THE CHALLENGE

1 Analyzing the design of the housings for the horizontal gearbox and vertical gearbox, for a potential ten percent cost reduction.

2Designingmodificationsthatcouldnotcause changes in shape, materials, heat treatments and placements of shafts, gears, bearings and sealing systems.

COST REDUCTION – LONGWALL SHEARER

Case Study | Industrial Heavy Machinery

An important manufacturer of underground mining

equipment wanted to reduce the manufacturing costs for

its new longwall shearer and redesign the platform

rig frame so it could be mounted on either trucks

or tracks.

More. Faster. Better.

THE COMPANYThe world’s leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines and diesel-electric locomotives. This global corporation, with a distribution network of nearly 200 dealers serving 182 countries, is based in the United States.

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Phase 1 – Quick Start– Analyzed the stiffness of the housings and

determined areas where they were oversized, and where there was an opportunity to optimize shapeandconfiguration,maintainingtheminimumsafety factor.

Phase 2 – Fundamentals– Identifiedalternativematerialstobeusedfor

the housings.

– Changed the plate thickness for select components.

– Based on Finite Elements Analysis (FEA) results, changed the housings geometry in order to reduce

the number of components and consumption of materials.

– For the manufacturing surfaces, the machine allowanceswereoptimizedonallidentifiedareas.

Phase 3 – Advanced– Reduced the number of welded components,

thereby reducing the length of the welding seam.

– Provided cost reduction analysis using only materials and sheet metal plate thicknesses from the client’s lists.

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THE RESULT

Cost savings

11.5%Reduced vertical gearbox housing

total costs by 9.2 percentReduced horizontal gearbox housing costs by 15 percent

THE SOLUTION