To maintain a competitive edge in international markets, Taiwan has upgraded its industrial strength to focus on precision engineering and hi-tech electronics. One sector where Taiwan’s machine makers have developed an international reputation is the automotive parts industry, both for the production of parts as well as machinery to manufacture parts.
Cheng Day Machinery Works, one of Taiwan’s leading hoist manufacturers, recently has completed a US$12 million hoist supply and install contract for Chin Fong (Japan) Industrial, the largest manufacturer in Taiwan of stamping press machines for automotive parts such as body panels and doors. The contract was awarded for Chin Fong’s new plant in Taichung harbour industrial zone in central Taiwan. Supplying customers worldwide that include Toyota Motor Co, Chin Fong is expected to become the world’s third largest automotive stamping press manufacturer once the new plant reaches full production.
Producing machinery to stamp and press automotive parts requires a factory housing a series of large work shops, each containing a purpose designed system of hoists to move materials and heavy parts during the machinery production and assembly processes. Chin Fong’s hoist and crane orders are estimated to account for about 10% of the total plant construction cost.
“Our production plant is 20 minutes drive from their new factory and we have a good reputation for after sales service,” said Cheng Day’s manager, John Pan. “We have worked with Chin Fong from the receipt of their crane specifications. They told us what capacity, tonnage and overhead spans they wanted. The heaviest item to be lifted in the plant will be a complete assembled stamping press weighing 300 tons.”
With a total workshop area covering 91,000 sq m, Chin Fong’s new plant has been built on a 190,000 sq m site. The factory is divided into seven workshop halls located side by side. Five of the workshops are roofed, while two are outside. Ranging from 30m to 36m wide, each workshop measures 280m long.
The stamping machine production process begins in Halls One and Two which are both 31.5m wide welding machinery workshops. After the initial production stages are completed, the stamping press machine parts and subassemblies are moved to two adjacent exterior paint shop areas. Following paint spraying, the machinery parts are moved to Halls Three, Four and Five where the production and assembly process is then completed.
The Chin Fong stamping press plant project has involved the installation of 36 single and double trolley cranes with a total of 54 hoists. All the single and double trolley cranes installed are six motion models.
The cranes installed comprise four 30 ton single trolley cranes, four double trolley cranes each fitted with a 30t and a 10t hoist, four double trolley cranes fitted with a 50t and a 30t hoist, six double trolley cranes fitted with a 100t and a 50t hoist, two double trolley cranes each fitted with a 200t and a 100t hoist and double trolley paint yard gantry cranes.
“Having pairs of hoists on a crane is not so common. They are used for turning items when they are lifted,” Pan says. “There is a lot of turning involved in production in this plant as the size of the stamping presses is huge and they continually have to be lifted and repositioned for welding.”
All the cranes that Cheng Day supplied for this project are overhead cranes except for the two gantry cranes in the outdoor paint shop area. One gantry crane spans a 36m wide paint shop area, while the other spans a narrower 21.5m paint shop.
“It was difficult for Chin Fong to find a site to build such a large plant, so the government has given them a special permit to build their factory here,” Pan said.
Both the gantry cranes are double trolley cranes, each fitted with one 220t and one 110t hoist. Both the paint yard gantry cranes have hydraulic lifting systems and can travel the full length of their individual paint yards.
Pan explained that Chin Fong recently bought the gantry cranes from the construction company building Taiwan’s high speed Taipei to Kaohsiung railway as the rail project is now completed. Cheng Day refurbishing the two double trolley cranes for Chin Fong before installing them in the new plant.
Each of the five covered workshop areas is installed with two or three layers of cranes. The largest cranes occupy the top layer, smaller cranes are installed on the second layer, while the third layer consists of the wall cranes.
“All our cranes supplied for the Chin Fong project have inverter and radio controls,” Pan says. “Safety features include installed sensors so that two cranes mounted on different layers cannot cross each other.
Each crane is supplied with an individual control system. Cranes of 100t and larger are built with an operator cab as well.
“Another advantage with our installation system is that when the cranes are not carrying a load they can move one and a half times faster than when they are carrying a load,” Pan said. “The crane travel speed when carrying a load is up to two metres per minute. Without a load the cranes move at up to three metres per minute. Our cranes that are larger than 100t have a load indicator to show the actual weight of the load being carried.”
Hall One, a welding workshop, has been installed with two crane layers, two single-trolley and one double-trolley above and four 3t wall cranes below. Hall Two, the other welding workshop, is equipped with three layers of cranes and has been constructed with a steel plate reinforced floor at the rear end of the hall to support the huge weight of parts and machinery handled in that area.
Halls Three and Five are fitted out as assembly workshops and are equipped with two layers of cranes. A pair of double trolley cranes, both fitted with a 100t and a 50t hoist, span the 30 metre wide hall and can travel the full hall length. Beneath is a 30t/10t crane.
Hall Four contains the Chin Fong factory’s largest cranes. The top layer of cranes spanning the 35 metres wide workshop comprises two double trolley cranes, each mounted with a 200t and a 100t hoist. These lift the complete assembled stamping presses that can weigh up to 300 tonnes.
The two double trolley cranes lift each completed stamping press from its final assembly position in the central area of the hall and travel for 100m to the rear of the hall where the stamping press is lowered onto a trolley ready to be moved out of the workshop and loaded onto a waiting ship in Taichung harbour.
