The order is the result of a strategic intensification of activities in battery production, which Dürr began in 2018 with the acquisition of the US company Megtec/Universal. With its coating, drying and solvent recovery systems, Megtec brought solutions for three key steps in lithium-ion battery production. In 2020, the partnership with the Japanese coating equipment manufacturer Techno Smart Corp. was established. The acquisition of Ingecal in 2023 brought a specialist in calendering technology into the company.
From January 2025, Dürr's coating business operates in the new Lithium-Ion Battery business unit. For the new business unit, the order from FIB is a significant success, reflecting the strategic decisions made in recent years. In times of global volatility, FIB S.p.A., a Seri Industrial Group company active in the production of lithium-iron-phosphate batteries, is investing in a competitive, technologically advanced battery production facility in Europe, using innovative, predominantly Western technology.
The equipment supplied by Dürr includes the tandem coater, a proven system that sequentially coats the foil on one side and then the other. Other sections include the webline, dryer, calender, slitter and solvent recovery for the anode and cathode areas. The plant’s capacity at full load, based on the FIB cell and capacity design, is expected to be 8 GWh/a.
The schedule for the two-phase project near Naples is tight, with installation to begin in the fall of 2025 and production to start in the course of 2026. "Particularly noteworthy is the short time from receipt of the order to the start of installation of the first lines in just 10 months – after all, the ink is only just dry," says Bernhard Bruhn, Vice President Global Business Unit Lithium-Ion Battery at Dürr.
