Metso-Siemens partnership continues to grow
Siemens efficiency drive helps Metso make cost savings on Chinese materials handling projects
METSO have strengthened their work with Siemens on a significant number of materials handling projects in China, including three recent projects for Metso USA with an overall value of more than US$5 million.
One project is in Tanghai County, and the other two are at the Caofeidian and Jinzhou port terminals. The Siemens elements comprise 54 positioner drives and 12 dumper drives of various types on quadruple, triple and tandem dumper units supplied by Metso for handling coal, and these are currently being assembled along with baseplates at Siemens Mechanical Drives in Leeds. Deliveries are being phased until August.
Siemens projects manager Steve Furniss, who has worked with Metso for many years, commented: ‘Our latest positioner drives now feature the new Flender standard industrial planetary gear unit (SIP) which maximizes efficiency for Metso. The SIP’s modular design allows the standardization of many basic components and makes it a cost-effective gear unit with global availability, short delivery times and local Siemens service back-up.’
A highly energy-efficient unit, the SIP is particularly suitable for applications with torque ranges from 10,000 to 80,000Nm and supports the Siemens Total Integrated Automation platform (TIA). As part of the dumper drives, Siemens are also supplying their Zapex ZN coupling for these latest three projects, a torsionally rigid coupling that can withstand high shock loads and challenging environments with minimal maintenance and a long service life. All these components form part of the Siemens integrated drive system (IDS) that produces enhanced efficiency and lifecycle benefits for customers such as Metso.
Nick Smith, product manager at Metso for rotary car dumpers, commented: ‘Metso have had a long and productive relationship with Siemens in supplying gearboxes into China for Metso car dumper projects. Siemens have continually offered quick and efficient support from proposal stage through to delivery, and an overall high level of performance and reliability during operation.’
Steve Furniss continued: ‘In today’s world, value-for-money has to be demonstrated in a number of ways: very attentive and flexible project management, competitive pricing saving money and lead times – as we’ve proven with the new SIP units – and the rarity of field failure of Siemens equipment. If any issues do occur, being able to act fast with worldwide local back-up to hand is crucial.’
