Startup TriboForm Engineering and Spin-off of the UT, from Enschede, the Netherlands, has been sold to the Swiss company AutoForm.
TriboForm is a fast-growing company established at Kennispark Twente, which recently attracted Volvo, Skoda and Mercedes-Benz as launching customers. Through the sale the company aims to facilitate an even faster marketing of its car industry software designed for the simulation of friction, lubrication and wear. The startup now serves a large part of the European car industry.
Virtual Tribology
TriboForm simulation software predicts tribological behaviour: a branch of mechanical engineering that conducts research into the behaviour of contact surfaces between materials under various conditions. A number of car manufacturers use the software in the development and production of new car parts such as bonnets and doors. The software calculates the probability of fractures and corrugation of steel or aluminium. In the past, field tests were used to study this. The innovative software results in considerable time gains and cost savings for car manufacturers. This is partly why there is great demand for the TriboForm product, including from manufacturers such as Volvo, Skoda and Mercedes Benz.
A look at the Future
Director and founder Jan Harmen Wiebenga is pleased with the acquisition. AutoForm is the global market leader in the field of software solutions for the Metal Conversion Industry. “Our collaboration with AutoForm means we can introduce our software to main players in the car industry even faster and it allows us to grow as an organisation”, said Wiebenga. The acquisition also signifies an important contribution to the objective pursued by AutoForm, namely, continuous improvement in the accuracy of their own software. With the acquisition of TriboForm, AutoForm gets a centre of expertise for tribology that operates from the Netherlands.
About TriboForm
TriboForm was founded in 2013 by Jan Harmen Wiebenga and Johan Hol. They did this during their doctoral research conducted at the Materials Innovation Institute and the University of Twente within the study group of Applied Mechanics. In 2014 TriboForm was admitted to the TOP Program and the company received an interest-free loan of 40,000 euros from Kennispark Twente. TriboForm now consists of seven people and has settled at Kennispark Twente in Enschede. The link with the University of Twente and Saxion University of Applied Sciences was a main reason for the duo to remain in Enschede. “The demand for staff will certainly grow with TriboForm's anticipated growth plans in the coming years within the AutoForm group”, said Wiebenga.
