Eickhoff is a global supplier of equipment to both the mining and power generating industries.

The Eickhoff history started in 1864 when the company was founded by Johann Heinrich Carl Eickhoff. It began as a small foundry in Bochum, Germany built to meet the needs of the mining industry by supplying wheels for mining trolleys. In 1914, Eickhoff built the first bar cutting machine in Continental Europe. The first hydraulic cutting machine was launched in 1950, and the first Eickhoff longwall shearer was introduced in 1954.

To continue to better serve the ever changing needs of the industry, the company underwent a major restructuring in 2000, which led to the current configuration of the Eickhoff Group. The Eickhoff Group consists of five major business units: Mining machinery, gear transmissions, cast products, locomotives & coke oven machinery.

Today the Eickhoff Group has more than 1000 employees, including 50 apprentices in six branches throughout the world. While the headquarters has always remained in Bochum, Germany, the company is represented in five continents, having offices and subsidiaries in the United States, South Africa, Australia, Great Britain, Poland, Belorussia, Russia and China.

The in-house foundry at the Bochum headquarters allows us to maintain very close controls on the high metallurgical quality steels used in our products. As a result, Eickhoff produces gearing and shafting that is second to none. The manufacturing facility in Bochum is ISO certified

Today, the uses of high quality Eickhoff gearing, well known in the mining and material handling industries, extend well beyond the coal industry where it all started. In addition to continued success in the coal industry, these products are also utilized in hard and soft rock mining, power plants, quarries, tunneling projects, and more recently in the wind energy industry.

The increasing demand for high quality gearing has caused Eickhoff to expand and build a state-of-the-art gear grinding facility near Dresden, located in Eastern Germany.

The Mining machinery division is the largest division and generates half of the Group revenue. With a world wide population of over 200 shearers, and countless gearcases of different types in various industries, Eickhoff is now expanding into the room and pillar market with a continuous miner.

Eickhoff currently sells over thirty-five shearer loaders annually. The SL 1000 machine is our latest development. It also happens to be Eickhoff's largest machine, weighing 150 tons. The installed power is 3000 hp, and the machine is suitable for coal seams up to 6.80 meters high. This increasing requirement in China was met by Eickhoff through further upgrading of the local service infrastructure and establishing a new service center in Tianjin.

Aside from the development of high seam shearers, other focal points within Eickhoff R& D are improved shearer diagnostics and automation.

The LISA shearer control system, engineered in the USA focuses on the demands of the American market for simplicity and improved serviceability. The new control system reduces wiring, connections and associated components within the shearer's energy distribution box by more than 80%. In addition, the improved machine diagnostics and simplified modular design make maintenance of the machine easier than ever.

The major research activities involve shearer automation, and the development of the EiControlPlus software package. At this time, this software can facilitate different cutting cycles, face end automation as well as cowl automation. Three new core sensor elements for boundary layer detection, collision detection and video monitoring are currently being explored and evaluated in a field trial at a German mine. This development work is in cooperation with the University of Aachen.

At our U.S. facility located in Pittsburgh, PA, we pride ourselves on timely customer service and our ability to offer quality equipment rebuilds that are on time and done at a reasonable cost.

After more than 140 years after its founding, Eickhoff continues a course of recognized leadership in innovation and programmed expansion.

To learn more about the Eickhoff Group and its subsidiaries, visit us at www.eickhoff-bochum.de