Indian gearbox manufacturer Involute Powergear plans to introduce its new range of shaft-mounted gear units with taper clamps to the South African market at Electra Mining Africa 2014.

These units are popular in Norway, Cyprus, the Philippines and Israel and are ideal for mines and quarries as the taper bushes are made of stainless steel, which prevents fretting corrosion.

Involute, which is India’s largest manufacturer and exporter of shaft-mounted gear units, sees plenty of potential for more business in South Africa and the rest of the continent.

“We see a lot of potential in the entire African continent. Today, we trade with over six African nations,” reports Involute MD Alok Goyle.

Involute is seeking to set up a distributor network in South Africa, where openpit mining company Afrimat is one of the group’s big clients and uses Involute products at its stone quarries.

Goyle tells Mining Weekly that Involute aims to produce the best-quality product at the lowest possible price at its three Indian plants – something which is of much interest to the South African market. “From our past Electra Mining experiences, we find that South African clientele is very concerned about the price and not so much about the quality. In the past, the trend was a direct contrast,” he states.

All Involute’s gearboxes are manufactured at its three production plants in India, which are equipped with state-of-the art computer- numerical controlled machining centres and gear manufacturing machines. All its systems are ISO 9001:2008 certified and its products are 100% traceable and interchangeable.

Involute is Asia’s oldest manufacturer of the shaft-mounted gear units with extensive experi-ence in manufacturing these particular units. Today, its units are sold in over 30 countries in competition with the biggest brands available in the market.

Involute manufactures the shaft mounts in four different ranges with each range comprising about seven to eight sizes.

The shaft-mounted gear units and gear unbal-ance exciters are extensively used on conveyors, screens and bucket elevators in mines and stone quarries. Involute’s worm drive slewing rings have applications ranging from man-lift trucks to harnessing solar energy. Its counterflow mixer gearboxes, which have a five-year guarantee, have applications in concrete batching plants, block making plants and glass factories, among others.