Siemens Process Industries and Drives Division is a leading supplier of electrical and mechanical products, applications and solutions that cover the entire drive train. Mechanical Drives is one of the business units in this division, together with the Large Drives unit. The editors of Motion Control and SA Instrumentation & Control recently paid a visit to the Mechanical Drives factory in Isando, Johannesburg to find out how Mechanical Drives fits into the greater Siemens picture.
A wealth of experience
Mechanical Drives assembles and supplies gear units and couplings as well as developing customised integrated drive systems (IDS), all backed up by a comprehensive maintenance and service facility. A pass round the boardroom table immediately highlights what a huge wealth of experience and knowledge resides in Mechanical Drives – literally hundreds of years combined. Head of the business unit, Michael Cardoso says that this technical capability makes a huge difference to the offering. “It’s a big selling point because customers want to deal with people who know what they are talking about,” he says.
The Mechanical Drives footprint
Cardoso explains that in 2007 the acquisition of Flender, a leading supplier of gear systems and technology, was concluded. This allowed Siemens to expand its product portfolio to supply a complete range of equipment over the entire drive train, from mechanical components all the way through to totally integrated solutions. Siemens Mechanical Drives is headquartered in Germany in a little town called Bocholt, which is where Flender also originated. The town was built around the two companies, which were both growing rapidly. Flender developed its product ranges, adding couplings from a nearby factory in Mussum, and as the business grew in the 1990s, it acquired a further factory in Penig for the production of the standard products. The wind power business was also growing fast and these gearboxes were built in a large factory in Voerde, with four lines producing the gearboxes and a service facility as well. Mechanical Drives also has a more specialised high-speed gearbox factory in France aimed especially at the power industry. Over the years Siemens has also added manufacturing facilities in China, India and the USA. There are sales offices worldwide to back these up and assembly centres in some countries, as in South Africa. “The business has grown phenomenally,” Cardoso says.
The Flender brand under the Siemens umbrella
Meanwhile, Flender had already been operating in South Africa as a separate organisation since 1987 at the Isando site. Cardoso adds that this is a huge advantage for Siemens because there is a very large Flender installed base, especially on the mines, where customers know the Flender brand and are confident of its quality and reliability. However, after the integration of Flender into Siemens, customers did not realise the connection. “Our gearboxes and couplings have the Flender brand but we sit under the Siemens umbrella,” he explains. “Flender always believed in selling the highest quality product with the best expertise to develop and back it up so we don’t need to keep referring back to Bocholt, which would create a break in communications. Our engineers have outstanding industry and application knowledge backed up by top-class German engineering and we really pride ourselves on the quality of our product.”
Wide range of markets
Of the wide range of industries served, Siemens Mechanical Drives is particularly strong in minerals and mining, especially materials handling; cement, which involves materials handling and the grinding of special products; paper, which needs highly synchronised gearboxes; and chemicals and the environment. Siemens also has highly specialised couplings for the oil and gas industry, and in Europe and Asia covers another highly specialised OEM market, marine propulsion, which calls for massive gearboxes. “Although we don’t have the sales rights in South Africa, wind products are also a very big market for Siemens internationally and some come to South Africa, so we may get involved locally on the service side in the future,” he continues.
An integrated offering
Mechanical Drives assembles and sells helical, bevel-helical and planetary gear units as well as a wide range of couplings for different applications. In addition the company sells special units that have been developed over the years for specific applications in partnership with OEMs. These application-specific systems are generally developed from standard modular products, some being sourced from the Large Drives business unit. Since the two business units are in the same division they can work together to serve a wide range of industries.
“At the horizontal level a Siemens gearbox is coupled to a Siemens motor to a Siemens drive and integration becomes much simpler as you don’t have to try and match different products and worry that there’s going to be an integration problem. We add value for the customer by ensuring maximum productivity, energy efficiency and reliability,” he continues. “Then looking at the bigger picture, this all fits into the Siemens totally integrated automation (TIA) platform, with threefold integration of drives, communication and information – horizontally, vertically and through every stage of the production life cycle.”
Core products
The standard helical and bevel-helical gear unit, Planurex and SIP gear units have power ratings from 2000 up to 5 million Nm and the planetary units can handle very high ratios. Typical applications are in materials handling in belt conveyors, rotary conveyors, pumps, compressors and cranes. From these an integrated drive system can be put together by combining the gearbox, coupling and motor, mounted on a base plate which is designed and engineered locally in Isando. These are typically standard powerpacks and self-alignment systems, developed from standard products that are available off the shelf.
“In another example we have a very specialised ball drive for the cement industry made from standard products which we designed together with an OEM,” continues Cardoso. These are typically the KMP or KMPS multiple drive systems. “Here four inputs are combined into one output, so there’s a load sharing arrangement designed specifically to create a large output but shared input loading on the drive side. Applications include crushers, mixers, shredders, extruders, mills and separators. The OEMs we work with to develop applications are well-known inter-national companies such as Loesche, Pfeiffer or ThyssenKrupp.”
Mechanical Drives also has a large range of Flender couplings with torque or power ratings up to 10 million Nm. Each application depends on the needs of the customer and determines which type of coupling – torsionally rigid (Zapex and Arpex), torsionally flexible (N-Eupex, Rupex, Bipex), highly flexible (Elpex), hydrodynamic fluid couplings (Fludex) or specialised railway couplings. Applications include pumps, fans, compressors and railway vehicles. “Anywhere that you have a motor or gearbox driving a machine you have a coupling between them and we have the complete range. There are also highly specialised all-steel couplings developed for explosion-proof areas and the oil and gas industries,” he adds.
A complete service portfolio
On the service side Mechanical Drives services its complete installed base. “Here the critical thing is that the people doing the service are knowledgeable and technically sound. Technical training of the people doing the service is a very big focus for us,” Cardoso emphasises. Mechanical Drives offers a complete service portfolio from repairs in-house or on-site, to field service, to specialist advice, to condition monitoring to retrofitting of competitor units, to maintenance plans. As an example the Gautrain trains are all driven by Flender gearboxes. While the rail side of the business falls within the Large Drives business unit, Mechanical Drives has been involved at the service level and has repaired a number of these gearboxes.
Mechanical Drives has over the years expanded its Isando facilities to about 9400 m² and upgraded its workshops. Two new spray booths were installed in its assembly and service repair workshops for geared motors, as well as a 12,5 ton crane to help manipulate complete drivetrains during final assembly. In addition a 32 ton crane was installed in the new heavy duty hall to increase service capability for the range of Flender gear units. Other upgrades include the installation of a new manipulation table with a jib crane and the completion of a new wash bay in the services workshop dedicated to the repair of gear units, which has increased capacity and productivity.
“In essence, two companies each over 100 years old, have combined their extensive electrical and mechanical resources to create a single source of integrated drive technology solutions,” concludes Cardoso.
For more information contact Jennifer Naidoo, Siemens Southern Africa, +27 (0)11 652 2795, [email protected], www.siemens.co.za
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