Ingersoll Hosts Liebherr Gear Seminar

I recently had the opportunity to attend the Liebherr Gear Seminar held at Ingersoll Cutting Tools’ U.S. headquarters in Rockford, Illinois. The two-day event was well attended, with representatives of many of the country’s top gear manufacturers on hand as well as industry giants such as Caterpillar, John Deere and 3M.

Nine presentations were made during the course of the event. I particularly enjoyed “Liebherr Automation Solutions” by Kevin Heise, who presented case studies of installations he’s managed in manufacturing and assembly operations around the world. When Mr. Heise and his team are involved in the planning stages of a new cell or production line, they tailor their proposals to meet the company’s specific needs, resulting in increased efficiency and throughput.

Additional presentations included “Innovative Gear Cutting Concepts and Technologies” by Markus Grebe of Ingersoll, “Metrology Choices for Gear Makers” by Andy Woodward of Wenzel America, “Current Trends in Gear Shaping—Efficient Machining of Gears with an Interference Contour” by Scott Yoders of Liebherr Gear Technology and Higher Efficiency and Quality by Hob Design” and “Higher Efficiency and Quality by Hob Design” by Juergen Friedrich of Gebr. Saacke GmbH & Co. KG. A tour of the Ingersoll facility was also provided, along with a hobbing demo featuring the Liebherr LC 500.

The presentations were quite informative, and the schedule allowed for plenty of time to ask follow-up questions, of which attendees took full advantage. I would encourage anyone interested in networking with colleagues and learning from a wide variety of gearing experts to be sure and attend this event the next time it’s being held.