Flender Guss GmbH  & Co. KG manufacturers of large scale gear housings for wind power plants, recently discovered its rate of orders for wind power station components exceeded the capabilities of its former machining center.

Flender Guss bought five new HEC 1600 Athletic machining centers from StarragHeckert. Flender Guss produces the large-scale gear housings for its Winergy AG subsidiary. Ullrich Steinbach, director of casting for Flender Guss, says, “These types of complex large components are few and far between on the market in the quality that’s required. That led us to the decision to substantially raise our own production capacity.” The company says that because machining technology has advanced in the past seven years, although its production accuracy was acceptable, the cost effectiveness in terms of current requirements was lagging behind.

Therefore, Flender Guss ordered a total of five machines from StarragHeckert GmbH in Chemnitz, Germany. Machines were distributed as follows: one for Wittgensdorf and two each for its Winergy Chennai affiliate in India and its Flender Power Transmission Co. Ltd. affiliate in Tianjin, China.

The machines’ rapid traverse of 40 m/min and retooling times were suitable for machining complex, large-scale components. According to a Starrag Heckert press release, Flender Guss reported productivity doubled. With a diameter of 150 mm, the work spindle’s extendable NC quill ensures stability while drilling deep pocket holes.

Flender Guss currently runs the HEC 1600 P around the clock in three shifts and produces an average of 30 gear housings per month. The dual-pallet machine allows tool setup during the machine’s actual run time.