ABUS EOT cranes at TRANSMESA, a specialist for tubes and profiles in Spain

Now, what could huge heat exchanger tubes and bicycle tubes have in common? It is most likely that both high quality precision products will have come from the same company: the company TRANSMESA with headquarters in Catalonia in the northeast of Spain.

The metal processing company Transformaciones Metalúrgicas, S.A.U., which is also called TRANSMESA (www.transmesa.com), specialises in manufacturing cold drawn precision tubes and tubular profiles either in carbon steel or in low alloy steel. The company was founded in 1944 and has always been engaged in the cold rolling of steel tubing. In July 2008 TRANSMESA became part of the Slovakian group Železiarne Podbrezová a.s. (www.zelpo.sk), a manufacturer of steel blooms and billets, hot rolled seamless tubes, cold drawn precision tubes, tubular fittings and tube cuts and bends.

High quality—TRANSMESA is certified ISO 9001 and ISO 14001—as well as very low dimensional tolerance levels are excellent commendation for such diverse and demanding applications such as are required by the automobile industry or by the machine tool sector. TRANSMESA has reached an exportation rate of 80%. In order to comply with the demands of the export customers TRANSMESA has now three manufacturing locations in Spain and also sales and marketing organisations in such diverse countries like Switzerland, Italy, Germany, and also in China and Mexico.

The dimensions of the manufactured tubes cover a huge range from external diameters of only 3.5 mm all the way up to 120 mm with tube thicknesses between 0.5 mm and 12 mm. As a standard tubes are supplied in lengths of 4 to 7 metres but can be up to 24 metres long if required.

TRANSMESA does not only sell high quality products but is also able to offer immediate supply thanks to the automated warehouse of 5,000 square metres with 1,350 storage compartments reserved for cold drawn steel tubes. This warehouse makes it possible for customers to keep low stock levels themselves.

The handling of these steel bars and large bundles required some EOT cranes with two synchronised load hooks with a clearance of 4,000 mm between them in the longitudinal direction of the buildings in order to make handling, stocking and loading lorries easy and safe. ABUS Grúas (www.abusgruas.es) and the mother company ABUS Kransysteme in Germany devised a solution for this application: several EOT cranes with larger end carriages each featuring one trolley housing two hoists were designed completely on the basis of standard components in order to reduce costs and to minimise maintenance.

2015 saw the official opening of new production facilities at Arenys de Mar (Barcelona) in order to boost the production capacity by some 50.000 metres of cold drawn tubes daily. ABUS was entrusted with the supply of another 5 double girder EOT cranes of the ZLK type with load capacities of 3.2 + 3.2 tonnes and spans of 21.8 metres. These ZLK cranes augment the crane park already existing at Premià de Dalt (Barcelona) and at the plant of the daughter company TAP Tubos de Acero de Precisión, S.L. at Ramon (Lleida). In 2011 two ABUS double girder cranes of the ZLK type had been successfully installed there with SWL of 3.2 + 3.2 tonnes and spans of 21 metres. A pillar jib crane of the LS type with a load capacity of 500 kg and a span of 6 metres had also been installed there at the time.

Following the expansion phase of the company and the improvement in efficiency, a new single girder EOT crane of the ELK type was installed at Premià de Dalt (Barcelona) in February 2016 with a load capacity of 2.5 + 2.5 tonnes and a span of 18.9 metres. This ELK features two completely standard independent trolleys.