This service forms the core of Gefran’s activities and employs the talents of our Consultant Engineers to their fullest extent. Our customers are manufacturers and rebuilders of many different types of automated industrial machinery, and end users who have designed and built their own machines. We specialise in the following areas:-
- Designing electrical and control systems for a broad range of applications
- Specifying and sizing electric motors + drives for your plant + machinery
- Programming many different makes and types of PLC + motion controller
- Implementing networks for linking: Drives ↔ Controllers ↔ HMIs ↔ PCs
- Writing bespoke software for a broad range of automation applications
- Commissioning individual machines and multi-machine production lines
We have broad experience in the following industrial sectors:-
- Aerospace + defence + F1
- Agriculture + horticulture
- Automation + control
- Automotive
- Bricks + building blocks
- Fabrication + forgings + foundry
- Food + drink + vending
- Furniture
- Glass + glassware
- Healthcare + pharmaceuticals
- Metal engineering + converting
- Packaging equipment + machinery
- Plastics + rubber + belting
- Polyurethane processing equipment
- Recycling equipment + machinery
- Storage + handling + racking
- Television + theatre + media
- Textile + carpet
- Transport including mobile + battery-powered applications
If you have your own technical staff, Gefran provides additional labour to meet peak demands.
If your technical staff lack the skills necessary for certain projects, Gefran provides those skills.
Consider Gefran as an extension of your own technical resource, which can be turned on as required.
Read about some of the projects undertaken by Gefran
15-axis Taping Machine for large diameter pipes
15-axis drives + control system for a machine for wrapping plastic pipe (2-6” / 50-150mm bore, for carrying oil) with two or more layers of steel strip over-wrapped with self-adhesive plastic tape. The machine incorporates a CAN network with wireless connections between a central PLC and distributed drives + I/O. It also has a PC-based console which provides a sophisticated graphical interface. MCS’s software allows operators to create and download recipes. This machine was built and commissioned in UK then installed in China.
◘ Click to download a .pdf file of the case study
Taping Lines for Copper Conductors
MCS’s remit was to develop a generic modular control system suitable for this family of electrical conductor taping and bunching machines. The result is extremely elegant and cost effective, with similar drives + controls panels and HMIs for every machine in a line, all linked via a CAN network, allowing additional machines to be introduced into a line quickly and easily. The first two lines – one comprising five machines plus unwind + rewind units and one comprising eight machines plus unwind + rewind units – were built and commissioned in UK then installed in India.
◘ Click to download a .pdf file of the case study
Needling machine for carbon disc brakes
A turnkey project to design and build an X-Y table driven by high performance, brushless servo motors via ballscrews. The X-Y table was integrated into a crank press for making the blanks from which carbon brake discs are made for military and civilian aircraft + F1 cars. The space into which the X-Y table had to fit was very tightly constrained, resulting in a novel mechanical design.
◘ Click to download a .pdf file of the case study
Hybrid centre/surface winder for metal foil
Drives + control system for a hybrid centre/surface winding machine for converting aluminium foil, for producing foils used by hairdressers when colouring hair. PLC, drives + HMI are connected via a network.
◘ Click to download a .pdf file of the case study