Lead-acid battery equipment manufacturer Sovema changed its name to Sovema Group on June 14 in line with the company’s expansions into making machinery for the lithium-ion battery industry.

Massimiliano Ianniello, Sovema general manager who has been with Italy-based Sovema for 20 years, becomes general manager for the whole group.

Sovema CEO Enzo Mazzola said the decision followed the growth of the company’s Solith and Sovel business lines, which add to the Sovema line of equipment for lead-acid batteries. Solith makes equipment for lithium cell manufacturing and Sovel produces battery-charging systems.

“Solith has made major leaps forward in the last two years by developing some outstanding pieces of equipment that attracted the attention of two of the biggest players in the lithium battery business in Korea, which are now part of our customer portfolio,” he said.

“These developments and this growth convinced me and the board that it was time to give more explicit evidence to these two businesses and to bring them at the same level as our core business related to the equipment for the production of lead-acid batteries.

“Solith and Sovel will certainly take advantage from this stronger organization in their growth trajectory, preserving and improving their specific competences. This will also allow our company to improve the technological innovation of all three product lines and to guarantee a better level of service and support to our customers worldwide.”

The name change will not affect the company’s structure overseas, which includes Bitrode Corporation and sales firms Sovema Global Services in the US and Sovema Tianjin in China.

The Sovema Group’s product lines for lithium-ion cell assembly and generation and its testing equipment were all on show at the Battery Show Europe in April.

In September, the Sovema Group will appear at the 17^th Asia Battery Conference in Kuala Lumpur between 19^th and 22^nd, and in Fenibat, Londrina, Brazil, on the 25^th and 26^th.