Automated slitting line feeds tube plant for a producer in pursuit of rapid growth
February 2023- Automated slitting line feeds tube plant for a producer in pursuit of rapid growth
Zekelman Industries has made a series of tubing company acquisitions over the past 16 years and has purchased EXLTube in Missouri (see sidebar, page XX), while also building new capacity throughout North America. The greenfield growth is just as ambitious as the integration of existing assets. The latest large commissioning and startup is occurring in Rochelle, Illinois, about 80 miles due west of Chicago. The company purchased 65 acres initially, directly off the interstate and a railroad line. The site consists of two buildings totaling 800,000 square feet, Plant Manager Ray Falk says.
Overview of Fagor Arrasate slitting setup at Zekelman Industries’ plant in Rochelle, Illinois
One of the buildings houses four tube mills with in-line galvanizing and an automated slitting line from Fagor Arrasate, which is based in Spain and has a North American sales and service center in Portage, Indiana.
Zekelman’s new mill is designed to process 300,000 tons of tubing per year, running 24-hour days six days per week. Products include electromechanical tubing and conduit, with ODs from 1/2 inch to 6 inches for the EMT, and tubing for solar and fencing applications.
Zekelman’s mill in western Illinois is designed to process 300,000 tons of tubing per year, running 24-hour days six days per week.
The Fagor Arrasate line “is the most highly automated slitting line in the U.S.,” according to Pete Swenson, metals division sales manager for the equipment builder.
The new line can accept coils up to 40 tons, 72 inches wide, in gauges from 0.031 to 0.25 inch with outer diameters up to 78 inches.
The automation features include robotic coil ID/OD debanding; automatic threading; robotic setup and hydraulic lock-up of the slitter head, loop doubler to use when many narrow, light gauge strips are required; offline banding of the slit coil; and automatic OD banding.
Swenson and his team have worked with Falk and Zekelman Project Engineer Manjunath Nayak since late 2019 on the Rochelle design and build. The coronavirus forced the teams to work remotely to plan, from specifications and engineering to approvals.
“We are now in the commissioning and startup phase,” Falk says. Dozens of building contractors were on site during Modern Metals’ tour of the plant.
According to Swenson, “Our advantage is that Zekelman wants automation,” which has been scoffed at by some in the U.S. market but is commonly found throughout European mills and service centers. “The high level of automation is the future for coil equipment and slitting operations. Two people can run this line,” he says.
EMPLOYEES FIRST
“Safety is paramount,” says Nayak. Falk concurs. With automation, “there is less touching the product. The fewer times we can do that, the better off everybody is,” he says. “At Zekelman, we call for all our employees. Teammates are the backbone of what makes us who we are. Everybody understands that, all the way up to the owner. He [Barry Zekelman] bends over backwards to help out employees, to make sure they are safe, are cared for and have the best benefits.”
“It has become increasingly difficult to attract talent to manufacturing careers, so how do you get around that? It’s really a two-pronged approach, the first step is to automate particular manufacturing steps that are highly repetitive and that may have safety concerns for the employees. And second, you must continually offer upskilling and training opportunities so that teammates can grow and take on increasingly technical or leadership positions,” Falk says.
M&A MISSOURI MILL ACQUIRED
Zekelman Industries has agreed to acquire the assets of EXLTube from SPS Companies Inc. Based in North Kansas City, Missouri, EXLTube makes hollow structural sections, mechanical tubing, standard pipe and specialty products. The acquisition will strengthen Zekelman’s steel tube and pipe manufacturing capabilities with the addition of three mills and 530,000+ square feet of manufacturing and warehouse space.
BEST PRACTICES
“Our objective in the design of this facility was to put safety front and center, and to leverage the best practices from our long-standing manufacturing history. To meet enhanced productivity objectives, we also looked to automate where feasible.” He estimates the cost of the Rochelle mill campus, fully installed, will top $100 million.
“This plant gave us an opportunity to lay things out efficiently, to address difficulties we’ve encountered at other mills.” Nayak and Falk have built other Zekelman factories so they came at it knowing what features would be most likely to succeed.
“Up front, we gave [Fagor] all of our specifications, engineering details, and what we needed in terms of electronic components, drives and controls, mechanical needs, and our standardization, which had been tested elsewhere,” Nayak says.
Getting on site is very important. For example, Swenson was there to witness water coming up while contractors were digging for machine foundations and the looping pit. “The water table is higher than what was expected,” he says. “We saw water at about 17 feet down when digging the pit,” Falk says. “Even before that, we were a little concerned because when digging for building columns, we would come back in the morning and find 2 inches of water.” Nayak noted that as a result of this, the frame of sheet metal pilings was designed to keep the water out.
HIGH SPEED
Swenson says the Zekelman team came in with a vision of what they wanted. Automatic OD banding, done offline, allows the operators to get the slitting line back up and running faster for the next coil. Changeovers of the slitter arbor with this system take about 10 minutes. Plus, it’s only 10 minutes from the tail end of one coil until the next coil is threaded and ready to run.” Falk says that this is very fast, in part, because the setups are already programmed in advance so potential slack is reduced by the automation.
APPLICATIONS
Zekelman’s Wheatland and Western Tube brands of EMT and conduit are sold across North America, primarily through electrical distribution partners. Customers include larger distribution companies such as Graybar and Crescent Electric, large electrical equipment OEMs, utilities and big box home improvement stores. “Our products can be found in large projects, like factories, warehouses and data centers,” says Falk.
“Beyond products for electrical applications, this facility will also produce square tubing for solar applications. Our product provides structural support for solar racking and holds solar panels in place. It’s made and melted in America for many markets that we serve, in particular solar applications.”
According to Falk, “there are stringent requirements for these products, so we have specified that our tubing be at the higher end of yield and tensile strengths to provide additional value for the market.”
Zekelman is currently building a hot-dip galvanizing line in the west building on its campus. That line will coat rigid conduit and other heavy-wall product, such as fence framework.
Falk says that Fagor Arrasate’s “commitment to have a presence with its service operation is very important to us. Th ey can have someone here the next day and will stick with us until the problem is fixed.” MM
