Van Meer Industrial Services is a leading service provider and brand-neutral partner for the manufacture and maintenance of energy-efficient engines, generators, gearboxes and more. The enterprise is headquartered in Tholen, the Netherlands, and has an international sales centre in Antwerp, Belgium. In addition to its portfolio of industrial electric motors and controllers, Van Meer offers a wide range of engineering and maintenance services. It enables customers in a variety of industries to ensure the efficient operation of their production lines and processes. Van Meer recently collaborated with Rittal to implement digital processes for the design, machining and assembly of controllers.
Rittal Automation Systems has enabled us to take our quality and reliability to a higher level. Whatever comes our way in future, we are well prepared.
Cost-efficiency and energy savings
Eight years ago, Van Meer primarily specialised in electric motor maintenance. However, repeatedly rewinding electric motors is subject to the law of diminishing returns. Every time this form of maintenance is performed, energy-efficiency decreases by approximately two per cent. In the case of a continuously operating 100 kW electric motor, for example, that can translate into additional costs of 70,000 euros annually. In light of high electricity prices and uptime requirements, customers were increasingly choosing motor replacement rather than repair. Against this background, Van Meer transitioned from a traditional maintenance provid-er to an international service centre for purchasing and operating drives, motors and other rotating equipment. It also offers the corresponding controllers and maintenance.
Minimising material costs with Rittal Automation Systems
Diversifying its service portfolio enabled Van Meer to expand and improve production of controllers. The enterprise leveraged CAE software solution Eplan ProPanel to create digital design drawings, and sent these to Rittal for machining. Rittal checked the drawings, and delivered the perfectly pre-machined TS 8 enclosures. However, Van Meer was receiving a growing number of increasingly large orders for controllers – and decided to purchase its own machining equipment. Its Rittal Perforex BC 1007 HS went into operation just one day after it was installed – and has been used on a daily basis ever since. Both Eplan ProPanel and Perforex offer Van Meer attractive advantages. The enterprise can employ Eplan ProPanel to generate 3D visualisations, even in the early stages of a project, and discuss these with the customer. Moreover, Perforex minimises errors and material costs.
End-to-end efficiency
Digital processes improve designing, planning and final assembly of the controllers. Van Meer’s completion of a major order for Kuraray, a Japanese manufacturer of chemicals, demonstrated the effectiveness of this end-to-end approach. Kuraray is increasing its annual production capacity from 24,000 to 35,000 tonnes. Within the scope of this ambitious project, Van Meer Industrial Services supplied three medium-voltage motors (6000 V) and 150 low-voltage motors (400/690 V). Kuraray also tasked Van Meer with developing the drives for the motor controllers. These are housed in a row of eleven Rittal TS 8 enclosures.
Overview
- Project
- Van Meer Industrial Services
- Location
- SJ Tholen, The Netherlands
- Branch
- Electrical-and-Automation
- Challenge
Minimising material costs
Expanding panel building and making it more professional- Solution
Using the Perforex BC one day after installation
3D presentations for customers in early project phases
Reducing errors and material costs