Eaton, a production company powerhouse, made it known to the public that it has added a cross wedge rolling machine in its facility at South Bend, Indiana. This is going to be used to produce transmission shafts for heavy duty trucks. The equipment is worth $1.9 million.
With the new equipment, Eaton believes that they will have an improvement in the production of the transmission shaft. They will be using cross wedge rolling system, which is an improvement from the hammering system that the company has been using. The latter system has been outdated, thus, it may become more of a liability rather than an asset.
Comparing the two, the hammering system uses brute force in its production of the shafts after the steel is heated to a certain degree. However, the newer system uses a rolling system after the steel is heated to a temperature of about 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit.
The cross wedge rolling machine was created in Belarus. The one that Eaton has in its facility in South Bend, Indiana, is one out of the few in the world, specifically in the United States. In addition, they are also testing another machine in the same facility, and it is projected to start its operation in the middle of September.
David Larkins, the plant manager from Eaton’s facility in South Bend, said that the cross wedge rolling machine will improve their manufacturing process exponentially. He also added that the people in the facility are very excited of the possibilities that they can achieve with the new equipment in full operation soon.
Eaton’s facility in South Bend, Indiana is the one responsible for creating the forges for their other facilities. These facilities include the ones in King Mountain, North Carolina, Shenandoah, Iowa, and San Luis Potosi, Mexico. Such facilities are the ones which assemble different components in order to meet the global standards that different truck companies have expected Eaton to produce. In spite of the many facilities, this can be very beneficial for the company, and with the new equipment, more forgings can be created, thus more components can be distributed to the four facilities mentioned above. As a result, they can create more trucks, improving production efficiency and the amount of production.
Eaton’s facility in South Bend, Indiana was purchased back in 1989. This was to be part of the company’s facility for vehicles. It employed 110 people and still does until to this day. However, the facility is not only beneficial to the mother company, but it has also helped the community of Indiana. It has contributed $200 million worth of wages, taxes, and supplier impact.
Last year, the company and its employees had also donated $41,000 to organizations in across the community. Included in these organizations are the United Way of St. Joseph County, La Casa de Amistad Hispanic Community Center, and St. Margaret’s House Center for Women and Children.
To those who are unaware about Eaton, it is diverse power company which provides energy saving solution for their clients who are in need of mechanical, hydraulic and electrical power. Last year, they were able to buy Cooper Industries which was a big help in achieving a record breaking earning quarter back-to-back. The company has under its umbrella at least 102,000 employees along with multiple clients across the globe.
