Above: Beckwood’s servo-electric presses provide setup flexibility with nearly unlimited motion profiles.
September, 2025- Converging trends continue to reshape the landscape of stamping equipment in 2025. In particular, technology advances, heightened demand for precision, efficiency, and cost reduction, along with expansion of key industries is continuing to push adoption of servo-electric presses.
Beckwood Press Co., demonstrated its EVOx 100-ton servo-electric press and its 250-ton Linear servo press (LSP) at Fabtech this month. The engineering and design firm builds custom hydraulic and servo-electric presses as well as hydroforming equipment and automation systems. The EVOx series supports low-tonnage, high-precision applications while the LSP series uses patented gearbox technology for higher tonnage and forming flexibility at production speeds. The company also provides custom servo presses up to 500 tons.
“We think the future of press technology is the servo-electric press,” says Caleb Dixon, sales manager for Beckwood. “Historically, mechanical and hydraulic presses have dominated the industry. But we are seeing more and more customers adapt to servo technology.”
Over the last few years, the press builder has seen a transformation in the metal stamping industry driven by customers’ need to produce more complex parts, handle challenging materials, increase productivity, and ensure operator safety, while remaining competitive globally.
TRANSFORMATION
“We are currently helping a medical device manufacturer with a fleet of 70 hydraulic presses change out their equipment for servo- electric presses,” Dixon says. “Companies are making the transition because the longterm return on investment makes sense.”
In addition to more precise, cost-efficient operations, servo-electric presses continue to capture the attention of job shops and manufacturers because of the technology’s ability to support more precise, energy efficient operations. Easy to integrate with automation, servo-electric presses are particularly suited to the automotive, appliance, electronics, aerospace and medical equipment markets.
“There will always be a Fit for hydraulic and mechanical presses,” Dixon says. “If a company is running high-speed, high-volume repetitive work, then a mechanical press is likely the best option. If jobs require flexible press equipment in excess of 1,000 tons, then a hydraulic press is the right choice.”
The performance advantages of servo-electric presses― precision, control over ram speed, position and force, flexibility, faster cycle times and reduced maintenance―are attracting notice.
According to Dixon, asking the right questions and evaluating the responses can help a customer decide whether to invest in the technology.
“Each project is different,” he says, “but the two attributes that apply to everyone is energy efficiency and lower operating costs. A servo-electric press only consumes energy during motion or on demand. That directly correlates to ROI.”
“From an application standpoint, if parts specify a positional tolerance of 0.0005 in. and a force tolerance of ±0.5 percent, a servo-electric press is engineered to provide that level of accuracy and precision,” he continues. “A customer recently told us that they run our servo- electric presses in automated cells and, due to the precision of the press, they have eliminated the problem of banging the male and female dies at the bottom of the stroke. This means longer tool life, less maintenance and downtime and more time spent making parts.”
Beckwood’s EVOx servo-electric press supports low-tonnage, high precision applications.
FLEXIBLE FEATURES
For companies that run complex forming processes or need fast setups, Beckwood’s servo-electric presses provide setup flexibility with nearly unlimited motion profiles. When an operator needs to change a tool, there are no press adjustments required.
“An operator can move from a small tool to a large tool with the click of a button and eliminate the need for press adjustments that are typical in the mechanical press world.” Dixon says.
In many cases, servo-electric presses allow stampers to select tonnage capacity that more closely matches their actual needs versus having to oversize with a mechanical press to account for the machine’s limitations in tonnage availability throughout the stroke.
According to Dixon, for companies replacing legacy presses, another huge driver is uptime. Compared to a hydraulic machine, a servo-electric press has fewer moving parts.
“You don’t have any critical failure parts,” he says. “We can run millions of cycles with minimal maintenance requirements.”
The LSP servo-electric press technology combines the flexibility of hydraulic presses with the performance of servo-mechanical presses for maintenance-free, reliable production.
PROTECTING PEOPLE
Operator safety is another area where servo-electric presses shine. Beckwood is currently building a 500-ton servo press for a defense customer that has a deep draw application. The job requires blanks to be pre-heated to 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit in order to form exotic materials up to ½ in. thick.
“Safety was a huge driver in their choice of press,” says Dixon. “You don’t want compressed oil near that kind of operation. Because they are running low-volume/highmix parts, a mechanical press wasn’t suitable. A hydraulic press wasn’t an appropriate choice for an elevated temperature environment. Hot forming [or any applications where heat is needed] is really going to grow, especially in aerospace, where they heat titanium to 1,600 degrees Fahrenheit. The servo-electric press gives you ultimate speed control in this type of processing, which helps with ideal material flow when forming.”
Reduced noise is another benefit that helps create a safer, more attractive work environment for personnel.
“In an era where it’s difficult to hire people, you want to create a work space that will draw people in,” Dixon adds. “You also want equipment that is easy to use. That’s why it is important to find a supplier with the expertise to design and build a custom servo-electric press but also integrate that machine from a control standpoint to get the performance you need.”
Beckwood makes setup on its servo-electric presses simple and intuitive. “Someone with zero experience can learn to setup a job recipe and run the press is about 10 minutes. We also employ automation initiatives that help reduce operator error. For example,” says Dixon, “through the machine’s HMI, we can walk an operator through the parameters of a job and give them an auto ‘go’ or ‘no go’ on a part or any secondary quality checks. We’ve been implementing features like this, which reduce a machine’s reliance on an operator.”
Beckwood also has an initiative underway to build out its service department over the next 12 months. “Customers care about the machine running and making parts,” he continues.
REPEAT BUSINESS
The company’s repeat business any given year is typically around 40 percent. According to Dixon, the company has seen an even higher trend with servo-electric press equipment. More than 60 percent of customers are coming back to buy another unit.
“We want to educate people that our servo-electric presses have a proven track record,” he says. “When you invest in a servo press, you are not only investing in the future of press technology but the future of your operations. You don’t know what you may be dealing with in the future. If you have a mechanical press, you are basically hemmed in but what happens in 10 years when a new job pops up? You have to ask yourself, will I have the tool I need to get the job done?”
Beckwood Press Co., 636/680-5795, beckwoodpress.com.
