1 www.gleason.com

GLOBAL SOLUTIONS

IDemag Cranes & Components GmbH based in Wetter, in Germany’s Ruhr area, is a subsidiary of Demag Cranes AG, and supplies industrial cranes and crane components for material flow, logistics and drive applications. These include, for example, automatic process solutions for warehousing, indoor cranes, suspension cranes and pillar and wall-mounted slewing cranes. Wherever heavy loads need lifting, moving and accurate positioning, Demag Cranes are the first choice for businesses around the world. Demag Cranes have experience gleaned from a company history going back more than 180 years. As a global supplier, the Demag Cranes group manufactures in 16 countries on five

continents and, through subsidiaries such as Demag Cranes & Components GmbH

and Gottwald Port Technology GmbH, agencies and a joint venture, it runs a worldwide sales and service network with a presence in over 60 countries. Over the past two years, Demag have been optimizing Production in Hall 15

of their manufacturing facility in Wetter, which makes gear elements such as shafts

and gear-wheels for use in Demag chain hoists, rope hoists and geared motors all over the world. The company has restructured the entire

production process to make it more efficient and meet increasing market demands for

shorter lead times. Gear-cutting machines from Gleason-Pfauter, such as the GP 300

Carrying the Inspection Load For Demag Cranes

New Gleason 475GMS Analytical Gear Inspection System greatly improves inspection throughput on a vast array of gear components.

Gleason Metrology Systems' 475GMS was installed and

commissioned at the Wetter site in December 2011 – another milestone in

the long collaboration between Demag Cranes and Gleason.

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and P 60 / P 90, were already being used in Production at Demag Cranes, and these have

been integrated in the new cellular production arrangement. A particular challenge of the restructuring process was to organize products into families of parts for assignment to the existing production lines grouped into five segments. This task may sound straightforward, but the difficulty was that over 3,000 “active” gear components of an enormous variety of designs, dimensions, gear types and qualities had to be minutely inspected and assigned. Optimum logistics and interlinking ensure that the various stages of an order are now executed simultaneously on all the machines required to do so. This has reduced the throughput time for a component by over 70 percent and significantly increased productivity. In parallel with the reorganization of Production, secondary areas were also examined with regard to their efficiency and optimum support for Production. In Quality Assurance, in particular, bottlenecks were found in the quality testing of gears. It was clear that in addition to optimizing existing capacity, there was a need for increased capacity as well. In the late summer of 2010, Demag Cranes started making contact with producers of gear metrology equipment. In deciding which gear measuring device to purchase, a key factor for the company was that the device should be simple to operate and handle, as one of the ideas was for operators to perform their own gear inspection.

Gleason Metrology Systems scored highly with its new GAMATM gear analysis software suite, which is a one hundred percent Windows® based application. When GAMATM software was demonstrated with a user working with a comparable machine, the consistent Windows® operation, combined with a human/machine interface (HMI) optimized for gear metrology, captured the attention of the Demag Cranes decision-making committee. It was also possible for specific Demag Cranes requirements relating to the measurement of component geometries to be demonstrated and verified during this same machine demonstration. In addition to the short measuring cycle time, other factors in the Demag Cranes decision to buy a Gleason product included the ease of programming the machine and the option of visualizing all the components to be measured on one machine. Another significant criterion was the excellent relationship of cooperation and trust they enjoyed with Gleason for many years. Demag Cranes decided to buy a gear measuring machine of the GMS series which can accommodate gears with diameters of up to 475 mm. The tailstock on the machine was extended to a clamping length of 1,000 mm between the centers because of the long shaft workpieces needing to be measured. This allows all the shafts produced at the Wetter site to be clamped between the centers and measured quickly and easily. In this case, the block measurement function allows gears on one shaft to be measured individually or, based on the production status in question, to be combined to form one measuring block which needs to be started only once for a complete measurement. The individual

GLOBAL SOLUTIONS

Demag Cranes’ company history dates back more than 180 years. As a global supplier, the Demag Cranes group

manufactures in 16 countries on five continents and, through subsidiaries such as Demag Cranes & Components

GmbH (Wetter, Germany facility, shown right) and a worldwide sales and service network with a

presence in over 60 countries.

3 www.gleason.com

programming required is retained and, if a drawing is amended, can be adapted to suit all variants of the program with just one modification. An important reason for selecting the 475GMS was the ability to print gear measuring records in multiple languages. For a group like Demag Cranes, which manufactures world-wide and supplies sister sites with components and assemblies, this significantly simplifies internal communication beyond linguistic boundaries.

GLOBAL SOLUTIONS

1000 University Avenue • P.O. Box 22970 • Rochester, NY 14692-2970 USA+1-585-473-1000 • sales@gleason.com

For worldwide sales locations and additional information, visit:www.gleason.com

Here’s how GAMA 2.0 (Gleason Automated Measurement and Analysis) operating software simplifies programming and completely automates the inspection process.

Making a new program is as easy as point and click.

Simple navigation tabs and forms make it easy to quickly and accurately establish gear parameters.

Instant inspection results appear in real time.

Charts open in sequence, and are dynamically updated with eachtooth scan.

Digital image makes it easy for the operator to confirm part program prior to execution.