When the error was discovered, there were 12 weeks left to find a way to supply gears that could meet this very large torque requirement (final requirement ~140,000 ft/lbs), could provide it in the time frame allowed, had to be able to handle minus 50 degree C temps and had to close in 60 seconds.

Tom and the engineering group did a great job of quickly finding a solution for the temperature requirement (something called fine-grain normalization) and working with our partner companies to finalize design. Our purchasing group called in every favor we had with our material suppliers (steel was particularly difficult to get at this point), our welders were true hero's welding 11 straight days at least 12 hours a day. (Their ears and necks were red for weeks.) Our machinists showed equal dedication and every one in the company pitched in to assist with assembly when possible

In parallel to this effort John Mincher was re-designing, building and qualifying our incredible new PC / PLC test stand that can handle up to 3,500,000 in/lbs. To our knowledge there is nothing else like it in the industry - and proved invaluable in testing all of the gearboxes prior to shipment.

In the end it took us 16 weeks to complete the project as opposed to the 12 originally needed. Two of those weeks were missed opportunities on our part and two weeks were the time it took to test each of the gears prior to shippment. Going forward we should reliably be able to achieve a 12-week delivery on these custom applications.