Bonfiglioli recently partnered with a major Australian conveyor equipment company (OEM) - specialising in developing, manufacturing, and supplying conveyor equipment to the global mining industry.
They design and develop components for light, medium and heavy-duty applications, across a full range of conveyor rollers, idlers, pulleys, belt cleaners and conveyor accessories.
Together the companies worked on custom-made application to handle iron ore at a prominent mining giant in Western Australia. The customer required 17 winches to be designed and installed following a previous successful project in which they initially supplied three winches to the customer.
By using a reducer from Bonfiglioli, 17 winches were standardised into four sizes, namely 37kW, 55kW, 75kW and 110kW. The standardisation process helped to simplify the design, installation, and future maintenance. It also saved the customer on their operating costs and reduced the amount of spare parts that they needed to keep on-hand.
Project Challenges
The biggest challenge was the timeline which spanned just seven months! The job needed to be done right and there was little margin for error or delays on a project of this magnitude. It was important that everyone involved brought their A-game and delivered to spec – first-time round.
To meet standardisation requirements, Bonfiglioli designed and built multiple drives according to the four required designs. Says Fred Whalley, Sales Manager for Bonfiglioli Western Australia: “Our biggest challenge was to design an application that would meet the exact requirements of this project and its tight timeframe”.
He adds that the 17 planetary combination gearheads combined with drive planetary bevel helical geared motors were selected for this intricate project.
“The combination gearheads were designed to incorporate the OEM’s brake design,” notes Fred. “We custom-designed and produced a special adapter to accommodate this particular application”.
During installation, Bonfiglioli arranged for a service technician to go to site for a final fitting of the brake bell housing, reducing the time it would have taken to send the unit to their Sydney factory first. “Every bit of time savings helps on an important project like this. I am glad we were able to meet the client’s requirement and help them make their tight deadline,” says Fred.
Not Your ‘Average Supplier’
Fred believes that Bonfiglioli did the ‘hard yards’ by proving themselves on every project provided to them by the OEM. “We ensure great service, product availability, a high level of engineering knowledge. We can design to suit the client application through our engineering design team.”
This is an ongoing project that will see more winches being delivered in future.
More information available at: https://www.bonfiglioli.com/australia/en
