Above: Using the Magswitch SPM fixed spreader beam, Maguire can lift plates up to 50 feet long.
September, 2024: Maguire was founded in 1915 as a water tank maintenance and repair company, servicing customers throughout the upper Midwest. Based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the company purchased Master Tank in Minnesota in 1982, which brought Maguire in-house design, fabrication and erection capabilities. With roughly 225 employees, “we are one of the only companies in the country to perform maintenance, fabrication and field construction” of water towers and tanks, says Maguire’s vice president of business development, Brian Cooper. Its customers are now spread across 34 states.
Business has grown steadily over the years, and the company found that, although it had a good amount of space (60,000 square feet), it became inefficient to operate from four separate buildings.
“Product flow was an issue. Our team moved material too many times,” Cooper says. The company recently relocated to a 70,000-square-foot facility, placing all processes under one roof. “Raw material enters at one end and finished goods exit out the other end. This ensures that our product flow improves, boosting efficiency and quality in the process,” Cooper says.
“After building the new facility, our goal is to double our capacity with the same amount of people,” he notes. “All of the equipment is brand new.”
The production team spent about a year researching machinery, including specialty material handling equipment.
FAIL-SAFE
“One of the elements in our new material flow are exterior overhead cranes, which is more efficient for unloading steel. Before, we used forklifts,” Cooper says, which creates a potential safety hazard.
After seeing the product demonstrated at Fabtech, Maguire purchases the switchable permanent magnet (SPM) with telescopic beam from Magswitch Technologies.
Magswitch’s SPM technology ensures failsafe operation, maintaining grip even in the event of power loss, unlike traditional electromagnets. This capability allows Maguire to handle a wide range of plate sizes effectively, from 10 feet to 50 feet long, using a telescoping system with a 40-ton lift capacity, according to Magswitch. The system’s reliability and 100 percent duty cycle align perfectly with Maguire’s production requirements.
According to Cooper, the Magswitch spreader beam, suspended from the overhead cranes, removes plates from material handling carts and places them onto a plasma arc burn table. “It can pick up multiple sheets or one sheet, so we have more flexibility,” he says, adding, “our unit is telescoping, so it can handle short and long pieces of plate. We order different thicknesses and lengths of steel for our water towers.”
MARKET DEMAND
A significant portion of Maguire’s work is to replace “a water tower that is old, or to add capacity to a community because it is growing. We work with cities, towns, rural water systems and private owners—building vessels for new neighborhood developers and new commercial areas,” Cooper says.
Maguire’s elevated storage tanks typically range in volume from 50,000 to 750,000 gallons. “The great thing about the new facility is we can build spheroid water tanks that will hold up to 1.5 million gallons,” Cooper says.
Before building the new plant and outfitting it with the Magswitch material handling tools, “we maxed out at 1.5-inch-thick plate. At the new plant, we can go up to 2.5-inch-thick plate. It is a big deal to make larger tanks that use thicker steel.”
BENEFITS
Employees began working in the new facility during early August. “We had pilot teams installing and testing equipment, making sure product flow happens efficiently,” says Cooper. Maguire’s team is adamant about improving safety. “We wanted to eliminate forklifts inside the facility. They create a danger moving around people, material and equipment. We now have 16 overhead cranes.”
Sourcing heavy steel plate, Maguire cuts, welds and pre-assembles sections of water tanks and towers and erects them on site.
The company used a computer to lay out its floor plan, setting up where trucks enter and exit, inventory and staging, and where every machine should go. “Once flat sheet or plate comes in, it is laid on a plasma table.” After being cut, the cut plate parts are moved to sub arc welding stations and then to blasting for surface preparation.
“We had a small plasma arc table already. We also purchased a new table, twice as large, a 1,200-ton press, and two plates rollers from an Italian company, Seravesi,” Cooper says. From there, the parts are managed by one of two ESAB sub arc welders.
“Then parts go to the blast and paint booths. We purchased a Blastman robot” from Blastman Robotics Ltd. “It has a cab that an operator can sit inside, or it can be programmed to operate robotically.”
Plates are moved from flatbed trailers to plasma cutting, then to welding stations.
FIELD WORK
Maguire’s team assembles the water tanks on site. “What we send out of our fab shop is subassembly pieces that fit on a standard flatbed truck.” Once shipped to the job site, Maguire’s field construction team welds components in the field and then erects the vessel.
“We do welded steel tanks and standpipes, on the ground or as a tower.”
Maguire’s leadership expects “twice as much production out of this facility, the volume depending on the size of the tower, its style and the thickness of the steel used,” Cooper says. “Every one of these tanks is custom built to engineering specifications.
“We are a third-generation company, family owned and operated. We are excited to use the Magswitch because it helps us move plate steel more efficiently and more safely,” he says.
QUALITY
One of the things Maguire desired when building its new facility is health, safety and wellness of the employees, he says. “The entire campus is built around that lighting, temperature control and other extras went into the design. We want to be the fabricator of choice as an employer so our people have a better quality of life.”
Magswitch Technologies’ systems align with Industry 4.0 standards, integrating automation that reduces overhead costs and energy consumption significantly, the company says. “This forward-thinking approach not only improves operational efficiency but also supports Maguire’s commitment to sustainability and innovation within the water tower industry,” a spokesman says.
Magswitch Technologies, 303/468-0662, http://magswitch.com/
Maguire, 605/334-9749, http://maguirewater.com/
