Mechanical Technology

Mechanical Technology — October 2015

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Power transmission, bearings, bushes and seals

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Above:

Having launched its mill drive offering only three years ago, SEW-Eurodrive has now installed seven

of these units locally. It has also recently installed its first girth gear.

Left:

SEW-Eurodrive’s Nelspruit facility has expanded the range of locally assembled X-series IG gearboxes.

Local assembly is less expensive than finished units imported from overseas factories, but more impor-

tantly, it offers benefits for local industry and jobs in and around Nelspruit.

better availability, shorter lead times and

much quicker deliver times. On the ser-

vice side, because parts and skills have

been made available, we can repair all of

out own product with fast turnarounds.

This is most important in the current cli-

mate. Components are readily available

and we can react proactively to urgent or

special requirements.”

He also points out the cost and ex-

tended economic benefits. “Because of

locally sourced content, such as bearings,

seals, shafts, couplings, guards, lubri-

cants and base-plates, locally assembled

IG units are less expensive than finished

units imported from one of our overseas

factories. We are even able to source oil

cooling systems locally, and all of this

benefits local industry and jobs in and

around Nelspruit,” he argues.

“Also, although our currency has

weakened significantly in recent times,

this may end up being good for exports.

We are in communication with other

countries, who are interested in taking

advantages of our weak Rand, and sev-

eral African countries are US$-based, so

they can also benefit by importing SEW

gearboxes assembled in South Africa,”

he adds.

SEW-Eurodrive’s IG gearboxes are a

modern, modular design, optimised in

terms of torques and ratios to use the

minimum number of individual gears and

components. The casings are reversible,

so the same housing is used for horizon-

tal and bevel helical gearboxes as well

as vertical shaft mixer-type units. This

makes them ideal for local assembly as

fewer parts need to be imported. “As well

as platinum, mixing applications and the

cement industry have been good for us in

recent years and our local market share

continues to improve,” Obermeyer says.

Having introduced its mill drive offer-

ing only three years ago, the company

has now installed seven of these units

locally. It has also recently installed its

first girth gear onto the kiln of Mamba

Cement in Thabazimbi.

To further improve response times

and efficiency, SEW-Eurodrive South

Africa has streamlined its ordering, quot-

ing production and delivery processes.

“We have implemented a management

system called SLAP – streamlining of

logistics and production – to improve

our back office efficiency and to switch

to push-production. By speeding up pro-

duction, we have managed to reduce the

stockholding required,” he says.

The SLAP system can currently

track the progress of an order via five

confirmation points, letting customers

know, for example, whether the ordered

product has left internal sales, is ‘in

picking’, on the assembly line, or ready

for dispatch. “Ultimately we intend to

take the tracking system all the way

through to logistics and delivery, so that

customers can track delivery progress all

the way to the gates of their facilities,”

Obermeyer informs

MechTech

“Going forward, we need to, and want

to, become more aggressive. Not in the

bullying sense, but by working harder

and finding smarter ways of meeting in-

dustry’s needs. I still believe that there is

business out there, but we have to work

harder and smarter to get that business.

“Service excellence is the essential

element, but in addition, we are removing

as many bureaucratic hurdles as pos-

sible. We are striving to make it easier

for staff to win business and for our cus-

tomers to take up business opportunities

with us. We have, for example, removed

many surcharges on the small variations

we used to consider as ‘extra’. If a mine

needs a gearbox, then we will strive

to deliver and charge for that gearbox,

without adding additional charges for

small changes or accelerated delivery. All

deliveries are urgent in today’s market,

so it seems senseless to differentiate

between them.

“To enable smarter working practices,

staff training is key: All of our staff are

going benefit from a renewed training

focus from HR. We are looking to use our

Drive Academy to improve the capacity

of our people in areas from computer

and software skills to technical com-

petence. Ultimately, it is the hard work

and smarter capabilities of our staff that

will enable SEW to better meet and

understand the needs of customers,”

Obermeyer concludes.