Joining Forces for the Digital Future: SEW-Eurodrive and Schaeffler
June 5, 2025
Joining forces for the digital future. SEW-EURODRIVE and Schaeffler, two leading companies in drive technology and industrial automation, announce their strategic partnership. This collaboration was officially presented at HANNOVER MESSE 2025 and significantly expands the digital service offering of both companies.
As a specialist in drive and automation technology, SEW-EURODRIVE offers a broad portfolio of products and solutions that help companies design their production processes efficiently and reliably. The DriveRadar® APPredict digital platform, for example, provides customers with full transparency on the status of SEW-EURODRIVE products, including information on temperature, oil condition, machine name and system type. If necessary, the maintenance team can request support or order spare parts online.
Motion Technology Company Schaeffler is a global technology company and leading supplier of rolling bearings and linear technology. With its solutions for industrial automation and predictive maintenance, Schaeffler optimizes production processes and helps to avoid unplanned downtimes.
By integrating Schaeffler’s OPTIME ecosystem, SEW-EURODRIVE can provide its customers with detailed information on the health status of machines and bearings in an easy and scalable way. Data is collected via wireless vibration sensors from OPTIME, which transmit their data securely to a gateway via a mesh network. This sends the information to the OPTIME cloud, where it is automatically analyzed and converted into characteristic values and alarms. These findings then flow into DriveRadar® APPredict via a REST API, making it particularly easy for users to use.
Synergies and customer benefits
Maintenance teams benefit from this partnership in many ways: All relevant information is bundled in the DriveRadar® APPredict platform, supplemented by the in-depth technical expertise of both companies. The recommendations for action and alarms are based on Schaeffler’s extensive expertise in rolling bearings and machine dynamics, as well as SEW-EURODRIVE’s many years of experience in drive technology. This close integration, which already exists in the mechanical design of SEW-EURODRIVE products with Schaeffler rolling bearings, is now also being continued digitally.
Tobias Nittel, Head of Corporate Solution Center – Electronics at SEW-EURODRIVE, explains how this strategic partnership sends a clear signal for the future of digital maintenance: “Schaeffler is the ideal partner for us, as we operate in the same industry and complement each other perfectly in terms of our expertise. This collaboration allows us to provide innovative digital solutions that optimize production processes and increase maintenance efficiency. By combining our drive technology with Schaeffler’s predictive maintenance solutions, we create sustainable added value for our customers.”
Dr. Philipp Jussen, Head of Predictive Maintenance Industrial Lifetime Solutions at Schaeffler, adds: “The integration of our OPTIME solutions into the DriveRadar® APPredict solution from SEW-EURODRIVE significantly expands the possibilities of predictive maintenance. Combining our shared digital skills with SEW-EURODRIVE’s service expertise gives customers more precise and comprehensive information that helps prevent unplanned downtimes. This helps to reduce maintenance costs and improve system availability.”
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