Alliance promises gearing optimisation

In the halcyon days of British engineering most drawing offices could boast an expert on everything, a designer tucked away in the corner whose sole purpose in life was the specification of widgets. Sadly, such days are long gone and usually a single engineer has to have some degree of knowledge across the board from key components to paint specification. The demise of the in-house expert was to some extent offset by the suppliers of components, such as gearboxes, having their own applications engineering teams who were not only expert in their own product but also in their customers machines.

However, this luxury is also being eroded by financial pressures so that fewer and fewer manufacturers are able to offer this service.

The net result of these cutbacks is the loss of innovation and a constant battle to gain a competitive edge by cost cutting, which as any engineer knows eventually leads to self-destruction.

Already most European manufacturers are working on minimum margins and the search for savings further a field in the emerging economies inevitably compromises quality.

Now that prices have been driven to rock bottom there are far greater savings to be made in making better use of the technology available.

In a bold move to offer increased technical support to its customers STM UK has teamed up with Sixsmith Consulting who can provide 30 years of applications experience and specialise in optimising gearbox technology to suit customers requirements.

This represents a substantial investment by the UK company, backed by its Italian principals, but will enable it to focus on the more technical products in their portfolio which have to date remained relatively unknown, even to some of their regular customers.

In particular this includes the GSM range of parallel shaft gearboxes which, although by no means unknown in the UK, have not been promoted directly by the manufacturer, which is obviously able to offer the most competitive pricing.

The standard GSM range of parallel shaft and bevel/helical gearboxes are available with ratios from 3:1 to in excess of 1000:1, can transmit output torques up to 350,000Nm and are well equipped to handle the considerable associated power.

Additionally there are dedicated designs for lifting, elevator and extruder drives and a number of bespoke designs to suit individual market requirements.

Of course not everyone requires such monsters, and so there is also a range of compact modular parallel shaft and right angle units catering for output torques up to 80kNm with ratios from 1.12:1 to 1400:1.

STM has been established in the UK for 15 years offering a broad range of helical and worm gear boxes, geared motors, electronic and mechanical variable speed drives with an unrivalled degree of personalised service.

'There is no place for a 'bad' product in today's market and quality is taken for granted so distributors can only be judged on the level of service they provide'.

Although most will claim customer satisfaction to be paramount not all would send a dedicated van to Germany overnight to meet an 'impossible' delivery as STM UK did recently to avoid disappointing a valued customer.

Paul Sixsmith is better known for promoting planetary gearing and continues to be a firm believer that this technology is under-used especially in the UK.

Sixsmith is however the first to admit that planetary gearboxes are not all things to all men, particularly when high powers are involved or when the length of the gearbox becomes a problem.

'It has always been my policy to put the customer's interests first and propose the best technical solution regardless of product even though this has often led to a loss of business', says Sixsmith.

'Now, with direct access to the STM/GSM range of products I will be able to offer well engineered competitively priced drive solutions whatever the customer's requirements'.

Many people would be amazed how much cost can be taken out of a mechanical transmission by the correct application of the best technology.

This was graphically illustrated in a paper for the Drives and Controls conference some years ago, where the cost of a typical drive was incrementally reduced by 60% by probing deeper and deeper into the application.

Although the benefits of a drive appraisal may be obvious it is a luxury that few can afford, after all: 'if it ain't broke, why fix it?'.

For a limited period therefore, STM UK in conjunction with Sixsmith Consulting is offering a free, no obligation Health Check which, even if it doesn't save you money, will at least confirm that you have the best drive solution on the market.

This offer is also open to the gearbox end users who often fight to keep inefficient outdated drives running and are often ignored by the large manufacturers.