In 2017 Lucchini RS, the Italian manufacturer of high-end railway components, invested R200 million in a new production facility in Germiston in Ekurhuleni to machine railway wheels. It was the first international forged wheel manufacturer to make some investment in manufacturing facilities in South Africa. The group partnered with black South African investors Kusini Investments who currently hold a substantial number of shares in the local company. Previously Lucchini had actively traded forged railway wheels and axles in South Africa for over 13 years. The company was subsequently awarded long-term contracts by strategic customers to supply locomotives, freight wagons and passenger coach wheels.
The group committed to localise wheel machining in the country and to subsequently create jobs locally. Lucchini SA was created to complete the manufacturing process of blank wheels imported from Italy. This included machining, inspection and delivery to the end customer such as Transnet and Bombardier.
Since its inception in South Africa the company has continued to invest in its production facilities and can now produce up to 30 000 wheels annually. Projects include the production and supply of 34” and 36” wagon wheels and locomotive wheels.
Lucchini SA have recently installed a Honor Seiki VL 160CM-2R, a large, high precision, heavy duty vertical turning center with an extra wide dual vertical column and comes with live tooling. The machine has been supplied by PBS Machine Tools
Honor Seiki VL 160CM-2R – a large, high precision, heavy duty vertical turning center
Now Lucchini SA has commissioned an advanced Honor Seki vertical turning center, imported from Taiwan, that has a 1.6m diameter table. The VL 160CM-2R double ram machine comes equipped with Capto C10 for turning operations and a fully programmable angle drilling head with HSK100 tooling, enabling final turning, drilling and milling in a single setup.
“This machine allows us to streamline operations significantly. With its C-axis interpolation and live tooling we can perform complex milling tasks with greater efficiency and precision. We can now do turning, drilling and milling processing on one machine and in one setup,” explained Nico Myburgh, Operations Manager at Lucchini SA.
“The Honor Seiki VL 160CM-2R is a large, high precision, heavy duty vertical turning center with an extra wide dual vertical column and comes with live tooling. The VL-160 series is built for heavy duty turning of medium size work pieces weighing up to 10 200kgs.”
“In our case our machine has two rams that move up and down, but we’ve also got a programmable drilling head that can drill at any angle. If you count up all the extra axis, essentially you can call it a 7-axis machine. The machine is very technologically advanced, especially after all the extra specifications that we have added.”
“Upgrades include a 300rpm spindle, 70-bar hydraulic clamping pressure, and high-pressure coolant through the spindle for efficient chip removal during deep-hole drilling. The machine also features automatic tool changers on both sides, each with 20 tools, and an extended chuck stroke of 140mm to 75mm programmable and 65mm manually adjustable, allowing for both internal and external clamping without jaw changes.”
The Honor Seiki VL-160 series is built for heavy duty turning of medium size work pieces. These work pieces can weigh up to 10 200kgs
“It’s been a long project that started in 2019 and has come to fruition in September 2025 after the machine landed in South Africa in June 2025. A lot of thought went into the planning and the whole project is a fairly sizeable expense. Special foundations had to be built as the machine weighs 53 tons. The weight of the machine is high because of the solid meehanite casting base. This heavily ribbed structure reduces thermal distortion and vibrations during heavy cutting. To accommodate the machine, we went to a depth of 1.5m of solid concrete for the foundation.”
“On the CNC control side, we specified Siemens, which has the sister tooling that operates on the retract programme. This is because if you have a power outage unexpectedly, you can retract to where it last was. What happens is the ram will go 5mm away and it gradually starts ramping in so you don’t have to re-machine the whole wheel from the start. This saves us a huge amount in machining time.”
“We specified the upgrade of many of the functions on the machine, which in the end turned out to be quite a few, compared to what you get on a standard machine, so as to meet our machining requirements.”
“We have purchased the Honor Seiki machine from PBS Machine tools, who have been very involved with the project from the beginning. Honor Seiki is a company within the Tongtai Group, which is represented by PBS Machine Tools in South Africa. We have an agreement with them, as we do with Siemens, that they will keep all the critical spares in stock on consignment so that we do not have any lengthy shutdowns having to wait for spares to be imported or fitting into a schedule of a service technician.”
