Gearing up Neptun

GEARING UP

Neptun SA is a market leader in the design and manufacture of advanced mechanical transmission systems. At Hannover Messe 2015 in April it presented just a part of its broad range of cylindrical and spiral bevel gears and couplings. These cover a wide range of applications for a number of key industries, such as open-pit mining, cement, metallurgy and transportation. Philip Yorke reports on a company that is going from strength to strength and entering new global markets.

Neptun Gears was founded in Romania in 1911 with the establishment of a private workshop for the manual casting of products for the oil and farming industries. Today Neptun is a progressive and high-tech company that is a major exporter of cylindrical and spiral bevel gears, as well as helical and bevel-helical gearboxes that are mainly custom-made to order. In addition, Neptun produces gearmotors and manual actuators for industrial valves, gear couplings and flexible couplings. Since 1992 the company has also been producing few of the main components of the equipment for oil extraction using Progressive Cavity Pumps (PCP), such as: the Surface Drive Units, Torque Anchors, Centralizers, Blow-up Preventers. Neptun was present in April at Hannover Messe 2015 at the International Motion, Drive and Automation Exhibition.

Currently the company employs more than 250 people and in 2014 recorded sales of over €13 million.

Quality and value and driving sales

As part of its commitment to manufacturing state-of-the-art products, the company continues to invest in new machine tools, software and technology in order to optimise its production lines. Neptun is a very flexible operator and is able to provide standard products as well as special custom-made products to its customer’s own specifications. “Our prices are significantly lower than those of our European competitors for the same high quality of materials and machining.

“Our payment terms are also more flexible and can be arranged in collaboration with each individual customer. We are always available to discuss specific enquiries and provide prototype sample orders if that is what our client prefers. We are therefore able to offer the best win-win partnership on a long-term basis,” said a Neptun company spokesman.

Production quality at Neptun also relies on the use of high quality raw materials, which are sourced from the top suppliers of alloy and high alloy steels and cast parts. Forja Neptun is a sister company of Neptun Gears and provides it with optimised, rolled and forged steel parts for a wide range of products.

Growth in oil extraction products

In the global oil industry there is a growing demand for highly specialised products from Neptun, which is able to offer them the full equipment of oil extracting equipment on-shore depths down to 2400 metres. Neptun equipment in this sector includes several types of Surface Drive Units, Torque Anchors, Centralisers whilst the Power Switch Boxes, Rods and Downhole P.C. Pumps are outsourced and fill in the full equipment at the oil extraction wells.

Whilst Romania is still the company’s biggest single market, most European countries as well as Africa and the Middle East are all major importers of Neptun gears and gearboxes. The goal for the next 2–3 years is to increase its exports sales to 80–90 per cent of the total turnover.

Unless its products for the oil industry, Neptun also offers a package of products for many other manufacturing industries. These range from cement producers to mining, and from agriculture to the automotive industries. These export products include custom-made cylindrical and spiral bevel gears ground, small and medium power special gear units and gear-motors custom-made or from its current range, manual actuators for valves, gear couplings and flexible couplings.

Following the improving economic climate in the European economy and Neptun’s on-going investments in plant and technology, today the company’s exports continue to go from strength to strength. n

For further details of Neptun Gears’ quality products and services visit: www.neptun-gears.ro