Above: Beckwood engineered and built this custom 1,500-ton heated platen press for compression molding of UHMW sheets for the defense industry.

Custom press builder launches two standard lines, employs strategic stocking programs, boosts service and support, and takes servo-electric technology to new space.

September 2022- WWII Army veteran and motivational speaker William Arthur Ward once said, “Adversity causes some men to break; others to break records.” The same could be said for Beckwood Corp. For the past two years, the St. Louis press builder has weathered inflation, raw material shortages, a stalled supply chain and ongoing COVID concerns. Yet the company was able to maintain aggressive production schedules to meet customer demands. This year, Beckwood reports record sales going into third quarter.

Chief Operating Officer Josh Dixon points to proactive strategies and the ability to support a growing migration from hydraulic and mechanical presses to that of servo-electric technology as growth factors.

“In the early days of COVID, steel was difficult to source, and prices reflected that,” says Dixon. “Lead times for PLCs, HMI touch screens and other electrical components stretched to 30 weeks and longer. As a custom manufacturer, it can be challenging to stay ahead because the market is so unpredictable. We don’t always know what we’ll need until we design a machine.”

To overcome the supply chain challenge, Beckwood compiled data from past projects to identify high-volume and commonly sourced parts. In addition, the company launched two standard press lines to supplement its custom offerings. “We used this information to work strategically with suppliers on stocking programs,” Dixon says. “Consolidating our sourcing efforts greatly reduced component lead times for both new machines and spare parts to support our existing customers.”

DEMAND CURVE

Contract maintenance has seen an uptick as well. Labor shortages pushed fabricators to lean more heavily on OEMs like Beckwood for press servicing, but Dixon says market volatility also plays a role in reshaping the way fabricators and job shops approach preventive maintenance.“Over the last three years, we have seen a significant increase in requests both domestically and internationally for ongoing maintenance of hydraulic machinery,” he says.

Demand has also risen for low-maintenance machinery and continuous machine monitoring tools like OEE and Beckwood’s Pre-Preventive Maintenance System, which allow press users and production managers to proactively schedule maintenance.

Production capacity is always critical to manufacturing, so equipment builders “must adapt their machinery and supply robust maintenance packages to facilitate uptime,” Dixon says.

      An EVOx servo-electric press package that features four 15-ton machines, two 10-ton machines and a 50-ton machine.

Machine builds are ramping up, too. Although customers curtailed their capital expenditures during 2020, Beckwood began to see purchasing activity increase for smaller projects last year. “This year we have seen an onslaught of pent-up demand,” Dixon says. “Really large projects that were put on hold two years ago are being jumpstarted and ushered through purchasing channels faster than ever.”

      Beckwood fully stocks hydraulic fi ttings and parts for rapid distribution.

PATTERN SHIFT

“We’ve also seen a big shift in buying patterns. Customers are moving away from hydraulic and mechanical presses to newer technologies like servo-electric,” he continues. “I think that’s true for a variety of reasons.”

“Servo technology has matured,” notes Dixon. “When we introduced our servo-electric line in 2019, we brought the technology to industries that hadn’t previously considered it. Traditionally servoelectric presses were favored by the automotive market for their precision and accuracy in light assembly operations. We looked at the technology and saw a lot of other applications such as trimming, stamping and drawing for consumer goods, medical and aerospace components, powder compacting for ammunition assembly and even batt ery parts processing. We took servo presses out of the automotive industry and moved them into other spaces.”

NEW APPLICATIONS

Beckwood has been designing, engineering and building American-made presses since 1976. It plans to expand its servo press offerings with higher tonnages and production speeds in the near future. Currently, standard EVOx models range from 1,000 lbs. to 50 tons, with custom servoelectric capabilities up to 200 tons.

Beckwood engineers recently applied servo technology to a heated platen press. By eliminating the hydraulic system and its associated components, engineers designed a production machine that could safely reach temperatures up to 600 degrees Fahrenheit during the cycle.

“Servo-electric actuation is a game changer for high-temperature applications because it doesn’t require oil to create pressure,” Dixon explains. “This removes a key source of potential operator injury.”

Servo-electric presses offer maximum pressing force at any point throughout the stroke. As a result, operators are able to control cycle parameters such as travel distance, pressure and return position simultaneously. Programmable, intuitive controls guarantee positional repeatability to ±0.0005 in. The operator is also able to access feedback for diagnostics and maintenance; and measure and collect data for torque, force, position and time at a maximum rate of one sample per millisecond.

       A Beckwood service technician performs preventive maintenance on a 70-ton hydraulic press.

And since the machines operate entirely on electricity to create pressure, there are no leaks or disposal fees for oil, and the maintenance associated with hydraulic oil tanks, pumps, valves and hoses or mechanical fly-wheel systems is nonexistent.

Because servo presses only use energy on demand, the equipment yields an energy cost savings of up to 60 percent.

“Manufacturers in nearly every industry are pushing for low-maintenance press technology to be adopted on their production floors,” says Dixon. “Our advantage is that we have the engineering experience and knowledge to look at a customer’s requirements and match them with the best machine for the job.” FFJ