Electricity and Control July 2024

DRIVES, MOTORS + SWITCHGEAR : PRODUCTS + SERVICES

Closing the loop with control panel solutions

As companies in various sectors move towards a preference for single sources of supply, SEW EURODRIVE South Africa, well known for its geared motors, frequency inverters, controls and software, highlights that it also supplies complete electrical control panels. Providing all these products together, the company helps customers streamline their costs and supply chain. Willem Strydom, Business Development Electronics Manager at SEW-EURODRIVE, says there has been a strong trend in recent years in companies wanting to deal directly with original equipment suppliers (OEMs). The preference is moving towards a single source of supply to reduce cost and risk, and to simplify the supply chain. “The market in many industries – from mining to agri culture – has made it clear that they can no longer afford ‘middlemen’ in the procurement process,” says Strydom. “Companies want to deal with one supplier, preferably a specialised OEM who has a depth of expertise and can stand behind their solutions with the necessary support.” Responding to these needs, SEW-EURODRIVE is pur suing a strategy of complementing its existing range by steadily adding more value – or closing the loop, as they say. Control panels are another key aspect of most con tracts in which the company is involved, so it has actively moved into this space to make sourcing and supply eas ier for customers. “There are relatively few OEMs in our field in this region, which gives us the opportunity to broaden our offering and provide customers with comprehensive high-quality solutions and the assurance of local sup port,” he says. “With one of the largest sales forces in the country and on the ground representation across Africa, SEW-EURODRIVE delivers a high level of service to sup port our mechanical and electronic capability.” The company’s in-house engineering team designs control panels for specific applications where its drive technology is being applied, and it provides the pro gramming required. The local assembly of the units also aligns with efforts across many industries to support the reduce their environmental impact and operating costs,” said Erich Labuda, President of the Motion Services divi sion at ABB. “However, many businesses lack the data insights needed to act. Our new online calculator democ ratises access to this valuable information and helps businesses understand the scale of the opportunity.” The calculator provides an initial estimate of the po tential energy and cost savings achievable by upgrading pump and fan systems driven by low voltage direct on line (DOL) motors, which are installed without a variable speed drive (VSD) to control their speed. The calculator focuses on low voltage motors of efficiency class IE3 and below. It estimates the energy savings that could Continued from page 17

Willem Strydom, Business Development Electronics Manager at SEW-EURODRIVE.

View inside an SEW-EURODRIVE wall mount panel.

local economy and secure their supply chains against possible disruption. “Our customers are looking for the same high quality of ancillary equipment as they receive with all our other products and solutions,” says Strydom. “With our estab lished reputation in the market, customers trust that we will deliver what they need.” The design and manufacture of SEW-EURODRIVE South Africa’s panels and enclosures can be adapted to suit any customer requirement, including providing for floor mounts or wall mounts, and with ingress protection (IP) ratings up to IP65 or whatever the application de mands. The panels can also be supplied for container ised solutions such as e-houses, which are increasingly popular around Africa on remote mining sites as well as other industrial applications. “Although our focus in the past has been on our specialised componentry and solutions, our customers have requested our broader involvement in their projects – leading to us entering this important space,” Strydom says. “By taking responsibility for delivering a wider scope of related equipment, in line with SEW EURODRIVE’s recognised quality standards, we have consolidated our relationships with customers.” be achieved by upgrading to the latest motor and drive technology – the IE5 SynRM package – for optimal ener gy efficiency gains. After seeing the potential results, the next step in the energy efficiency journey is a full energy efficiency audit, where ABB’s experts gather site-specific data to identify an operator’s top opportunities for saving energy. Once the audit recommendations have been implemented, a further step for customers is to protect their investments with customised service agreements that keep their mo tors and drives operating efficiently and reliably through their lifetime. For more information visit: www.sew-eurodrive.co.za

For more information visit: https://new.abb.com

18 Electricity + Control JULY 2024