Factory Robots Don't All Need to Be Supercars: Kollmorgen's Case for Right-Sizing Motion Systems
Industrial automation company Kollmorgen has expanded its Essentials motion platform to work with the high-voltage power supplies standard in factories, arguing that matching the machine to the job saves time, money, and headaches.
Key points
- Kollmorgen has extended its Essentials motion platform to support 400 to 480V power supplies, the standard in large industrial facilities worldwide.
- The company argues that over-specifying motion systems, fitting every robot axis with top-tier components even when the task is simple, inflates cost and slows down installation.
- Pre-matched motors and drives in the Essentials range are designed to cut the specialist knowledge needed to get a system running.
- Kollmorgen claims stock availability of Essentials components can shorten the waiting time that often stalls factory builds.
Imagine a large car plant. Some robot arms weld structural steel under enormous force. Others simply slide a trim panel into place. Both arms need to move precisely, but they are doing very different jobs. Giving them identical, maximum-performance motors is a bit like buying a Formula 1 engine for the second car.
That is the argument Kollmorgen, a motion-systems company with more than a century of experience making motors and drives (the electronic controllers that tell motors what to do), made this week when it announced the expansion of its Essentials product line.
What changed in the Essentials platform?
Essentials was originally built for medium-voltage settings, running on 120 to 240V power. The update adds high-voltage support, meaning the system can now plug straight into the 400 to 480V three-phase supplies found in most large manufacturing plants, automotive lines, logistics warehouses, and packaging facilities, with no extra transformer hardware required.
Before this change, fitting a simpler, lower-spec motion system inside a high-voltage factory meant adding transformers and extra safety hardware to step the power down. That extra equipment costs money and creates more things that can break or need maintenance.
Why does it matter what voltage the factory runs on?
High voltage is simply how big factories deliver power across long distances efficiently. Think of it like mains electricity in your home, but scaled up for machines that draw far more current. The standard in Europe and much of the world sits at 400V; North American industrial facilities often use 480V.
Kollmorgen's point, as first reported by The Robot Report, is that historically, working at these voltages pushed engineers toward complex, high-end motion platforms across the board, even for the mundane axes doing basic positioning or material handling. Those premium systems demand longer setup time, specialist knowledge to configure, and more effort when something goes wrong.
| Essentials configuration | Previous coverage | New coverage |
|---|---|---|
| Voltage range | 120 to 240V (medium) | 400 to 480V (high) added |
| Motor-drive matching | Pre-matched | Pre-matched |
| Target use case | Simple to mid-tier axes | Simple to mid-tier axes in large plants |
| Commissioning | Streamlined tooling | Streamlined tooling |
| Stock availability | Typical stock held | Typical stock held |
What does this mean for the people building and running these machines?
For engineers, a pre-matched motor and drive pair removes one of the trickier decisions in system design: working out which motor will play nicely with which controller. Kollmorgen says its Essentials tools are straightforward enough that teams without deep motion expertise can bring a system online quickly.
For factory owners, the practical benefit is simpler: faster builds, less specialist labour, shorter lead times, and systems that are easier to fix when they break.
The underlying idea is what Kollmorgen calls "right-sizing": applying a powerful, expensive solution only where the task demands it, and using a leaner, cheaper system everywhere else. A machine built that way costs less to design, less to build, and less to keep running.
Common questions
Does this mean the robots are less capable?
No. The Essentials platform targets axes doing straightforward jobs like positioning or guiding materials, tasks that never needed maximum-performance hardware in the first place. High-demand axes in the same machine can still use more powerful systems.
Will this affect factory workers or output?
For workers, simpler systems are generally easier to troubleshoot, which means less downtime when something fails. Output should stay the same or improve, because faster commissioning gets the line running sooner.
