Sterling service

If you think annual service agreements are only applicable to machine tools, Volkswagen Passats and combi boilers, think again. As Dave Tudor discovered, they’re also worth their weight in gold with other manufacturing equipment. 

If you think annual service agreements are only applicable to machine tools, Volkswagen Passats and combi boilers, think again. As Dave Tudor discovered, they’re also worth their weight in gold with other manufacturing equipment.

As one of the leading motorcycle manufacturers in the world, Kawasaki is synonymous with speed, technology and innovation but there’s much more to the company than producing face melting, racetrack devouring, two-wheeled speed demons. Kawasaki’s parent company, Kawasaki Heavy Industries employs around 35,000 people around the globe and generates sales revenues of $15 billion.

Including motorcycles, Kawasaki has seven major divisions spanning technologies such as aerospace products – from aircraft to satellites; rolling stock (Kawasaki manufactures subway cars for the New York and Shinkansen railways); ship and offshore; and energy solutions. In fact, it’s difficult to find a sector that Kawasaki isn’t actively involved in: environmental, recycling plants, precision machinery, industrial robots – the list is far reaching and extensive.

Established in 1968, Kawasaki Precision Machinery (KPM) is one such division that has been at the forefront of hydraulic technology and development for nearly 50 years.

It has manufacturing sites in Japan, China, Korea, India and Plymouth in the South West of England, specialising in the design and manufacture of hydraulic pumps, motors, valves and complete systems used across a wide spectrum of applications – often in the harshest of conditions.

Specifically, the products manufactured at Plymouth – KPM’s only manufacturing site in Europe, which turns over £50-55 million and employs 250 members of staff – comprise radial piston hydraulic motors (Staffa) and axial piston pumps. The former is used mainly in the plastic injection moulding and shipbuilding industries and the latter predominantly for mobile plant applications. JCB and Caterpillar are well-known KPM customers. The Plymouth site manufactures around 24,000 units a year of which approximately 85% are exported.

The Staffa HMF200 piston motor manufactured by KPM

From a manufacturing perspective, machining is generally carried out in cells by part: one area will produce engine blocks; another will manufacture pistons; another cylinder heads. Raw material comes into a cell before undergoing a variety of cleaning, machining, pre-assembly, washing, testing and painting operations before packing and despatch. There are around 30 individual cells in total and machine tool wise, KPM is a user of Heller, Matsuura and Okuma equipment amongst others.

Flawless operation

20 years ago, KPM asked workholding specialist Röhm to design and engineer a bespoke 4 x 90° indexing chuck with additional locking for a specific application. The chuck then, as it is now, is used exclusively on a Hitachi Seiki HiTec Turn 40G turning centre to manufacture a component used in its K3V pump range.

Remarkably, the Röhm chuck functions as well today as it did when first installed – and that’s testament not only to the quality and longevity of Röhm’s products, but also to the true value of annual service visits carried out by Röhm service engineer Jim Huse. Even more staggering is the fact that Mr Huse installed the chuck initially. Every year for two decades, he’s returned to the Plymouth facility during its summer shutdown period to service the chuck.

KPM’s maintenance manager, Ray Wilson

“The K3V has two main body units containing a number of rotary pistons that produce the required hydraulic pressure,” explains KPM’s maintenance manager, Ray Wilson. “The Hitachi Seiki is used to machine the pump cases, and when the chuck indexes, concentricity needs to be within microns – any machining steps in the bores are unacceptable.

“This is a key process integral to the pump’s operation; we rely heavily on the chuck’s accuracy and repeatability and it performs flawlessly, but planned maintenance is essential,” he adds. “Because the chuck is a ‘special’, in the event of a breakdown we may have to wait months for spare parts to arrive. Having Jim here once a year to carry out a thorough service is real peace of mind. He visits at the same time every year during the shutdown and arrives armed with any spares he may need. No production time is lost at all.”

No mean feat

It’s easy to underestimate what’s involved here but this really is no mean feat because both the Hitachi Seiki turning centre and the Röhm chuck have been running for a minimum of two shifts a day (sometimes three) for 20 years without a single ‘unplanned’ breakdown. The cycle time for this particular machining operation is 20 minutes so the chuck is indexing three times an hour, 18-24 hours a day, five days a week. Jim Huse is onsite for two days servicing the chuck and an overhead crane is needed to extract it from the machine tool. This is a great example of the merits of preventive maintenance.

Also worthy of note is that the pump cases are machined from cast iron – a material that produces a fine dust during machining which could impregnate the inner workings of the chuck. At best, this could accelerate part wear on components inside the chuck but at worst, it could result in a total catastrophic seizure. The annual service visits ensure that this is closely monitored with any wearing parts replaced before they become a problem.

In more detail, the chuck itself is a 500mm diameter HSF-500/1 model with the capability of indexing through 90° at a time with precision locking in each position. Its hydraulic/electrical power pack features 20 individual functions monitoring and controlling the indexing process.

The HSF-500/, post-service and ready for another year’s production

The cost? An eye-watering £70,000 back in 1998, but when you consider the application, its longevity, its accuracy and reliability after 20 years of relentless use and the fact that it was designed and engineered from the ground up to fulfil a particular task, I’d consider that money well spent. It equates to around £3,500 per year plus the cost of the service contract – and there’s no reason why it shouldn’t last another 20 years.

The servicing process, as Röhm’s Jim Huse affirms, is methodically thorough: “Basically it’s a case of removing the chuck from the machine and carrying out a complete strip-down,” he says. The process not only involves the chuck itself but also the nine port distributor at the rear of the spindle that supplies the hydraulics through a pipe bundle to the chuck. The Röhm supplied hydraulic unit is also overhauled as part of the service.”

“The annual service visits are effectively an insurance policy,” Mr Wilson concludes. “We handle basic routine maintenance tasks on the chuck but internally, parts often wear randomly, over long periods of time and also invisibly. I think history has proven, with no unplanned breakdowns, that our decision to invest in annual service visits was definitely the right one.”

Röhm www.uk.roehm.biz

Kawasaki Precision Machinery (UK) www.kpm-eu.com

 

Company

Rohm

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