Machine Tool Rebuilding Takes Center Stage

LARGE SCALE MACHINE TOOL REBUILDING
Founded in 1866, Schiess GmbH (Aschersleben, Germany), a subsidiary of the Shenyang Machine Tool Group Ltd (SYMG; Shenyang, Liaoning, China), can look back on 150 years of experience in the manufacture of large machine tools. The majority of its machines have been used successfully in Europe and the rest of the world for many decades. Now this large scale machine tool specialist has expanded its range of retrofitting services that rejuvenate machine tools. Overhaul work now ranges from making technical alterations to the system to full remodeling for a completely different set of requirements.

Thanks to on-going investments at the Aschersleben site, the company continues to design powerful and innovative products that will secure its leading position at the forefront of global competition for the future. The service team works on site with customers from all over the world to adapt existing machine tools of all sizes so that they are ready to face new challenges. For more extensive alterations, the machine tools are brought to the plant in Aschersleben. “The basic quality of most old machine tools is outstanding. Modernizing them makes them better than ever,” explains Steffen Warias, the service manager at Schiess.

With its many years of experience in the development and construction of machine tools, the company utilizes the technical expertise of specialists that spans generations. “We are just as comfortable with systems from the ‘30-plus generation’ as we are with the possibilities offered by the latest technology,” adds Warias.

Schiess GmbH, Ernst-Schiess-Straße 1, 06449 Aschersleben, Germany, +49 69 4305328-34, m.springstein@schiess.eu, www.schiessgmbh.de.

REBUILDING NORTH AMERICAN PARTS LEVELERS AND COIL LINE
The U.S. operation of ARKU Coil Systems, Inc. (Cincinnati, OH) has instituted a new rebuilding service for its levelers and coil lines in North America with a program that includes rebuilding, sales and spare parts for other manufacturers‘ used levelers, subject to availability. Refurbished equipment performs like new for fraction of cost. The program turns out like-new equipment for a fraction of new machine cost and the work can be done at the customer site or at the company’s Cincinnati plant.

The company is now purchasing older machines to rebuild and sell as they become available. Refurbished machines carry a six-month warranty. The program started in Germany with great success and was expanded to other stateside facilities. “We’ve already rebuilt and sold some levelers, both our own and other manufacturers” said Franck Hirschmann, the vice president of sales at ARKU Coil Systems. “Our technicians disassemble, clean, inspect and replace worn parts, and return the machines to like-new appearance and performance.”

The program has also become the de facto parts and reconditioning operation for parts levelers no longer supported by the original manufacturers. “We primarily rebuild our own equipment, but we’ve also accumulated a supply of parts and a few used machines made by other companies,” noted Hirschmann. “We replace a lot of wear parts like bearings and universal shafts. We’ve even replaced electrical cabinets and converted a high-speed coil line leveler to a parts leveler, which runs at a slower speed.”

ARKU Coil Systems, Inc., 11405 Grooms Road, Cincinnati, OH 45242, 513-985-0500, nicholas.miller@arku.com, www.arku.com.

RETROFIT FRAME INCREASES TONNAGE CAPABILITY
ERIE Press Systems (Erie, PA) successfully engineered and installed a complete retrofit open die frame structure at Patriot Forge Company (Brantford, ON) in a project that required replacing the existing 1,250 ton Bliss press frame and designing a new two column, six-piece frame structure that would be the same height, space and sit on the same foundation while increasing its capacity to 1,650 tons. The new frame consists of a base, crown, two columns and pre-tensioned tie rods. Other critical components supplied were lower die lock components, redesigned gibs and wedges, gland flange, adapter plate, and guide fences.

Patriot now forges standard carbon, stainless and alloy grade ingots, billets and bars weighing up to 40,000 lbs. in the new press to produce forged step shafts, hubs and disks, seamless rolled rings, pot die products, gear blanks and steam turbine rotors. Henry Hendriks, the manager of engineering and maintenance for Patriot Forge, said, „The finished press is rock solid and integrates with all of our existing components including the mounting of the existing die slide and magazine. We’re very pleased with this solution and the manner in which they engineered the additional capacity.“

This new press capacity has expanded Patriot’s base of business for demanding industries such as power generation, gas compression, oil & gas, nuclear, petrochemical, industrial equipment, aerospace, military, and commercial markets.

For more than 115 years, ERIE Press has been a leading engineering and manufacturing supplier of custom hydraulic and mechanical presses and integrated systems for open and closed die forging applications with capacities from 500 to 15,000 tons (5 to 147 MN). The company has achieved ISO-9001:2008 re-certification.

ERIE Press Systems, 1253 West 12th Street, Erie, PA 16501, 814-455-3941, www.eriepress.com.