The RKM International Roller Company has embraced local and global manufacturing to support clients looking for custom-made rollers with fast turnarounds.
The year was 2020, and the world had recently been plunged into chaos. COVID-19 causes countries to completely shut down. International trade became a quagmire for Australian manufacturers to navigate.
It became clear to RKM International Roller Company director Brett Maiden that things needed to change. The company began working on a Perth-based manufacturing and warehouse facility, which would provide an opportunity to provide better support for customers who needed a quick turnaround.
“It has helped immensely especially in being able to offer short turnarounds and quick deliveries,” Maiden said.
“We have outgrown the current facility in Maddington and are moving into a new bigger premises in Welshpool. The interest in our new heavy duty composite roller has been the key driver in this move. I never would have thought that we would be exporting the composite tube back to our China facility to assist in the manufacture of the HD composite rollers,” he said.
The heavy-duty composite roller was created in collaboration with Wagners. Together, they developed a heavy-duty, lightweight composite tube suitable for handling some of the highest-duty cycles.
It weighs around half as much as a traditional steel roller but maintains the strength and durability to handle heavy-duty applications like iron ore mining.
The roller uses the company’s RS seal package and is also equipped with a primary heavy-duty nylon protective outer dual labyrinth shield. The shield provides additional protection against contaminant ingress and eliminates rock jamming.
Dynamic balancing machines are used by RKM to ensure the rollers meet AS3709 G16 and achieve the best possible total indicated rollout.
“We now have the ability to manufacture the HD composite Roller in our Perth facility and the China factory,” Maiden said.
Related stories:
- RKM Roller Company’s Perth facility benefits customers
- RKM’s Perth facility delivers rewards for customers
- RKM rolls out HD Composite Roller
“The China factory being more automated still outperforms the Perth factory when it comes to faster production and lower overall production costs.
“Another new product we have been rolling out to solve heavy duty impact failures is our Impact Absorption Frames coupled with our heavy-duty hot cast poly impacts, which has proven to be very successful to help with high impact loads and product spillage. These come with fixed slider bars that can be easily removed and replaced.”
A new precision combination laser and milling machine allow RKM to accurately profile the parts with very little clean up. This machine maintains its competitiveness in underground structure and conveyor frames, streamlining the whole fabrication and welding making it easier to program robots when welding together.
“The factory is fully equipped to make anything from scratch,” Maiden said.
“Customers can provide a basic sketch or drawing and then our drafting team will provide a detailed drawing. We can also do a full design review on the roller, structure and frames. With Navisworks we can then help with a new impact frame layout and match up with existing stringer holes.”
RKM stocks a wide range of conveyor components at its Perth warehouse, including off-the-shelf rollers and stock for its supply contracts. The company stocks from 600 belt widths up to 1500 belt widths for stock standard roller solutions but also stocks an array of shafts, tubing, seal kits, bearings, and housings to make application-specific solutions.
