Egyptian National Railways received a number of Hegenscheidt vertical lathes from the German aid scheme. These lathes were designed specifically for making railway wheels and tyres. Because these components are so heavy, these lathes were manufactured in a vertical mode.
By the time these machines had been put in position around the country, the control systems were out of date, and un-serviceable.
Pan Controls was asked to look at the Control System requirements, and to come up with a solution. The initial requirement was to manufacture finished flanged tyres from raw castings. The shapes were involved, including circlip holding slots, lubrication slots etc. These shapes were all modelled on a spread-sheet. In order to minimise to amount of on site development work in Egypt, the shapes were transmitted from a personal computer directly to the Pan controller.
The end result was that Egyptian National Railways were able to restore their Hegenscheidt lathes to a working state, to produce exactly the products required.