Nowadays, efficient drive solutions for the production industry are more important than ever. In view of this, new energy-efficient drive concepts for forming presses and sheet metal feeding systems are developed at the IFUM. The novel press drive is based on a power-split design, which allows a variable ram-kinematics with reduced total costs of ownership in comparison to conventional servo presses. The new feeding concept will be able to realize the contactless feed of electrically conductive sheet metals by means of electromagnetic forces. Since only the sheet metal has to be accelerated, the energy efficiency and feeding rate can be increased significantly.