a look at what we accomplished in 2019. We had some compelling blog posts, educational videos, new product releases, and a community outreach project to engage our home city of Shakopee, MN.

Original Content – News and Information

Through our blog, YouTube channel, and social media pages our customers and fans can find content created by KEB America. Here are some popular and featured posts from the last twelve months.

EtherNet/IP vs EtherCAT – We took a deep dive into the advantages and disadvantages of both EtherNet/IP and EtherCAT communication protocols so that a machine builder can find the language that would work best for their system…

DC Injection Braking – One of the features of using a VFD for motor control is DC injection braking to quickly stop a load without the need for a motor brake. This article goes through the function specifically on a KEB F5 drive…

VFDs for High Speed Gearless Turbo Blowers – High speed systems, like turbo blowers, are very demanding applications for VFDs.  They require extremely stable motor control algorithms with very fast control loops…

Educational Videos

We find value in passing along educational content to our followers. Whether you’re a C-level decision-maker for your company or an engineering student looking for a visual representation of a motion control concept we hope these videos will be useful for you.

You can view all of our Lightboard Lessons on YouTube.

Connecting With Other Experts

In addition to sharing knowledge through our own channels, we know it’s important to reach out to other experts in the field. By working with respected publications like Control Design, Elevator World, and Design World we’re able to be part of the bigger conversation happening between designers and OEMs around the world.

New for 2019

This year we celebrated some milestones, ramped up production of our new T6 Auxiliary Inverter and saw our building expansion project take shape. Here’s a quick look at the progress we’ve made in 2019.

Building Expansion Project! – In the second half of 2019, we started our long-awaited project to nearly double the footprint of our existing building to 150,000 sq. ft. with higher ceilings to have more space for inventory, offices for staff, and design/build/assemble our growing list of automation products…

KEB America turns 40! – In February of 2019, KEB America rediscovered our start in North America when we teamed up with Tolomatic. Can you believe KEB has been here since February 28, 1979?…

T6 Auxiliary Inverter – While this product was announced in late 2018, production ramped up in 2019 to supply the growing demand for commercial electric and hybrid electric vehicles…

We’re already planning product releases for 2020, as well as some big projects at KEB HQ that we know you’ll be interested in. Stay subscribed to our Linkedin, Twitter, and Instagram to catch all the KEB projects, products, and educational content.

A Tour of KEB America Manufacturing

We pride ourselves with a ISO 9001:2015 compliant manufacturing facility that meets the quality management and quality assurance systems our customers expect from the KEB brand. In 2019, we produced this video to highlight the process our electromagnetic brakes and clutches go through from the raw metal bar stock to finished product right here in Minnesota.

KEB in our community

In November and December of 2019, we joined with the CAP Agency here in Shakopee, MN to fill care packages for the “Adopt-a-Senior” program to spread holiday cheer to senior citizens in our community. We were able to fill 50 bags this year!

We’re looking into the coming months with anticipation as we build a more connected, automated future for the world of industrial automation.