Delta Steel Technologies Inc.

Focus on the Customer

Delta Steel Technologies Inc., a second-generation manufacturing company that had been building and repairing machinery for steel mills across the country for over 55 years. With 120 employees, some having worked there for more than four decades, they are all proud to support the American steel industry. They design and manufacture a wide range of customer products in their 226,000 sq. ft. facility located in Irving, Texas.

"Most of the companies out there just throw you a catalog and say, 'Pick one of these. If it works for you, great, and if it doesn't, we're sorry.' NORD on the other hand, has always tried to understand our needs and help us select a product that solves whatever problems we're facing."

Joseph Savariego - President, Delta Steel Technologies Inc.

Project Challenge

In the design, there are eleven rollers in total, five above the sheet metal and six below with each requiring its own gear unit. The issue here is in having to stack the two rows of components one atop the other in order to fit everything into the limited space. This restricted access to the bottom row of drive components. So now if one of the bottom gear units were to be damaged, how would one access it without having to remove the ones above it?

In order to save space, a compact but powerful gear unit would still be needed and would have to fit in a flexible design. For this application, they reached out to their local NORD DRIVESYSTEMS representative, Steve Hunter, who put them in touch with application engineer Jeff Wittrock to help provide a custom solution.

Application Solution

The gear units are stacked atop one another in order to fit everything into the limited space, which restricted access to the bottom row of drive components. To combat this, a slide mechanism was developed to allow technicians to easily disconnect each gear unit and motor combination from the drive shaft and simply pull it back and out of the way for servicing. Delta Steel also noted that only as designers delve into the complete requirements can they understand all of the potential hurdles, making it especially important to partner with suppliers offering a wide range of component options, backed by experienced support and applications staff.

Eleven MAXXDRIVE units with 150 HP electric motors were used in the application and were all able to be individually disconnected and slid back for service and repair. This design made good use of the limited space while still being able to transmit a lot of torque with a compact footprint.

Delta Steel has worked with NORD DRIVESYSTEMS for a number of years and has found responsive, helpful, and creative solutions. "NORD's service and support stands well above the rest. We've enjoyed working with them and will continue doing so."