RELATED TO THE WINNING CAPACITY TENDER
1. Background
Electraplan Kft. Has won several tenders, of which the capacity expansion tender is of outstanding importance to us due to the bombing unit to be implemented in it. The grant agreement was signed on January 18, 2018, with the items to be procured, implemented and built at our site in Vésztő:
– Construction of a crane hall
– Bridge crane in the hall
– Purchase of 2 forklifts
– Acquisition of an automatic profiling production line
– Cylinder Rolling line or bomber
– Acquisition of Vectory integrated enterprise management software
In addition to the implementation of the items listed above, we undertook in the sponsorship agreement to significantly increase employment.
Our metal production capacity will thus multiply by adding additional metalworking machines won in the Industry 4.0 tender.
2. Vision
Is it possible to grow this size from one moment to the next and take advantage of this huge increase in capacity?
Our answer is clearly yes!
We have been negotiating with various foreign partners for several years, exploring the possibilities of utilizing a machine park consisting of several profiling units. With the implementation of the tender, Electraplan has the opportunity to grow and enter the following markets:
1. At present, Electraplan Kft. is the largest manufacturer of ground installed mounting systems in Hungary. By June 2019, we had manufactured and sold approximately 90 MW of mounting systems. In the tender for the machines, we place special emphasis on the fact that we can use the machines to manufacture the elements of solar mounting systems. In Hungary, further growth is expected in the solar market, and we have established business relations in Slovakia, Ukraine, Macedonia and Serbia. With new business relationships and increased capacity, we can achieve hundreds of MW of production and sales per year.
2. Another product group of Electraplan produced in large quantities are electrical assembly systems, of which cable trays and mounting rails are manufactured on profiling lines. The new production lines can be used to expand the sizes to be manufactured, and negotiations are currently underway to expand the products manufactured here.
3. We see a great future in various steel-framed buildings: halls, residential buildings, container buildings. Our goal is to develop a product range with our machine lines, which consists of profiles that are suitable for assembling light-structured buildings.
To sum it all up, we consider it realistic to process tens of thousands of tons of steel a year in Vésztő.
3. Competitive advantage
In such a situation, the question always arises as to why the site in Vésztő will be more competitive compared to other factories with a similar profile.? Of course, we also ask ourselves this question, to which we can give the following answers:
3.1. Profiling itself
Overall, when it comes to metalworking machines, most companies have simpler machining tools such as edge benders, presses, laser cutters. Profiling is a very specialized field that requires special knowledge. The number of competitors on this topic is drastically reduced.
János Kincses started his career as an executive in a factory in Germany with a profiling line, and we have had a profiling line at our Nyirád site for more than 20 years, so the special knowledge that this industry requires is at our disposal.
3.2. Material thickness of profiling
Most of the profiling lines I know are typically capable of machining small material thicknesses up to a maximum material thickness of 2 mm. In both tenders won, the profilers must be able to machine a steel coil with a material thickness of 4 mm. With this, we will also be able to profile items such as solar panel mounting piles, long-span support profiles..
3.3. Punching
Many of our competitors who have profiling lines are unable to perform various punches. There is also a competitor who can’t punch into profiles at all.
Felismerve a lyukasztás fontosságát, nagy hangsúlyt fektettünk arra, hogy a lehető legszélesebb körben tudjunk lyukasztani. A profilozó sorokhoz tartozó prések is már egy széles lehetőséget adnak, de a kapacitásbővítő profilozó sorhoz kiírásra kerül egy speciális eszköz, egy ún. forgatásos lyukasztó, lásd képen:
Here, molds punching holes are placed on a rotating cylinder. The cylinder rotates together with the coil, allowing a non-stop punching. By changing and omitting the knockout shapes widely, fast punching is possible.
3.4. Bomber
Of all the competitive advantages, I consider bombing to be the most important. The procedure has been known for years, but it is not a common procedure.
The essence of the process is that the cylinder strips of the bombardment cylinder pair, which are made of a high hardness hardened CRMO alloy, press a sample into the roll. Bulges are formed on the coil. This significantly increases the load-bearing capacity of the finished product profile, depending on the material thickness, by up to 5-25% based on calculations and measurements. Thus, it can also mean that the amount of material used for a previously used profile can be reduced by 5-25%, so that the previous load-bearing capacity is maintained. So it will be so much cheaper for us to produce.
That is why we considered the proper announcement of the bombing unit to be the most important during the tender, to which we placed great emphasis. Our most important thoughts and expectations about the bomber.
– The system includes a high-performance hydraulic power supply and its control, which is of course in line with the profiling line
– The profiler and the bomber must be able to store and receive industry 4.0 devices, store quantities and operating parameters in an online database, display and store production quantities, display daily / weekly / monthly production quantities.
– The machine has an automatic dosing unit, during the process the automatic machine is able to dose, orient, straighten, feed, brake each type of disc, its control and electrical equipment are also part of the machine. The plate thickness must also be set automatically.
– It is important that the equipment does not require special human resources. Due to the special control, the workstation is operated automatically, only the coil replacement and material removal requires human resources.
– Fast reassembly is also important, reassembly of the entire sample should not take more than half a shift, ie more than 4 hours.
– Due to the special requirement presented earlier, it is important that the machine unit be able to bomb steel with a plate thickness of 0.4-4 mm.
With a bombing station capable of the listed parameters, we can gain a competitive advantage.
4. Summary
Summarizing the above thoughts, Electraplan Kft. is facing a great opportunity. The implementation of the tenders will significantly increase our capacity, the number of employees and the opportunities listed in the heading of competitive advantage. Our site in Vésztő Kótpuszta can even become a dominant steel profiling plant in Europe.
Érd, June 16, 2019