Manufacturing Upgrades

DRM has found a niche in the upgrade of manufacturing machinery.

While machinery may be mechanically sound for decades, electrical controls can become obsolete within years.  Safety, OEE and flexibility are all concerns facing aging machinery within today’s manufacturing environment. We successfully re-apply or re-purpose machinery to be safer, faster and much easier to maintain.

See how you can save capital dollars by reinvesting in existing machinery.

  • Advanced press controls
  • Perimeter and machine guarding
  • Electrical controls retrofits
  • CNC to modern PLC with Motion
  • Modern operator interface hardware and software
  • Hydraulics to servo electric
  • Robotic machine tending
  • Machine cell grouping
  • Data gathering and report generation

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Project Profiles/Application Experience Examples:

  • Press Controls Upgrade
    AO Smith repurposed a 600 ton press for multiple stamping and pressing applications. The press came with a disparate and obsolete controls package. The main criteria for upgrading this press was increased speed and scrap reduction. DRM partnered with AO Smith Engineering and Rockwell Automation to develop this unique press solution.

    A 200 horsepower AC inverter feed motor replaced the DC main ram and multiple PLCs controlled machine function and press controls. The steel feeder was retrofitted with a +100 horsepower servo motor for feed power and accuracy. Operators interfaced the machine with a 15” color touchscreen co-developed by Rockwell and DRM. The end result was a 600 ton press that can operate up to 50 strokes per minute and feed steel with less than 1/16” scrap repeatedly.

  • Bearing Grinders
    Timken is a major user of Bryant and Cincinnati grinding machines. These machines are very well built, but the electrical controls have outperformed their lifecycle. DRM was contracted to rebuild these machines in an effort to increase safety, productivity and decrease downtime.

    The machine controls, including CNC, were gutted and replaced by a modern PLC with integrated servo motion. The operator station was replaced with a much more simplistic 17” color touchscreen keeping only a few hardware pushbuttons and hand-wheels. This resulted in part changeovers in 25% less time and improved grinding dynamics. The machine is as simple to maintain as it is to operate.