In an effort to make Alstom’s train manufacturing process greener, STILFOLD has announced a partnership with the high-speed train manufacturing company.

Alstom is a global leader in sustainable mobility and rail travel and they are a company who hold innovation at the front of their plan to reduce their environmental impact.

STILFOLD is a Swedish design and technology company whose patented origami-inspired technology is revolutionizing the mobility sector through multiple partnerships between this company and their daughter company STILRIDE. A previous technological advancement from STILRIDE is a lightweight electric motorcycle made almost completely from recycled steel. The companies also have a partnership with Polestar, where they are working on the world’s first climate-neutral car. Both of these projects portray that STILFOLD and its daughter company, hold sustainability at the top of their priority. It is this focus that inspired the partnership between STILFOLD and Alstom.

Within this partnership, the companies will explore how using STILFOLD’s origami-inspired technology could improve the production process for the structures and components of parts of the train, with the aim to significantly reduce the climate impact caused by the production process. STILFOLD’s technology is called origami-inspired because the process involves using robotic arms to fold flat sheet metal over curves, which forms new structures which are strong and sustainable, but which also use minimal component parts. This technology is especially efficient as it removes the need for cutting, welding and joining, the result of this is reduced material waste, energy consumption and production time, whilst increasing structural strength.

The next steps for this partnership is to spend the coming months researching the Alstom production process to decide which points of the process would benefit the most from implementing STILFOLD technology. Implementing the technology will allow Alstom to use fewer raw materials, reduce the weight of different components and improve the strength and durability of their trains’ structure and will offer a much more sustainable approach.