Refurbishing coil processing lines isn’t just a way to save a buck, it’s good business sense
January 2009 - There’s something about a new piece of equipment that makes a company’s collective heart go pitter-patter--the play of the new buttons, the satisfying noise when it’s first fired up, that new-equipment smell. There’s also something to be said, though, for the piece of machinery that the new equipment will replace. It’s been there through thick and thin.
The attachment associated with a service center’s slitter, for example, will inevitably butt heads with the idea of a shiny, new line. Luckily, the dichotomy of the two desires can find common ground with the consideration of a total rebuild. Even better, A&B Mfg. Co. Inc., Crown Point, Ind., can provide both: new coil processing machinery and the engineering expertise to restore an aging line.
And in today’s economic environment, an added bonus is the peace of mind that comes with knowing that every dollar is spent wisely, as the days of loose spending seem to be on hold for the foreseeable future.
"We estimate that if a customer were to buy some used equipment and have it refurbished, they could save up to 50 percent when compared to acquiring a new line," says Chuck Smith, sales manager at A&B. "There are a lot of things that have to take place, of course. For starters, if they don’t already have the equipment, they’re going to have to find it and purchase it. But if you look, there are used dealers all over the place."
And although it’s unfortunate for any company to go under, bankruptcies may increase the amount of used equipment available for resale. The current economic environment can act as a forest fire of sorts. Those that prevail become stronger. Those that don’t will have to liquidate.
"In our marketplace, the value of the dollar is so stretched," says Barry Hengstler, a sales consultant for A&B who formulates business plans and sales strategies. "No one knows when we’re going to get out of this economic situation. People need to realize that there’s going to be a fair amount of decent equipment that will become available and that having a rebuilder to move in and pick up that equipment and update it with new technology, including drives and componentry, new bearings and new hydraulics, will be beneficial for those who take advantage. I think that A&B is well-situated regarding where the market is going to go in the next couple of years"
Old and new alike
For much of A&B’s existence, it was producing coil processing equipment for Strilich Technologies Inc., also in Crown Point, Ind. The company, a subsidiary of The Bradbury Group, was A&B’s major customer. Most of the cut-to-length lines and slitting lines that Strilich sold were built by A&B. "We had a big engineering department, and Strilich kept us busy," Smith says. But in 2001, Strilich exited the business, forcing A&B to reinvent and introduce itself to the metal processing marketplace.
A&B wasn’t unknown for long. The work it had done for Strilich earned it a reputable position in the coil processing industry.
"We own a Strilich cut-to-length line," says Dan Cates, general manager of the coil processing division at Steel & Pipe Supply, Manhattan, Kan. "Having had that Strilich line here, we were familiar with A&B. So I approached them for the auxiliary pieces of equipment for a temper mill rebuild and installation that we were working on with another company. A&B was competitive, and I was familiar with their equipment and how well it was built. They were a natural to go to when it came to purchasing."
And because A&B’s roots were firmly planted in original equipment manufacturing, it’s only logical that the company can provide custom, new equipment in addition to its refurbishing services. In the case of Steel & Pipe Supply, A&B supplied a new coil conveyor, peeler, coil breaker, shear, coil car and turnstile. All of the components were seamlessly integrated into the temper mill with little worry on Cates’ part.
"There was communication integration that had to happen between A&B and the company that was upgrading the temper mill," Cates explains. "All of the controls were made by the other company, which in turn caused A&B’s engineers to partner with them to work out all of the bugs. It went incredibly smooth. I didn’t have to get in between them once."
This old slitting line
Smith says that although A&B had a reputation for producing equipment from the ground up, refurbishing-type work was always going on in the background.
"We have several old-timers here that have been doing this kind of stuff for at least 30 years," he explains. "We use that expertise to the best of our ability. If someone wants something reconditioned, no matter the manufacturer, we’re able to do that."
And that’s exactly what happened at Admiral Steel LLC, Alsip, Ill. "We had a 24-inch slitting line that was about 30 years old, and while it had been maintained, it seemed to be beyond the face-lift age," says Mark Tolliver, president of Admiral Steel, a service center specializing in high-carbon spring, strip and alloy steels. "It was going to need new bearings and more. It was going to be a complete teardown and rebuild."
Admiral had a pull-through slitter that needed to be updated into a driven slitter, so with a slitter drive, the line would also need a pit crossover table, as well as a pit. And Tolliver was right. It wouldn’t be a small task. In addition, a shear was incorporated, and its 20,000-pound coil car, 20,000-pound uncoiler, peeler table, entry pinch roll, two scrap winders, tension stand and turnstile all received an overhaul.
As far as new equipment was concerned, Admiral added a new injector head crop shear, a new pit crossover table with entry and exit cascades, a new hinge-type exit threading table and a new 40-horsepower DC drive for its recoiler with a new reducer, providing for an increase in the line speed from 150 feet per minute to 350 feet per minute. A&B also added new controls, hydraulics and pneumatics for the entire line. Tolliver’s laundry list of upgrades was anything but short.
"We reconditioned it from one end of the line to the other," says Smith.
The work A&B can perform on a line varies from manufacturer to manufacturer, but the company will go over each coil processing line with a fine-toothed comb.
"First thing off the bat, customers usually want to change out old control systems to new PLC-based controllers," Smith explains. "Usually, it consists of changing drives and creating software. And pits are required much more today than they were in the past. They want it to run a lot faster, and you have to have the pit for the material to accumulate in."
A rebuild can mostly entail incorporating the latest, most sophisticated components, software and controls. But it also comes down to fortification.
"Once we start taking it apart, we can work on the internal mechanisms, checking the bearings, welds and overall structure," Smith says. "If we see where there might have been a weak link, we try to get in there and make it a little more robust."
And its like-new appearance is more than skin-deep.
"Depending on what they do with the rebuild, you can even get a warranty," says Hengstler. "Basically, it goes out with the same warranty that you would get on a new piece of equipment. We’re starting with the base but stripping it down with new components. Lots of times we won’t do a complete rebuild, and therefore, the warranty isn’t available for those situations. Those customers will specify the amount of work that they want to have done. But if they allow us to go in and do a rebuild in its entirety, we’ll warranty it as a new piece of equipment."
In the end, a processing line that seems to have run its last coil doesn’t have to be retired. The old faithfuls can stay in service with a little or, if necessary, a lot of extra oomph. And it’s especially rewarding when the satisfaction of restoration is felt on both sides.
"It’s always nice, of course, if we can recondition something that we’ve engineered," says Smith of jobs that A&B has done on its own equipment. "It’s kind of cool if we get the chance to work on something that we built that’s been in service for, say, 15 years and seeing how we can enhance it." MM
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