NORD Drivesystems gearmotors are being used on the Pradier quarry site in the South of France

The IECS Company, specializing in the manufacture, assembly and maintenance of quarry and sand pits equipments has chosen NORD gearmotors to power the new aggregates production unit of the Pradier Group. The quality of service, especially in terms of reactivity, and the performance of IE2 motors have made the difference.

The French Group Pradier produces 400 000 tonnes of concrete blocks and interjoists per year, which are intended for building materials suppliers. To better control the product value chain, it was decided to relaunch internally the production of aggregates. Pradier Carrières, founded in 2010, has thus opened its first operating site in 2011 in Mondragon in the south of France. The quarry consists of a deposit of about 375 acres and 20 million tonnes of ore, with a mining permit for 450,000 tonnes per year over 30 years. 350 000 tons are then transported by road and 100 000 tons by river. The processing plant is located near the deposit (1 km by conveyor) allowing different denominations and categories with a production capacity of 400 tons per hour.

The IECS company completed the whole installation which provides for ore crushing, screening, and conveying of aggregates to their shipping points."We buy NORD Drivesystems helical bevel gearmotors regularly," says Mr. Cachot, IECS Manager. All in all, there are 37 NORD Drivesystems helical bevel gearmotors, SK9042 & SK9072 models powered by IEC B5 and IE2 engines used on the Pradier unit. These gearmotors consist of a reducer equipped with an interface and a coupling on which is fixed the standardized flange motor B5, making it easier to replace the engine, if needed.

The whole aggregate production plant stands out as being in a flood plain where the water level can reach 2.5 m: that’s why the entire system had to be designed on piles. An incredible work of engineering was done by Pradier internally to raise the facilities above water, no matter what.

"We have our habits with NORD. It is a human-sized company, they are very reactive. When we commissioned the facility the engine model had to be changed for two engines which rating was not high enough. We called Nord, and 36 hours after it was changed. The NORD sales manager is always available to help on a project, he reacts very quickly." The company stands out by its very high reactivity. A new emergency assembly and shipping service is offered to all customers since the spring of 2011. Whether it's a motor or a gear motor, with or without variable speed drive, painted or not, the Company undertakes, provided the components are available, to assemble and ship on the same day anywhere in France the assembled equipment, and this for all orders placed before 16:30. For that purpose, the processes, inventory levels and logistics were thoroughly reviewed in 2011. The same service has been set up for spare parts.

Energy consumption was obviously an important aspect of the facility. Again, NORD stood out by offering IE2 motors. To comply with new and more demanding standards, in terms of energy savings, NORD has made many improvements to its IE2 engines. For example, more active materials are used in the stator, the quality of the plates is better, more copper was used and the windings have been optimized. These efficient engines are naturally beneficial to users: in addition to better performance, they run cooler, and the drive has a longer lifetime. These improvements also result in greater power reserves, which opens up new possibilities in terms drive systems designing.

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