SMS Meer reports it is under contract to supply two fully automated 5,000-mt closed-die forging presses to China’s Baoji Fast Gear Co. Ltd. Both machines will go into operation by mid-year, according to the plant builder. The value of the order was not released.
The customer is an operating unit of the Shaanxi Fast Auto Drive Group Co. Ltd., in the province of Shaanxi, and reportedly produces 800,000 gear units per year, supplying truck manufacturers in China, the U.S., Europe, and Australia.
The new presses will forge flash-less truck gears weighing up to 14 kg. SMS will install two of its AMP 500 presses, which are eccentric design.
The two machines will be the AMP 5000 eccentric press design, which will be fully automated with walking beam and spraying technology, to produce up to 25 pars per minute. "Baoji Fast Gear can thus considerably increase its productivity," stated Bernhard Kaminski of Eumuco Hasenclever, the SMS division that specializes in closed-die forging presses.
Each press will have PLC-based process control and monitoring capability, and SMS Meer is supplying the die design and process models, too.