Huisman has doubled the slew bearing production capacity of its facility in Schiedam, the Netherlands. With this significant increase in production capacity, Huisman is able to meet the growing demand for large diameter slew bearings, an integral part and key component of its heavy lift cranes.
Since 2010, Huisman has been designing and manufacturing large diameter slew bearings in-house. The company produces its own slew bearings to secure the highest quality and to protect its proprietary production techniques. Responding to the considerable order intake of large offshore cranes, the investment in a second milling machine provides Huisman with sufficient production capacity for the future.
‘The ambitions for offshore wind have resulted in a high demand for heavy lift cranes,’ says David Roodenburg, CEO of Huisman. ‘To ensure the highest quality and on-time delivery to our clients, we have scaled up our production capacity. We have opted to deploy a second Zayer milling machine in the Netherlands to guarantee the continuity of our projects here and to invest in the expertise of our people. Since our slew bearings are an essential part of the unique lightweight design of our cranes, the investment in production capacity allows us to strengthen our position as global market leader in heavy lift cranes.’
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World’s largest slew bearings
Slew bearings are an integral and key component of all Huisman cranes. Unlike high-maintenance solutions such as bogies or slewing systems on large wheels that are exposed to the harsh offshore environment, Huisman says its slew bearing facilitates a substantial reduction in the weight of the crane and substructure, enabling crane vessels to operate more efficiently and cost-effectively. Thanks to the segmented design of the slew bearing, inspection and maintenance can take place on-site without disassembly of the bearing, resulting in a significant reduction of the operational costs.
After a series of increasingly large slew bearings, Huisman designed and delivered the world’s largest slew bearings for the Heerema Sleipnir 10,000mt tub mounted cranes in 2018. These slew bearings have a diameter of 30 metres. To date, Huisman has a track record of approximately 25 slew bearings.
Earlier this year, Huisman expanded its paint shop in China by 1675 m2 to a total surface area of more than 6000 m2. This, to increase the spraying capacity, which eliminates a crucial bottleneck in the production process of heavy construction equipment.
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