FLSmidth MAAG Gear has signed an agreement to acquire a 100% shareholding in the Italian company Darimec, a highly specialised gear manufacturer which develops and produces girth gears, pinions and custom-made reducers for the mining and minerals sector. These products complement FLSmidth’s MAAG range for mining, which includes mill, belt conveyor and bucketwheel excavator gears. The group statement said the buy will “enable the company to offer drive systems from a single source in line with the ‘One Source’ corporate strategy.” Up to now FLSmidth MAAG Gear has produced mainly heavy-duty gear units and individual gear components.
The statement continued: “FLSmidth MAAG Gear benefits from its strong position in the cement and minerals industry as a member of the FLSmidth Group and can expand its activities on these markets with Darimec. The aim is to become established in the minerals industry as a ‘One Source’ competence centre for gear and drive systems. This has already been achieved in the cement industry.”
The acquisition of Darimec will also widen the range of spare parts offered by FLSmidth MAAG Gear and increase its production capacity. Also, in October 2011 Darimec is set to open an additional production unit measuring 1200m2. The service activities will be expanded to include all mill drives. Specialists from FLSmidth MAAG Gear will be able to perform the complete spectrum of services from installation and inspection to overhaul on all mill drives. The service crew will have additional capacity and grow in size to 35 employees.The Darimec product range encompasses kiln girth gears up to 10 m in diameter, mill girth gears up to 11.2 m in diameter, pinions of all kinds, special reducers up to 10,000 kW, kiln rollers and tyres, overhaul, rebuilding and reengineering of existing gears. The Swiss company FLSmidth MAAG Gear is based in Winterthur is one of the three most important suppliers of gear systems for the cement and minerals industry worldwide. It belongs to parent FLSmidth in Copenhagen.
