Forest City Gear Continues to Reinvest... and Go Greener!
Deciding whether to reinvest in this current economy is a difficult decision. Companies must decide if they should continue to use their older equipment or whether they should buy updated technology. Forest City Gear was faced with making that decision. Fred and Wendy Young, the owners of Forest City Gear, researched and determined that new machine tools and other equipment would increase the capacity of their gearmaking plant, save money and allow the company to be greener, in the process.
Everyday, cooled or heated air was being wasted. To conserve this energy, Forest City Gear purchased a new indoor waste heat recovery system for use with the recirculated machine oil, plus a particulate filtration system was acquired for the deburring department to provide cleaner ambient air in the plant. This machine captures particulates to keep them from escaping into the atmosphere. Previously, the dust particles were evacuated outside into a covered barrel which created extra demand for winter heat and summer air conditioning in that area. Besides being green, such equipment saves heating and cooling costs for the company, money that can be used to buy new equipment, improve infrastructure, reward employees etc., according to Fred Young, chairman of Forest City Gear.
Previously, Young noted, the company had purchased a special chiller unit at an approximate cost of $75,000 which utilizes outside air to cool oil for its centralized oil filtration unit on its gear grinding equipment, anytime the outside air is 50º F or cooler.
Also, to increase its gearmaking capabilities, Forest City Gear traded in their old honing machine for a Sunnen SV1015. By acquiring this machine, they now have up to 6" diameter capacity plus automation to increase their size capacity and workload in the plant.
A Gleason 400 CNC hobber spur and helical gear grinder was also added to the plant. The new hobber will be more energy-efficient while providing higher gear quality as well.
For more information on all the state-of-the-art equipment used at Forest City Gear, please contact:
FOREST CITY GEAR CO., INC.
11715 Main Street
Roscoe, IL 61073-0080
Phone: 815-623-2168
Fax: 815-623-6620
