AUMUND takes its Commitment to Quality to another level by Manufacturing its own Chains
05.02.2020
A glimpse of the TILEMANN (AUMUND Group) production facility at its Essen (North Rhine-Westphalia) location
© AUMUND
AUMUND Fördertechnik GmbH is a global player with decades of experience as an international producer of machines and major components. A bucket elevator chain, as the absolute mainstay of the chain bucket elevator, has a particularly significant role to play. This is why AUMUND is giving its in-house research and development team its highest priority mandate ever; to make new chain developments and improvements, not least because the demands on bucket elevator chains are continually increasing. Its own chain manufacture gives AUMUND independence from outside suppliers and total ownership of control and quality of its chains, enabling it to rapidly bring to market new developments and improvements in chains, alongside its standard portfolio.
TILEMANN Ketten & Komponenten has produced bucket elevator, reclaimer and conveyor chains as well as specialised components, for more than 100 years with a tradition of utmost precision and process reliability. Now that this specialist manufacturer with its modern manufacturing machinery and more than 25,000 references in high-quality chains and key components belongs to the AUMUND Group, AUMUND Fördertechnik has its own source, which not only supplies to AUMUND but also to SCHADE Lagertechnik GmbH and SAMSON Materials Handling Ltd (both AUMUND Group Companies) as well as to renowned general contractors for original equipment, and other prominent globally active end customers.
Purely on the face of it, today’s bucket elevator chains look hardly any different from examples 15 years ago, but with bucket elevator chains the “inner values” are more important. AUMUND uses innovative materials which enable ever-increasing tensile strength and, importantly for tall bucket elevators, an ever-decreasing weight component. In its production process TILEMANN favours improved heat treatment methods and optimised manufacturing and assembly procedures. One example is continuous monitoring of the press-in pressure of the bolts during assembly, in order to confirm that the fit is exactly within the specified range. This creates an optimum interaction of the chain with the drive and tensioning segments. Process checks are carried out at shorter intervals all the time, and documentation is issued in more and more detail, facilitating exact trace of chain supply.
To keep up this rate of modernisation AUMUND has invested several million Euros in manufacturing at TILEMANN and in so doing has optimised the production process and increased productivity. In order to meet the increased demand in the market for chains and to further decrease lead times for customers, AUMUND is planning further investment in production in 2020 by expanding the factory facilities.
