Internal Gear Hard Skiving

Traditionally, most internal ring gears in production are not hard finished. This isn’t because there would be no benefits to post-heat treat finishing these gears. For example, hard skiving can be used to remove heat-treat distortion from internal ring gears. The problem is that it has not been cost-effective to do so with any degree of accuracy—especially at production scale.

That needs to change. The increasing demand for electric vehicles—with their inherently higher RPMs and quieter motors—demands much higher accuracy and lower NVH (noise, vibration, and harshness) in the gear system. Hard skiving internal ring gears is becoming a necessary part of meeting all of the expectations that come along with a hybrid or electric vehicle. Unfortunately, suppliers have generally struggled to deploy internal power skiving at scale.

That’s why Systrand has partnered with leading global machine tool manufacturers to develop cutting edge technology for high-quality internal hard skiving of ring gears. These new machine tools benefit from our experience with hybrid and electric vehicle gears and drivetrains, and are engineered specifically to meet our extremely high quality and NVH standards. This is the world’s first market-ready solution for high-accuracy internal gear hard skiving (including helical gears) at production volumes.

Since 1982, Systrand has specialized in precision machining. During that period, high-performance gears and gear testing became increasingly important to the automotive industry—and to us. For the last decade we’ve lived and breathed the NVH standards and requirements. We were among the first U.S. manufacturers to supply high-precision hybrid and electric (HEV/EV) gears.

Today we have millions of hybrid and electric vehicle components in the field. More importantly, we have the tools and processes in place to ensure that our gears perform to ever higher standards. Those processes include an advanced 100% noise signature analysis on all NVH critical components, capable of isolating ghost order noise and other extremely subtle sources of unwanted vibration.

Our work with OEMs often includes collaboration to improve the manufacturability of their components. We can work with your engineers to find new opportunities to get more out of each gear, improve performance and durability, reduce weight and cost, or reconfigure elements in order to improve your bottom line.

“Quality” isn’t just something for the Quality Department to worry about. It’s a commitment threaded through every office and workstation. At Systrand, we are a tier 1 supplier with IATF 16949 and ISO 14001 certifications. Our quality systems, processes, and entire organization are committed to ensuring quality for our customers.

Over four decades, we’ve invested and reinvested in the tools and talent that are vital to our customers’ success. That includes a world class operating system of monitored performance and a structured approach to problem solving proven to ensure reliable manufacturing.

These are metrics/results driven systems, built on Lean Manufacturing principles and Six Sigma methodology, and take into account activity-based costing and overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) while maintaining low- to zero PPM. Those systems form a foundation from which we can pursue continuous improvements and cost savings for our customers.