SK On aiming to diversify battery assembly equipment supply chain

South Korean battery maker SK On is planning to procure assembly equipment from more suppliers, TheElec has learned.

The company is looking for new suppliers for notching equipment, which is used to create the positive and negative tabs of batteries at the early stages of the assembly process.

SK On had almost solely relied on Youil Energy Tech for the equipment so far, which it uses at its factory in Seosan in South Korea, Georgia in the US and Changzhou in China.

But the South Korean battery maker has recently selected Woowon Technology as its supplier for notching equipment for its second factory at Yancheng, China, according to sources.

Woowon Technology is already the exclusive supplier of stacking equipment to SK On. Stacking equipment stacks the anode and cathode that had notches tabbed as well as the separator. The process comes right after notching in the assembly process, which means Woowon Technology could be supplying both pieces of equipment at the same time in the future.

SK On uses roll to sheet method for notching where battery materials notched with tabs are put into magazines. These magazines are then stacked. How fast the assembly line can execute these processes determines the productivity of battery production lines.

SK On’s stacking process at its latest factories at Hungary and China is done at a rate of 30PPM, the sources said.