After trying several other gearboxes on its new All-In-One case packer, Goodman Packaging Equipment began using alpha gear drives LP120 gearboxes. Other gearboxes it had tried had become a high-cost liability in the field, forcing the machinery builder to look into a replacement.
“The problems we were having drove us to look at the gearbox in a different way,” says Goodman design engineer Scott Bogdall. “We needed our machines to have premium components that would perform in demanding industries 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We looked at alpha and we haven’t looked back since.”
The All-In-One case packer forms, packs, and seals mandrel-style shipping and display cases with a primary product infeed speed of up to 150 packages/min, all in one machine. It uses Indramat servo motors in the forming stage supplied by the Bosch Rexroth Electric Drives and Controls Div. The machinery was designed to eliminate redundancy and bring greater efficiency and cost reduction to the customer, Bogdall says.
The alpha gearbox connects the shaft of the servo motor to the shaft that the motor is driving. The gearbox increases the torque output of the motor, allowing Goodman to use a smaller servo. That reduces cost, requires less power and wiring, and allows the servo to more effectively control the machine, according to Bogdall.
There are eight alpha gearboxes on the Goodman machine—three different types of gearboxes on three different types of servos—with ten axes in all.
“After hundreds and hundreds of gearbox installations, we’ve only had one problem that I’m aware of,” Bogdall says. “And we know that if we ever do have a problem in the field, alpha will support us.”
