Page 14: of Marine News Magazine (November 2020)

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INSIGHTS

Twin Disc hybrid-read Twin Disc hybrid-ready marine transmissions feature a power-take-in (PTI) for the electric motor on the electric motor on the back of the input shaft, offering all the bene? ts of QuickShift technology plus pow technology plus power generation while the vessel is underway on diesel power, even in neutral. In fu even in neutral. In full electric propulsion mode, a master clutch, integrated into the marine transmission marine transmission, is used to disconnect the diesel engine. p power curve into what we would consider more traditional d deep case marine transmissions, and we knew that we had t to have a product line there. Typically, they were above our h horsepower range that we currently sell, but we saw it com- i ing down to lower horsepower.

And then the question was whether we could ? nd a suit- a able partner that was for sale versus developing it ourselves.

W We make gears, we do machine castings, we do propellers.

B But we found Veth, which was the perfect size for us, and t they ? t very nicely: same horsepower range as us, and we s shared a lot of customers. But one thing that really drove us w was their control system and the amount of work that they h had already done in the hybrid space. We really were able to l leverage the controls work that they had already done into o our standard marine transmissions. So, once we added the

Twin Disc m master clutch — which basically makes our marine transmis- s sion hybrid ready—we didn’t have to do nearly the amount o of controls development that we would have without Veth.

So, we gained another engineering team and a very strong sales team in Europe. Their market had historically been

Looking at your present commercial marine order- 95% Europe; they didn’t really have extensive representation book, which products have been in highest demand?

It would be our deep case transmissions—in that 800 to outside of Europe. And we’re very strong in North America, 1,500 horsepower range, a couple toward 2,000—and the South America and Asia, so it ? t really well, and we could controls here in North America. And then in Europe, it’s not be happier with how it’s gone with the acquisition so far.

the Veth thrusters. It seems like the European market shut And we’ve had quite a few notable projects to date: tow- down quicker but also rebounded quicker, so the demand ing companies in the Midwest, applications in the Gulf at Veth came back quicker than it did here in North Amer- Coast in and the Northeast. The one that’s getting the ica. And so their thrusters for the European inland market most press right now is the two electric tour boats for Maid have been pretty strong. Their core Northern European of the Mist at Niagara Falls. ABB did the motors and the market had a pause but has come back relatively well. inverters, and we did the thrusters. I think you’ll see plenty

In addition, I’m starting to see the shift here in the U.S. more come about.

to be more open to hybrid or electric, like in the case of the new Niagara Falls vessels for Maid of the Mist. People

It feels like it’s been a long time coming, but hybrid- are looking to do things, and I think we would have seen ization seems to be picking up momentum here in that shift sooner, but it’s kind of hard to do a lot of these the U.S. How do you see the future in this area? And projects when everyone’s working remotely. Hopefully as what’s Twin Disc’s role and goals in this transition?

we get back to a more normal work environment these This is the hard part and this is why I think you see it things will start to happen more quickly. taking off slowly. Marine, off-highway, construction and oil and gas are not like automotive where Tesla or Toyota, or

You mentioned the Veth acquisition. What were the

Ford or GM can design a hybrid system for a platform of ve- drivers that led Twin Disc toward the acquisition, and hicles. We just went through an internal presentation on one how has Veth ? t in with your portfolio so far?

industrial application, and it’s designing a new system. Best

We saw the azimuth thruster coming down the horse- case, they’ll build 10 of them a year. And that’s what we’re

November 2020 14 MN