Eaton’s Global Support, Technical Expertise Win Cylinder Order from SMS Demag

Custom, large-bore cylinder business from SMS Demag positions Eaton as a serious player in the global primary metals arena.

Background

Eaton’s global presence, technical expertise, and unmatched manufacturing capability in custom cylinders have resulted in new business with an industry giant.

Eaton’s Hydraulics Group supplied custom, largebore Hydrowa® XL Series cylinders to SMS Demag AG, a world renowned leader in developing, designing, and building turnkey plants and machinery for the steel, aluminum, and non-ferrous metal industries.

The hydraulic cylinders supplied to SMS Demag were for installation on a large plate shear destined for an aluminum producer.

Eaton has worked for sometime to build a relationship with SMS Demag, with a continued focus on demonstrating Eaton’s expertise and capability in custom, large-bore cylinder engineering and production.

Challenge

With its increasing focus on primary metals in recent years, Eaton had been selected to supply global SMS Demag operations with pumps and valves for projects around the world. The company had also selected Eaton over some 50 cylinder suppliers at bay to supply small-bore cylinders for projects in North America, South America, and Asia.

Even with the competition narrowed down to just five manufacturers in the largebore size range, Eaton needed to demonstrate its capability in XL custom cylinders in order to be perceived as a serious contender for SMS Demag’s cylinder business.

Solution

The Eaton sales team pursued the company’s largebore cylinder business by establishing relationships with engineering and purchasing personnel at SMS Demag’s Duesseldorf, Germany, headquarters.

“We worked hard to explain and demonstrate the advantages of Eaton cylinders versus competitive cylinders,” says Markus Albrecht, key account manager—primary metals for Eaton’s Leverkusen, Germany, operations.

“We emphasized the importance of our global presence that includes long-term product support, regardless of end-user locations,” adds Huib Stevens, area manager at Eaton’s Hydrowa cylinder production facility in Eindhoven, Netherlands. “We explained that the technical expertise behind our custom XL Series cylinders and the manufacturing excellence of our Eindhoven facility are unmatched. We reinforced our strengths in engineered solutions by presenting case histories of custom cylinder projects that required ingenuity to get the job done.”

SMS Demag gave Eaton a serious look when they realized how Eaton’s aggressive technical and design assistance might help them troubleshoot issues with hydraulic cylinders needed for machinery to cut thick aluminum plates. SMS Demag needed to equip two cutting machines with a pair of cylinders with the mission of creating synchronized movement to activate the shears.

SMS Demag engineers debated about changing the construction of the machine’s design in order to compensate for the impact of excessive force on the cylinder head. Extensive design work with Eaton engineers resulted in a special construction for the cylinder head that eliminated bending movement in the cylinder rod.

Results

Eaton’s technical expertise and creativity in cylinder design made great strides in solving SMS Demag’s challenge.

“Our new business with SMS Demag marks an important first step in Eaton’s long journey to market leadership,” says Steve Burdette, global sales manager—primary metals.

“It further reinforces Eaton’s commitment to this segment, as well as positions Eaton to be recognized as a serious player in the global primary metals arena.”

Two pairs of Eaton Hydrowa cylinders in hardened, chromeplated carbon steel were produced at Eaton’s Eindhoven facility and delivered to SMS Demag in 2008. The hefty, 20,000-pound cylinders range in bore sizes from 420-780 mm and strokes from 700-900 mm. They are capable of generating forces from 450-1,500 tons at 280 bar (4,000 psi).