Excellence in motion SPINEA

EXCELLENCE IN MOTION

SPINEA, based in Prešov, has conquered the global markets with its pioneering high-precision reduction gears, sold under the TwinSpin trademark. Romana Moares spoke with Mr Ľubomír Bezák, the company’s managing director, about the current product range and plans for further development.

AN invention by a Slovak engineer was the spark that led to SPINEA’s establishment in 1994. Since then, the company has gone from strength to strength: the unique TwinSpin high precision reduction gear solution obtained an international patent and is now sold throughout the world.

“We are the only European producer of high-precision reduction gears in the world. Our other three direct competitors are located in Japan. In the beginning, the biggest challenge for us was to persuade customers in the robotics sector, such as German KUKA, to test our gears at all,” recalls the managing director. “The initial tests surpassed all expectations but then we needed to convince them that we were able to supply the products in consistent quality, volumes and timeframes despite the fact that we were a brand new company with no track record,” he points out.

Now, 22 years on, SPINEA has become a major player in the high-precision gear sector. The challenges of today are very different from those two decades ago – continuous product innovation and process optimisation, with the aim of constantly increasing added value for customers.

Unique of its kind

TwinSpin is the company’s flagship product. It belongs to the category of hi-tech products and represents a unique technical solution integrating radial-axial bearings and a high-precision reduction gear into a single compact unit.

TwinSpin high-precision reduction gears are designed for applications requiring a high reduction ratio, high kinematic accuracy, low lost motion, high moment capacity and high stiffness with a compact, low mass design so they can be installed in a limited space. “The new transmission system allows for the utilisation of the TwinSpin reducer in robotics and automation, machine tool production, measuring equipment and navigation systems in the aircraft,

defence and medical sectors and many more,” says the managing director. “We believe the TwinSpin has huge potential,” he further confirms, adding that the company is currently busy preparing new projects for existing as well as new customers.

The other two core products are: DriveSpin – a compact actuator with TwinSpin reduction gear and AC servomotor (combining optimised servomotors and TwinSpin gears resulting in a dynamic, high-performance and very compact servo actuator with high tilting torque capacity with integrated bearing); and the RotoSpin rotary module, a positioner installed on rotating equipment ensuring easy connection to the frame and comfortable clamping of movable parts to the output flange.

Global player

“I would like to stress that both the Slovak and Czech Republics are highly interesting markets for us,” says Mr Bezák. SPINEA reduction gears are employed in robotised production lines in the automotive sectors (e.g. AUDI, BMW, Mercedes, Volvo, Ford) but, as I said earlier, also in the machine tool production and the automation and defence sectors. In all of these industries we have not only longterm, stable customers but many new projects in progress. Our key competitive advantage in these two markets is local knowledge and physical closeness to our customers,” he explains.

However, as the high-precision reduction gear market is highly specific and the products’ application in local markets is limited, almost 97 per cent of SPINEA’s output is exported. In addition to traditional territories such as Germany, Italy, Sweden, Austria, Taiwan and Korea, sales have increased in Turkey and – in 2016 – in Estonia, Australia and Thailand.

Continued growth

Since 2000, when mass production was introduced, the volume of output has increased systematically, reinforced by a large contract with KUKA, the world producer of robots. In 2012, production capacity reached its absolute maximum. In view of the great product potential, the company’s management decided to double capacity within the following three years: in 2012–2015 a new production hall worth €20 million was built and new modern technologies purchased for additional €15 million, increasing overall capacity to 65,000 pieces.

The managing director believes that the growth will continue in the years to come. “For several years now our engineers have been developing a new generation of high-precision reduction gear. The new generation will cover a wide range of type dimensions, in both full shaft and hollow shaft versions. The development and launch of the new generation is vital for sustaining and improving our position in the highly competitive marketplace,” Mr Bezák stresses.

The new generation of TwinSpin is not the only product that the company has in the pipeline. Together with SPINEA Technologies, development engineers have been working on a new series of actuators and a mini-series of gears, both for existing customers and for the commercial market. “Our aim is to provide customers with innovative and efficient solutions, with improved parameters for a competitive price. We will strive to meet this objective in the future,” concludes Mr Bezák. n

TREVA FORGE – THE CREDIBLE BRAND

The history of the die forges in Prakovce dates back to 1967. Today the company ranks among the largest and most modern forges in Slovakia, covering a comprehensive set of operations from tooling and forging through to heat treatment, blasting, magnetic crack detections, machining, packaging and dispatching.

The current core business is the production of forgings for the following industry sectors: railways industry, gears and transmissions, heavy construction and mining mechanisms, automotive, trucks and trailers, power generation and others.

The forge is unique in terms of its heavy hammers, whose parameters are exceptional both within and beyond the Slovak Republic (forgings of 0.5 to 400 kg in weight).

As part of its long-term strategy, TREVA has entered the railway vehicle subassembly sectors, i.e. the draw elements of railway carriages – draw hooks, draw gear mechanisms and bumpers pressed from a single piece, which are now in the process of testing.

The customer base includes companies in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France, Poland, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria, and the Czech and Slovak Republic.

TREVA is a holder of the ISO 9001, ISO 14001 certificates and a number of specialized certificates.

With an annual turnover of EUR 7 million, TREVA currently employs 112 people. In 2016 the company will supply forgings of over 3,700 tons in total, including new types of products. The current product range includes over 250 types of forgings.

TREVA is a modern, dynamically developing forge capable, as a result of in-house product development and properly communicated analyses of customer needs, of offering its customers the most innovative of solutions in the forging sector.

In a short space of time, TREVA has earned a renowned position within Europe and is geared to further improve this position by means of the certification and subsequent launch of pressed bumpers. n

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