Above: McNeilus Steel serves a variety of customers that require heavygauge, high-strength materials
April, 2025- During the fourth quarter of 2024, McNeilus Steel Inc. installed a cut-to-length stretchleveling line from Red Bud Industries that has automated features and promises to fulfill customers’ laser quality blanks needs more quickly.
Steve Klomps, operations manager for McNeilus Steel, says the company has started up its new 84-inch-wide by 1/2-inch-thick line in Dodge Center, Minnesota. The line accepts master coils weighing up to 40 tons. “We have five Red Bud cut-to-length stretcher levelers. We purchased one in 2005— their first model.
This one is replacing that line,” Klomps says. The line is built to manage thicknesses beyond the “rated” capacity. “We are running up to 3/4 inch thick, 60 inches wide, grade 50. We are ranging from 16 gauge all the way to 3/4 inch. This range gives us a lot more capacity and capabilities,” says Klomps.
END MARKETS
McNeilus serves a variety of customers that require heavy-gauge, high-strength materials. “We are big into power, agricultural equipment, truck frames and bodies, garbage trucks, cement mixing vehicles and the trailer business,” according to Klomps. “We are running from commercial quality up to 110XF, grade 50, Grade 80; and up to 130,000 minimum yield [ultra-high strength]. That goes into frame rails for commercial vehicles.”
The company also processes armor plate for military vehicles.
WHAT’S NEW
Klomps says the new line at Dodge Center is standard Red Bud equipment “but the automated coil loading is new. We used to have a 24-foot-long stretcher; that’s now 40 feet long.” Also, the line includes a dust collection system, “which helps catch and remove most of the loose scale that’s on the coil.
McNeilus Steel has worked with Red Bud Industries since 2003, and owns five Red Bud CTL lines. One more will be installed next year in Tennessee.
“This new line has a looping pit” that’s 16 feet deep and 30 feet long. “We can loop material up to 3/8 inch thick uninterrupted. We used to run that material in stop/start mode. It [the looping pit] really makes things more efficient for us,” Klomps says.
“In our old line, we ran steel at 150 feet per minute (fpm). Now we run at 630 fpm, gaining tremendous throughput.”
TRANSITION
From the original 2005 line to the new line, Klomps’ team created “a chart of what we would have to do with leveler and stretcher settings. Every 1/2-inch coil does not have the same physical properties. The new line,” he explains, “performs a stress/strain test measuring the yield of the coil and tells us how far to stretch it. It has internal knowledge of what should happen.
McNeilus Steel’s operators have an average of 12 to 15 years of experience running coil lines.
“We average 12 to 15 years of experience among operators who run these lines. The transition here was really quick. We have a great layout. The touchscreens present a little learning curve but the process is still the same. It took us two to three weeks to get our guys up to speed.”
He says Red Bud provides that on-site training and then “comes back as often as we need, allowing us to learn new capabilities [in order to] produce flat, memory-free sheets. It is easy, friendly and quick to learn the software and programs.”
UPSIDES
“I think our biggest advantage is with the speed. If you need a coil tomorrow, we can put it in a schedule and get it to you,” Klomps says. “So many of our competitors are using stretcher leveling. We were one of the first to use it and many caught up. The line, plus our own trucks and our own high level of service,” help keep McNeilus competitive.
Another advantage is McNeilus ability “to produce more than standard sizes—up to 60- foot-long sheets. A customer may need a 92-inch-long sheet, rather than a 10-foot sheet. We have that flexibility.”
FLATNESS
The Red Bud line can achieve +/-0.03-inch tolerance for length and one half to one quarter of ASTM standard on flatness. “So many of our customers laser cut the sheet. The sheets come flat off the line, and no laser heads are crashing into skeletons,” Klomps says. “That is the norm of what’s expected in the industry.”
Part of the equation for achieving tight tolerances, is “we have to buy good quality mill coils, free of camber, edge wave and center buckles. Then we can produce quality stayflat material. It stays consistent with bending, too,” he says.
The Red Bud line can achieve +/-0.03-inch tolerance for length and one half to one quarter of ASTM standard on flatness.
PARTNERSHIP
McNeilus Steel has worked with Red Bud Industries since 2003. “We have put in five CTL lines,” and one more will be installed during first quarter 2026 in Morrison, Tennessee. “We have a terrific partnership with them. From the design stage, they have lines that allow us to run longer length and customize features.”
Klomps cites the advantage of Red Bud’s 24-hour call service. “We run two shifts here, so it’s great that there is always someone available. We buy press brakes, lasers and other equipment, but Red Bud is No. 1 in terms of support and what they can do for us.”
Planning is vital when making such a significant investment. “When we purchased this line, we were quoted a 24-month lead time,” and sometimes, such equipment design/build/installation phases will go out to 40 months, Klomps says. “But this is a longterm project. Technology is always changing. Red Bud will upgrade on the fly to try to make things even easier for operations.”
McNeilus seeks to work with vendors and suppliers “that see our business as a partnership. We want to get the help we need and help our customers by adding materials for different applications.” For example, says Klomps, “AR 250 is a new grade for us.” It is abrasion resistant steel used in machinery that handles cement and aggregate.
“Working with our mill partner, the grade works well for the customer. Lighter, stronger materials are important to creating new products, and better for the end consumer.”
HIGH CAPACITY
Dean Linders, vice president of marketing and sales for Red Bud Industries, likens the 2005 version of the CTL stretcher leveler to “a Model T.” Nonetheless, Red Bud is upgrading the old line with many of the features found on the new lines, and it will be going to another customer. The 2024 model that McNeilus installed “is bigger, with much higher capacity and it is a lot faster,” Linders says. “The first line ran in stop-start mode, which is fine for heavier gauges but for light gauge that takes a long time to run a coil.”
Linders says the new lines include big monitors that tell operators what’s going on with the equipment at all times. “It’s showing vital signs, like an EKG. Several 42-inch monitors display relevant data about current performance, timing and motor load.”
One feature “shows all pressures of the cylinders on the stretcher, and times the stretch cycle. We promote that because we have the fastest cycle times in the industry. We also time the shear cycle.
“There is a lot of other automation,” Linders says. “The guarding and safety systems are on par with what you would find in Europe or Australia.” He says that sometimes, clients worry that fencing and guards may negatively impact the ability to run as fast, “but when designed as part of the system at an early stage, it actually helps the performance of equipment.”
Comparing previous models to the latest iterations in terms of safety, automation and productivity is “like going from the original Star Trek to the Next Generation.”
McNeilus Steel Inc., 800/733-6336, http://mcneilus.com/
Red Bud Industries Inc., 618/282-3801, http://redbudindustries.com/
