Comprehensive global operations by Schneider enable Cheng Day to offer fast and integrated services to its worldwide customers with networks based on Schneider’s infrastructure.
In a high-tech and heavy machinery factory workshop, cranes move up and down, back and forth steadily, suspending heavy items. In the city, cars move in and out of parking towers, which take in vehicles of various kinds. Along the beautiful meandering River Rhine, a dam is lifting its gate slowly, adjusting the water level of the river. These are all common scenes in daily life. However, behind them there is always a machine supporting them constructed by Cheng Day Machinery.
In 1971, Cheng Day started up its business with just €1,500 from Yuan-Da Industrial Co., the precursor company. Now Cheng Day has 45 years of history, becoming one of the top ten hoisting equipment factories in the world. Its products are sold to different parts of the world for use in places other than factories. Cheng Day has the capabilities of constructing all sorts of elevating and hoisting equipment applied in various places and occasions.
Integrity, efficiency, and practicality
“Threatened by the red supply chain of China, manufacturers in Taiwan have encountered tremendous stress in the past few years,” said Mr. I-Te Pan, President of Cheng Day. China is good at mass production. Considering the cost, now most companies across the world choose to produce “single products in large quantities” in China, where Cheng Day has its plants too. “Single products in large quantities” do not show any difference or variety but only differ in terms of cost and price. Therefore, Pan believes that products made in Taiwan should have their own unique features in order not to be replaced by competitors and find their own way into the marketplace. For example, Cheng Day considers “Integrity, efficiency, and practicality” as its core values. Therefore, Cheng Day ensures the manufacture of high-quality products. Emphasizing a quick service network, the company can solve customers’ problems instantly.
At present, Cheng Day has four major hoisting businesses: cranes, parking towers, elevators, and heavy industries. Lead by the success of Cheng Day’s crane products, the company’s consistent quality earned customers’ trust worldwide. As a Taiwanese manufacturer, Cheng Day uses all Taiwan-made core parts as contactors, controllers, and other components in its products. Due to their location, Taiwanese manufacturers cannot give full scale support in overseas markets. Earlier, our customers in Africa have encountered the issue of cranes breaking down because of insufficient supply of parts and components. It was rather difficult for Taiwanese manufacturers to overcome this problem. To provide the best service, Pan decided to change to another supplier, Schneider Electric, which had a global supply chain to provide high quality and quick services. Now, Schneider Electric has become Cheng Day’s best partner in providing global service.
Pan pointed out that there are many parts and components in a crane. Each part is essential to a crane. If one thing goes wrong, the crane will halt or even be damaged. “Once a crane doesn’t work, the customer will blame Cheng Day, regardless of the parts.” Pan added that because of this, Cheng Day highly emphasizes choosing the best components.
Regarding recent trends in the crane industry, Pan pointed out that the demand for multi-functional cranes has gradually grown, resulting in the decrease of space inside the machines. Due to high load current generated by cranes, cranes require electric control devices subject to fluctuating load. Electromagnetic contactors used by cranes are usually subject to electric outputs that rise and fall in range of multi-folds. Crane contactors must function under very demanding operation conditions. In spite of their compact size, the Schneider electromagnetic contactors far outmatch those of rival brands in terms of current load, mechanical performance, and electric lifetime. In addition to fully meeting design requirements by Cheng Day products, our contactors also excel in improved energy conservation and efficiency, which have become increasingly popular as a result of current trends. Most available rival products feature energy conservation efficiency of 92-93%, which is at least 2% lower than Schneider’s 95%. It may not look so attractive, but it adds up over time when taking into account hoisting equipment’s high power consumption capacity.
In addition to the compact size and power saving advantages, there have been different demands for cranes in recent years. As mentioned, the rise of the red supply chain has brought tremendous threats to massively produced products at the other side of Taiwan Strait. Naturally, Taiwanese manufacturers must find their own paths to differentiate their products. Speaking of cranes, Cheng Day has enhanced its hoisting frequency and weight. In addition to the universally applicable products in the past, Cheng Day has developed cranes used for particular businesses and purposes, approaching the realm of specialized cranes. Pan further explained that there are more and more factories in China that operate 24 hours a day. For common cranes, long hours of operation will result in worn out parts or product malfunction. Therefore, we have to pay attention to safety concerns, for which Cheng Day has already designed related products. In addition, over the past few years Cheng Day has produced corresponding products related to hoisting speed, remote monitoring, and many others.
Building the worldwide first permanent-magnet synchronous motor used in cranes
In the field of hoisting, Cheng Day has already launched a revolutionary product—the permanent magnetic motor. Pan emphasized that cranes need to hoist extremely heavy items, which means their motors require a high starting current. Generally speaking, the startup current of a 10 HP motor may reach up to 180 amps on average. Most equipments run at its operational level quickly after they have been started. Therefore, the inrush current only happen once and current will decrease to normal level. However, cranes are usually operated by people, so it is rather difficult for the machines to be at optimal level goal at once. Most of them stop when they reach pre-determined positions. Operators have to press the buttons repeatedly to gradually drive the cranes to their desirable positions. With this in mind, the cranes must be started over and over again. In a single hoisting operation, the motor of a crane will consume a huge current of electricity. It will over-consume the power in the factory workshop. However, the permanent magnet motor resolves this problem easily.
Since the permanent magnetic motor required by Cheng Day has rather special specifications, there was no suitable product on the market. Therefore, Pan decided to establish a motor factory and manufacture the motor he needed himself. After eight years of R&D and commissioning, the permanent magnetic motor designed specifically for cranes was completed and began operations. Four years later, the first kind of permanent magnetic motor powered cranes developed by a Taiwanese company began to be produced on a large scale, attracting attention from the hoisting businesses around the world.
From the development of this permanent magnetic motor, we can see Cheng Day’s innovation and insistence on making technological breakthroughs. The same standard applies for the selection of parts and components of other products. Now, the ratio of Cheng Day’s products sold locally and internationally is 3:7. For export items, Cheng Day only uses Schneider’s products. Pan pointed out that as Schneider started its business by producing magnetic contactors and that the company is well-known in the business. In a crane’s framework, the magnetic contactor is a core control component; therefore, using Schneider’s products will be very helpful for the sales of Cheng Day’s products.
At present, Cheng Day uses Schneider’s contactors for the elevation, hand-held controllers for buckle pressing, relays, sequence detectors, timer, limit switches, inverters, circuit breaker, and miniature circuit breaker . Pan added that cranes are some of the most important equipment in a factory as most heavy products or semi-products are transported by cranes. If the cranes in a factory malfunction, it will result in a halt of production lines. Therefore, crane stability is highly important. It is also a major concern of Cheng Day to choose reliable and stable components. The reliability of Schneider’s products is well-known in the business. In terms of maintenance, Schneider has a closely-knit global service network that provides a complete backup network for Cheng Day, enabling the company to offer its customers quick and complete services across the world. Pan continued by emphasizing that his business strictly chooses its collaborative manufacturers. Once he has made a decision, he will collaborate with certain companies on a long-term basis. In the future, in addition to products, both parties will continue to exchange technical issues, delving deeply into the business of hoisting equipment.
Source: Reportero Industrial