Above: A Greenerd 2,500-ton custom hot forming press, with10-ft.-square heated platens maintains 500-degree (Fahrenheit) surfaces to +/- 3 degree variation across surfaces
July, 2024- The team at Greenerd Press & Machine Co. knows how to think big. The company has been trading in the heavyweight global market of custom hydraulic presses and product handling solutions for more than 140 years. Unhindered by size restrictions or tonnage capabilities, Greenerd can design, build and install straightening presses (gap frame to large multi-axis straight-side frames) die spotting, forging and traveling gantry styles for both flat and round work.
The press builder has also maintained a nimble approach to changing customer needs, as its growing range of applications include bending, blanking, broaching, bulging, clamping, compression molding, deep drawing, embossing, hydroforming, notching and restriking.
“We still see these and other applications in use today,” says Greenerd Design Engineer Tim Wilson. “We recently built and installed two 1,500- ton gantry style presses with more than 40 ft . of usable bed length. These presses can lift 40-ft . heavy-duty tubular forgings weighing 10,000 lbs. and rotate them in 1-degree increments,” while an operator using touch-screen control sets the positions of traveling anvils.
“Up to 1,500 tons of force can be applied to straighten these cylindrical forgings,” Wilson continues, “either by setting a deformation position on the touch screen or using a joystick to increase tonnage while monitoring the position to 0.001 in. until the required shape or size is achieved.”
TRENDS
Demand for large presses and turnkey projects is being driven by the need for higher throughput and fewer man hours per ton. The struggle to find highly skilled maintenance personnel has prompted manufacturers to invest in newer equipment with improved uptime.
“In response to customer needs, Greenerd has made changes to some of its more complicated systems to assist novice maintenance workers with troubleshooting hydraulic systems when the need arises,” says Wilson. “We recently designed, built and installed a 2,500-ton press that required unusually precise temperature control of its platens.”
Greenerd built a double-moving platen deep-draw hydraulic press with two integrated 6-axis Fanuc robots to perform load/unload operations.
He says Greenerd used its proprietary heating design and controls to engineer a system that achieves 500 degrees Fahrenheit over 10-ft . square platens while maintaining a ± 3-degree variation across surfaces. “When applied to a large press, this technique allows the customer to replace their existing equipment with a solution that significantly reduces scrap and increases throughput, yet is simpler to maintain.”
Influences such as material improvements, increasing adoption of automation and artificial intelligence (AI) are also impacting press choices. Greenerd has seen a rise in requests for compression molding presses for a range of applications due to advances in carbon fiber technology.
AUTOMATION
Manufacturers that are working to overcome hurdles created by ongoing labor constraints are seeking to automate processes. Expanding demand for turnkey systems has prompted the press builder to not only include automation and integration in its presses, but also rigging, delivery, installation and startup.
“Customers have been ordering systems with extensive automation, including the manipulation of material upstream and automation of process flow to delivery of parts downstream,” says Wilson. “In addition to designing and building these systems we are a Fanuc Tier-1 authorized integrator, which means we can design and integrate the most advanced methods for part transfer and handling.
“We’re seeing higher demand for multiple press systems, too. Use of multiple machines can help in-process part queues and the need for labor to support these tasks. AI will continue to grow as well. It’s already useful in generating simulations,” he continues.
For companies that are producing a wide range of products and need to manufacture them all on a single piece of equipment, a custom, large hydraulic press is an appropriate choice. Fabricators that want to increase production with the added versatility of automation might also want to consider investing in a hydraulic press. To date, Greenerd has more than 10,000 press systems in the field. Applications include blanking and drawing and everything in between. “Greenerd always begins a project by first coming to a deep understanding of the customer’s unique requirements,” says Wilson. “That often includes automation, but our goal is to optimally address the customer’s true needs. We then collaborate with them to fine-tune or expand the system’s capability.
This approach yields the best results for the customer’s investment. “Our design-to-need approach has allowed us to build a deep base of press system expertise in most industrial applications being used today,” he says. Despite the ebb and flow Greenerd typically sees year to year, that expertise explains “why we continue to see demand across the spectrum.” Greenerd Press & Machine Co., 603/889-4101,
Greenerd custom designed, engineered and built this two press production cell
Greenerd Press & Machine Co., 603/889-4101, greenerd.com
