At the beginning of December, the 300,000th SPN switch-on gearbox 3AH3 could be delivered to our client Siemens in Berlin. Today´s version of the 3AH3 was the first switch-on gearbox – of several type sizes today – which SPN developed together with Siemens at the end of the 70s. At that time, the gearbox was called 3AF, which many older SPN employees certainly still know. The 3AH3 charges in medium voltage switches the in and out springs, which is why the switches are also called “spring storage switches” (the energy is stored in springs). As soon as in the 80s and 90s, the gearbox 3AF was delivered directly to Siemens plants and OEM partners in India, Egypt, South America and plants in Europe. In the 90s, an “update” of the gearboxes was carried out for the use in switches with even higher power, with the dimensions and design not being changed. Since that, it has been called 3AH3. Also nowadays, SPN delivers gearboxes to Siemens plants worldwide, e.g. China, India or Mexico. But, two thirds of the annual quantity are still delivered to our client Siemens in Berlin, where we provide our gearboxes in a consignment stock. Rainer Nowatschek (in the picture, third person from the right), nowadays responsible for the assembly of the switch-on gearboxes, has been in the assembly team since serial number 181,000 and participated in all assembly optimisations, ranging from the workbench assembly in the 90s, to the conveyor assembly up to 2015, to today´s assembly in a system working place, in front of which this picture was taken.
We congratulate the whole production team and especially our assembly team on this successful number!