“On the infrastructure side we extended our gantry by 63m to assist in the loading and unloading of the wheels. Like our other machines we have also added a tilting machine that was manufactured locally. Essentially the wheel is moved automatically by conveyor and once loaded the tilting machine rotates the wheel or turns the wheel 180 degrees. This allows us to machine the wheel on both sides without any human intervention. We can also stop the turning process at 90 degrees if we need to.”
“The tilting machine works with rollers and sensors so the wheel cannot fall out and machining will only take place according to the programme with the sensors controlling the operation.”
“The chuck is also not a standard chuck. We have imported a chuck from Spain that has been manufactured by TDG. It is an internationally recognised brand that is right up there with the best.”
Local installation
“Before the machine was exported to South Africa from Taiwan we sent 20 wheel sets for proof machining. Additionally, we sent our foreman and maintenance manager, along with service and installation personnel from PBS Machine Tools for two weeks of training at the factory in Taiwan.”
“Our South African team oversaw the approval process and received comprehensive training in operation, programming, maintenance, and disassembly, ensuring full local capability for installation and ongoing support.”
The project that started in 2019 and has come to fruition in September 2025. Since its inception in South Africa Lucchini SA has continued to invest in its production facilities and can now produce up to 30 000 wheels annually
“This resulted in a first for us. The installation of the machine was done by South Africans and we did not have to rely on an engineer from Taiwan. They were always ready and willing to help us via the electronic means that we have at our disposal and we did have many conversations. But still it was a very big achievement by my guys.”
Funding
To fund the import of the Honor Seiki a strategic partnership agreement was signed with the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (dtic) as part of the National Industrial Participation programme (NIPP) and Wabtec, a leading supplier of value-added, technology-based products and services for freight rail, passenger transit and select industrial markets worldwide. Through its subsidiaries, the company manufactures a broad range of products for end markets such as locomotives, freight cars, passenger transit vehicles and power generation equipment, for both original equipment and aftermarket applications. Some of their products include brake systems, wagon bogie equipment and door systems for transit vehicles. Wabtec also builds locomotives.
Under the agreement, Wabtec Corporation, a US company and South Africa subsidiary Wabtec South Africa will continue its localisation work and industrial participation to the benefit of the South African rail transport industry and the economy.
The project is an upgrade of existing machining capabilities as well as an expansion of capacity. A number of the drilling operations previously had to be outsourced, which are now done in-house. This leads to cost savings and more quality control, which is a high priority for Lucchini SA. The company operates in an area of industry supplying product to OEMs that require safety and reliability. The initiative is expected to deliver cost savings, improved quality control, and reduced lead times for customers.
As a subsidiary of the renowned Lucchini RS Group S.p.A, Lucchini SA is a leading manufacturer of high-quality forged railway wheels, axles, and wheelsets for locomotives, freight wagons, and passenger coaches. Lucchini RS cater to all types of rolling stock, from high-speed trains through heavy haul to light rail such as mass transit systems.
Railway wheels are made of prime quality steel heat-treated for an optimised service performance, designed for all applications with a diameter range from 300mm up to 1 500mm and an axle load up to 45 ton.
Besides the manufacturing of high-end railway components Lucchini RS also has its own forging and casting divisions. All wheel blanks are supplied from its own mill in Italy. Lucchini RS also manufactures raw materials for various applications such as power generation, oil and gas, offshore platforms, cement works, industrial plants, iron and steel production plants and shipbuilding, as well as producing a large variety of tool steel grades for plastic moulding, pressure die-casting and extrusion.
“As part of the Lucchini RS Group, we are proud to contribute to the reliability and safety of rolling stock across South Africa. Our products support everything from high-speed trains to heavy haul and mass transit systems, keeping cities and industries moving,” concluded Myburgh.
For further details contact Lucchini SA on TEL +27 (0) 10 109 7080 or visit www.lucchinisa.co.za
