Tremonia Mobility Sets the Standard in Minibuses

Solid Edge helps Tremonia design environmentally friendly, efficient and customizable minibuses.

Siemens has sponsored this post.

Sprinter Transfer 45. (Image: Siemens.)

Sprinter Transfer 45. (Image: Siemens.)

Tremonia Mobility prides itself on its standards—but is anything but standard. Their minibuses, including the models with combustion engines, typically have smaller carbon footprints than electrically operated large buses. And Tremonia’s latest model goes one better: it’s fully electric.

“In a world full of possibilities and constant change, we face future challenges that need to be overcome, such as the need for more sustainable solutions in the area of mobility,” says Dr. Jürgen Knothe, CTO of Tremonia. “The connectivity of the world is another central concern, especially for our customers in the automotive sector who encounter problems in the field and thus rely on continuous data availability. Creating interfaces and ensuring seamless processes will undoubtedly be one of our future challenges.”

The company’s innovative minibuses are not only easier to maneuver in busy downtowns, narrow streets and parking lots in European cities, but also offer increased functionality with purpose-built equipment, such as that which caters to the special needs of the mobility impaired. The same bus model can be configured as an interurban shuttle or a small travel/sightseeing bus for day trips, accommodating anywhere from four to 38 passengers.

20+ Years of Excellence in Premium Minibus Manufacturing

Based in Dortmund, Germany, the company has been in business more than 20 years and has produced more than 25,000 premium minibuses for public transport, shuttle and travel. They were originally part of Daimler Corporation, but recently became an independent company in 2022. The company has stayed true to its roots, (Tremonia is the Latin name for Dortmund) and is committed to designing environmentally friendly, efficient and customizable minibuses.

Tremonia manufactures all their minibuses in their Dortmund facility and has the capacity to produce 1,200 to 1,400 units a year.

Sprinter City 45 ELECTRIC. (Image: Siemens.)

Sprinter City 45 ELECTRIC. (Image: Siemens.)

The most recent addition to the Tremonia line is the City 45 ELECTRIC, an all-electric vehicle based on the same Sprinter chassis with a 300 km (190 mile) range. It can be configured for as many as 22 passengers. Germany’s MVVG, a German bus operator, and Luxembourg’s Voyages Emile Weber are the first customers already driving several of these electric busses in their areas.

Tremonia’s innovative solutions are made possible at least in part because of its newly gained independence from Daimler Corporation. However, overall, the company has benefitted from being part of the Daimler Corporation. “We have a high standard in our production and our quality checks, the way we design and fulfill the customer requirements,” says Christian Wünsch, head of R&D and Product Management at Tremonia Mobility. “We are very specialized in city buses, which normally have very high standards that must be met.”

Seating arrangement using Solid Edge. (Image: Siemens.)

Seating arrangement using Solid Edge. (Image: Siemens.)

Enhancing Design Efficiency with Switching to Siemens’ Mechanical Design

To help achieve these goals, Tremonia recently added Solid Edge to Siemens NX. They had been using NX for the last eight years when they were with Daimler Corporation and continue to do so for advanced design work and data transfer. That’s why Tremonia incorporated the Siemens’ Mechanical Design Bundle which contains both software tools, NX and Solid Edge.

“When we left Daimler, we had nearly three terabytes of data that had to be integrated step by step. Solid Edge certainly had the capacity to handle it. The system offered a lot of freedom. The data migration involved intensive conversion work, but overall the changeover went smoothly since the software programs are both from the Siemens family,” says Wünsch.

The design team has been using Solid Edge since January 2023. The team consists of nine designers in-house and three in India, and they had a two-week training period to get up and running in Solid Edge. The Siemens Solution Partner ISAP AG helped with introducing the new CAD tool. “ISAP has offered us substantial support while transferring the data, setting up the new IT infrastructure and prepping our team to efficiently use the new software tool,” says Wünsch. “The design team felt that Solid Edge was very intuitive overall, and they have been able to do a lot of processing more quickly.”

Knothe adds that “the decision to use Solid Edge is the result of a clear goal: we want to act faster while remaining cost-effective. In comparison to the old world, Solid Edge not only allows us to make documentation more efficient in terms of breadth and depth but also to streamline and make processes more agile.”

Members of the Tremonia team. (Image: Siemens.)

Members of the Tremonia team. (Image: Siemens.)

The efficiency gained through process optimization is one of the significant benefits Tremonia has achieved through the transfer. The integration of Siemens’ Mechanical Design opens up the opportunity to communicate in both directions, creating an ideal combination for them as a medium-sized company.

This step not only facilitates the onboarding of employees but also allows Tremonia to respond more efficiently and flexibly to the needs of our customers.

The extent to which they use Solid Edge varies whether it is frame design or paneling and interior of the company’s five models of minibuses. “Solid Edge is also beneficial due to its embedded Synchronous Technology which enables us to do part changes quickly,” Wünsch says. “This helps because we are working with large amounts of data and with legacy data.”

Fast forward to the future

Tremonia’s strengths lie not only in the production of buses but also in the integration of electrical and electronic components, as well as years of experience in quality management. These unique features make their minibuses attractive to customers worldwide.

“The future of mobility lies in efficient, sustainable solutions, and our buses precisely meet these requirements,” says Knothe. “Adapting to alternative drives and the targeted reduction of emissions are challenges that we actively address. With a broad spectrum of customers, from small bus companies to municipalities, we are on a good path to establish ourselves globally. The partnership with Siemens and the use of design tools are a good start, but the expansion and deepening of this collaboration are still ahead. A broader integration of Siemens tools, e.g. the introduction of Solid Edge 2024 and the optimization of upstream and downstream processes are part of our future focus.”

Visit Siemens to learn more about Solid Edge.