Above: Traditional slitting requires an operator’s manual intervention, which can lead to fatigue and errors.
August, 2024- Slitting has long been a laborious process. Not necessarily the process of slitting full-width coils into multiple coils (mults), but setting up tooling, strip threading and line configuration until it is fully ready to go, plus the subsequent handling of the mults post slitting. When performed by skilled slitter operators, setups require significant manual intervention, including lifting and fitting of individual knives onto the slitter arbors which can weigh more than 20 pounds. The process can take as much as 45 minutes.
On the tail end of the slitter, the mults must be rewound, strapped and packaged—all equally time-consuming tasks.
SES-Salico, a joint venture encompassing Alliance, Ohio, Madrid, Spain, and Lecco, Italy, builds metal processing equipment. It is bringing more automation with its lines to North American customers, much like systems in use elsewhere. Existing SES-Salico customers in the United States include Nucor Corp., Steel Dynamics Inc. and Arconic.
Tony Latham, sales manager, and Cesar Martin, sales and project manager, describe the numerous benefits of automation.
There has been a big shift in recent years. It used to be only OEM and Tier I customers that sought a high level of automation, Latham says. “But now, because the labor market is so challenging, service centers are also looking to automate processing.”
It is tough and costly to recruit, train and retain line operators, he says. “It’s difficult to get people with the right skill levels. After Covid, things have not returned to normal. Staffing is still very hard.”
There are a lot of manual and production-critical elements on a traditional slitting line, Latham says, but the “associated stresses are significantly reduced with automation. It just makes for a more inviting career.”
Using automation is not necessarily a tool to reduce staff but to give companies a wider pool of individuals from which to recruit, who can be trained quickly to run their lines, while also providing a better work environment to improve employee retention.
A tooling setup robot (below) can practically guarantee zero errors and the elimination of excess scrap.
STAFFING WOES
Traditional slitting is among the processes that have the longest nonproduction times, according to Martin, and that is “largely due to the high levels of manual intervention required. The lines are less efficient due to a dependency on operational skills.”
Further, when an operator doesn’t show up to work or is less experienced in the job, production and product consistency coming from the slitting line might be compromised. “When automation is introduced, it reduces a shop’s dependency on ‘Mike’ or ‘Joe’ to maintain consistency. The equipment standardizes the outcome,” he says.
“With the use of modern HMIs, sensors and actuators spread throughout the line, operators have moved on from a predominately active role to a supervisory role, monitoring the line from the desk to make sure material is processing correctly,” says Martin.
SAFETY FIRST
One of the terms SES-Salico uses is “handsfree,” says Latham. “You can operate the line from the control desk rather than by handling the material and tooling manually. That makes the work environment more appealing, but more importantly, the further away from the line you are, the safer you are. Safety is the No. 1 priority,” he adds. In the European Union, “we have a different approach to safety,” says Martin. “The burden of safety is on the equipment supplier. We have to certify that the line is safe. In the States, the burden for safety is on the company that owns the line.”
AUTOMATION SES-SALICO SOLUTIONS
• Hands-free” coil loading and strip threading
• Double-eccentric Capstan slitter • Cassette-type slitter for thinnest gauges
• Tooling setup robot with auto washing station and auto knife inspection
• Progressive slitting and traversing tension unit
• Slitter strip tensioning and anti-flutter equipment
• Mult-tensioning units
• Automatic separators
• Mult width measurement
• Single- and double-loop systems
• Scrap chopper or baler
• Offline coil banding and automatic banding
• Tailored complete packaging systems
• ID banding, radial wrapping, robot dunnage and pallet handling
• ERP system integration with HMI-generated cut charts
Using SES-Salico’s safety features, “the operators cannot enter hazardous zones without the line stopping. Risks cannot be totally removed from any workplace but the goal is to identify risk and eliminate or mitigate the opportunity for accidents. SES-Salico has never had an incident that was attributed to a lack of safety features on their lines and most importantly—no fatalities,” Martin says.
Decoiling, rewinding, strapping and packaging are other areas that can be automated.
RUNNING TIME
Another key consideration for automation is to increase the productivity of the equipment. SES-Salico customers use varying metrics, such as higher tonnage per hour, or tons per operator, or tons per shift.
“Some automation allows you to run the line with fewer operators, or be able to run multiple tasks with one operator,” Martin says. There are other targets, like being able to achieve a higher mix of products, reduce errors, prevent the necessity of starting over, and avoid having to scrap material.
“We have a customer operating a Salico line that previously used two operators. After brainstorming with us, the company runs three shifts with only one operator per shift, which dramatically increased the customer’s tons per man hour.
“There are targets to pursue that are less dependent on the physical labor of an operator. The quality of the end product should not change just because the operator has changed,” notes Martin.
Historically, slitting lines would take a long time to set up before you even began to process material. Automation helps tackle that problem but SES-Salico is also implementing new machine designs that help customers to maximize production time. “Equipment innovation is part of the equation in reducing setup times.”
COMMITMENT
According to Latham, SES-Salico is committed to the North American market. “Our customers want comprehensive service and so we have had Salico engineers from Europe permanently located here in the States since the joint venture was established in 2015, to further strengthen the significant capabilities of SES.”
“Salico was not looking merely for an agent approach, to have someone in the region to identify prospects and ring a bell when they appear. That was not commitment enough,” Martin explains. “We wanted a local footprint as well as local manufacturing capability to supplement and support our efforts regionally.”
During installation and commissioning, he continues, engineers and technicians from both SES LLC and Salico provide on-site services. “They have eyes on the equipment at all times and, often, it’s the SES engineer who goes in first to troubleshoot any issues. The customer needs only one contact to manage any situation.”
Salico’s early successes in the U.S. have been mainly with processors of automotive and other surface-sensitive materials. “Our equipment is well accepted within this niche market,” says Martin. “We hope to tackle the wider market with our portfolio,” he adds, but the demand throughout North America is vast “and that is where we rely on the tremendous support network available through SES LLC.”
Salico has made many significant advances, he says, because it partners with customers early on at the planning stages. In one specific case, after a customer described its needs, SES-Salico trialed new designs and processes “to reach our mutual goals of higher output and efficiency. Such partnerships have helped us to understand the real needs of a processor client and develop better equipment solutions,” Martin says.
SES-Salico delivers processing lines that handle coils up to 105 inches wide, and a range of thickness from 0.004 up to 1 inch.
HIGHER YIELDS
One factor processors should consider in the move toward increased automation is the elimination of reject-related scrap. “Every run is different depending on the production requirement and the associated cut schedule and clearances,” Martin explains. “Historically, the operator was solely responsible for calculating the setups the spacing and knife selection.”
More recently, computer programs perform these calculations and generate the cut charts. “In either case, a mistake in loading the setup can mean the line is generating scrap material or, at best, that the setup has to be unloaded and reconfigured. The longer it takes to detect the error, the worse impact the error has on the job’s profitability.
“One of the automation options available is the tooling setup robot, which leads to practically zero errors, reducing lost time and material. Excess scrap and re-runs are virtually eliminated,” says Martin.
“Salico has been providing this level of automation for a long time and we aren’t merely reacting to the new market demand with fi rstgeneration systems; we have the experience and proven technology already,” Latham says.
