Transfer System Localization
Hyundai Rotem, a plant equipment manufacturing affiliate of Hyundai Motor Group, said on Dec. 23 that it has successfully developed the nation’s first high-speed panel transfer system for use in tandem press lines.
The system was unveiled to the public for the first time on Dec. 22 during a presentation ceremony in Busan Noksan Industrial Complex.
A tandem press line is a machine that combines several press machines used for cutting and bending steel plates. Hyundai’s new system feeds panels into the tandem press 20 percent faster than those offered by competitors.
Following the global trend, the company began developing its own high-speed transfer system in 2011 and it has succeeded in localizing the system, which Korea depended entirely on imports. Accordingly, Hyundai Rotem expects to see import substitution effects worth 120 billion won (US$102 million) annually.
The company’s own high-speed system for use in tandem press lines has better performance than competitors’ products as well as succeeding in localization. It can feed steel panels at 18 strokes per minute, compared to a rate of 15 strokes per minute currently achieved among systems developed by its global competitors in Germany, Japan and Switzerland. In the automobile production facility market, where maximizing productivity is crucial, the company has proved its competitiveness based on advanced technologies.
Meanwhile, Hyundai Rotem had supplied press facilities to global leading automakers such as Ford, Renault-Nissan and GM, as well as Hyundai-Kia Motors. In 2011, the company won a 60 billion won (US$51 million) auto press equipment supply deal to Ford’s plant in India, while it signed a contract in 2014 with GM’s Lansing assembly plant in Michigan, United States, to supply auto press equipment worth 300 billion won (US$255 million), achieving global recognition for the competitiveness.