PERTH, Australia—Fenner Dunlop Australia has bolstered its position in the Australian market with the addition of a steel cord press line at its Western Australia conveyor belt plant.
It is the second Siempelkamp steel cord press the company has installed at its factory in Kwinana, a suburb of Perth in Western Australia. Its first Siempel¬kamp press was commissioned in July 2009.
While the size of the facility won't change, as space had been allocated for the new line, the site's manufacturing capacity doubled with the installation of the second press, according to David Landgren, executive director of Fenner Dunlop Australia's operation.
Fenner Dunlop, which made a $68.1 million initial investment in the factory in 2009, is spending about $22.7 million to add the new line. The press has a length of about 446 feet from creel to windup and will increase production capacity to more than 656,000 feet of belting annually.
The press platen alone is 6 feet 2 inches by 7 feet 2 inches, Landgren said. It gives Fenner Dunlop the ability to make steel cord rubber belts up to 6 feet 5 inches wide and weighing up to 70 tons.
Its other Siempelkamp press makes belts up to a little more than 10 feet wide.