Above: Patrick McCallin, sales manager/install technician, Steel Storage Systems, helps crate the new components for shipping to Fontana, California

Moving to a new facility requires distributor to reconfigure its sawing and handling operations

July 2022- Planning out a move ahead of time helps eliminate headaches caused by decisions being made on the fly—especially when relocating an industrial facility that requires extensive attention to layout, setup and testing of machinery. In 2021, distributor Intsel Steel West, which has locations throughout the western United States, was moving into a new facility in Fontana, California. As part of its preparation, the company reached out to Commerce City, Colorado-based Steel Storage Systems for assistance with the layout of its sawing systems in the new building. This included producing a new structural saw system and transplanting and expanding an existing saw handling system that Steel Storage had previously installed at Intsel’s Commerce City facility.

DEVELOP A STRATEGY

At the start of a project, Steel Storage Systems begins with customer objectives to tailor every material handling system. Its systems integrate with saws and other processing equipment to maximize throughput and facilitate bay-to-bay and inside-to-outside material movement. Roller conveyor sections, transfer and cross conveyors are modular and available in various sizes and specified to meet any application or requirement in service centers, mills and fabricating shops.

When Intsel Steel West began operating in Southern California in 2014, Steel Storage supplied a structural saw handling system to its first plant in Fontana. So, when it was moving to a new, much larger second facility, Intsel engaged Steel Storage again.

Steel Storage had been involved with Intsel from the early planning stages of the new facility to integrate the three handling systems, accounting for the location, layout and plant specifics. Implementation consisted of many phases, beginning with the availability of moving into the new plant, delivery and installation of the first system, dismantling and moving the existing system from Commerce City, supplying the additional components, and installation. Minimizing disruption to Intsel’s operations was essential, and maximum utilization of the existing conveyor components was of utmost consideration.

Steel Storage produced comprehensive saw handling systems for Intsel, featuring a powered roller conveyor along with staging and discharge transfer conveyors. The combination of transfers and roller conveyors allows the operator to retrieve, clear and saw material without interruption, which helps the company to achieve maximum value-added output.

The heavy-duty material handling systems are designed to withstand the rugged nature of the application; in Intsel’s case, managing large, heavy and long material. Intsel stocks beams up to 40 inches wide and 65 feet long.

      The old system loaded and ready to ship from Intsel Commerce City

Intsel’s new saw system consists of a 52-foot-long infeed and 40-foot-long outfeed roller conveyor with a transfer conveyor on each end. The second system, patterned from new and existing components, has 129 feet of infeed with four transfers to bring material in from the yard and an opposing transfer conveyor to stage material from inside the facility. The outfeed has 52 feet of roller conveyor and a discharge transfer. The Steel Storage team reconfigured most of the Commerce City system into the second Fontana layout, including 100 feet of roller conveyor and nine transfer arms.

      Prince Milanda (paint and assembly), Patrick McCallin and Jon Millhollin (production manager) load the new components for the second system.

Robert Castaneda, general manager for Intsel Steel West says that key features of Steel Storage Systems’ material handling equipment are “durability, reliability and ease of use.”

LOGISTICS

Steel Storage’s in-house installation team provided the dismantling and turnkey installation service for these systems, including mechanical and electrical tasks. The team installed the first system in fall 2021. The installation of the second system, during June 2022, required coordination between the disassembly of the Commerce City saw system and the production of the new components.

Steel Storage worked closely with operations at both Intsel locations to limit downtime. Trucks left Intsel Commerce City and Steel Storage during the last week of May 2022.

The saw system logistics at the new Fontana warehouse were challenging, with the need to serve material from five bays with a sloped floor and accommodate both overhead crane and forklift loading. In addition, the largest system had to span three warehouse bays and extend outside for yard inventory. Steel Storage tailored each system to fit the bays and handle the inventory range required.

“For the most part, moving to the new facility was pretty smooth,” Castaneda says. “We are fortunate to have an operations team that was willing to make the move a success. They gave up weekends for six weeks and worked long hours to ensure the job got done. We couldn’t have done it without them.”

      Stepped conveyor legs, accommodate the sloped elevation in the Fontana plant.

He says that unexpected issues did arise, particularly the elevation difference of about 3 feet from the north to south ends of the warehouse. “At the time we ordered the HEM 160 conveyor system, we were unaware of the big elevation difference. We had to do some on-the-fly engineering and fabrication at the time of installation. It was a great collaboration between Steel Storage and the Triple-S engineering team.”

In the case of modifying the existing systems, the modularity of the components was of particular benefit to adopting the systems to the new plant, with the incorporation of nearly 100 percent of the roller and transfer sections from Intsel’s Commerce City system.

       the outfeed conveyor for the first system

Steel Storage’s design allowed easy alteration of roller conveyor lengths and transfer arm spacings to the new plant scheme. The ability to reuse components is a testament to the indestructible quality and versatility of Steel Storage’s conveyor design. MM