SEW Eurodrive has completed a move to a large, new, purpose-built plant in Normanton, West Yorkshire, just a few miles from its old site. The impressive, high-tech new building, designed by architects AEDAS, is designed not just for production, Service and storage, but as a welcoming open-house for customers. It features a permanent working exhibition demonstrating all of the company’s products, along with a range of modern training and meeting rooms to cater for all requirements.
Mark Holmes, SEW Eurodrive’s managing director, who headed up the management team that oversaw the move, said: ‘We’re actively encouraging customers to come and see us here and to use our facilities. A whole section of the building was designed with customers in mind so that they can see our products on show in a dedicated demonstration area, and make use of our training facilities and meeting rooms. There’s even an in-house Canteen with an excellent range of food and drink on offer.’
The new 10,000 square metre plant allows the lean assembly of standard product in a controlled environment with increased capacity of about 50 percent over the previous site. A vast storage area with over £2.8 million in computer controlled stock enables SEW Eurodrive to despatch orders quickly and efficiently so that customers are never kept waiting. The whole operation functions with such speed, and with such a turnover, that two container loads of goods are coming and going every single day.
The move to the new plant was driven in part by a planned expansion of the service and repair division that already has an excellent reputation for its ability to repair any manufacturers’ gearbox rapidly and efficiently. With the extra space, SEW Eurodrive has installed two 10 tonne gantry cranes and can now offer repairs to bigger industrial gearboxes of up to 20 tonnes in weight. Additionally, the company has invested in a 300 tonne press, the size of a single decker bus, that has the capability to press gears 2.5m in diameter with shafts of up to 10m long.
According to Karl Rigg, SEW Eurodrive’s UK service manager, ‘Our reputation has been built on our ability to repair gearboxes cost effectively, reliably and quickly. At the end of the day we don’t want a customer’s gearbox in our plant for any longer than necessary and every day there will be gearboxes coming in and then going back out again repaired on the same day. Now we’ve got the capability to easily provide a service to customers with extremely large gearboxes, in sectors like steel, mineral extraction and aggregates. The ability to assemble and load test large industrial drive packages is also a big advantage in the new facility.’
Learn more about SEW Eurodrive
Visit www.sew-eurodrive.co.uk
Reader service contact: SEW Eurodrive Ltd, DeVilliers Way, Normanton, West Yorkshire WF6 1GX. Tel: +44 (0)1924 893855, e-mail: service@sew-eurodrive.co.uk
