Controlling Their Own Destiny in
Material Supply, Quality and
Production Costs

Stamping Four Million Pounds of Long-Length Plate Steel Blanks Required Monthly to Feed Large Tank Production, Texas Fabricator Commissions New Sesco Cut-To-Length Line

Numerous process industry leaders throughout the petrochemical, oil, gas, paper, plastics and other markets count on LIDE Industries (Mexia, TX) for a broad spectrum of large storage tanks to store massive amounts of chemicals, process water, liquid waste materials, and other liquids. LIDE tanks are offered in both carbon steels and stainless steels and they are experts in meeting the production specification guidelines and codes for each industry served (including API, FDA, EPA, AWWA, and NFPA). Tank sizes up to 18 feet in diameter can be shipped to any location via truck. (Larger tanks can be built on location.)

More than 7,000 tanks are fabricated annually at LIDE…and it requires a lot of thicker plate steel to produce that many units. A key part of the equation in satisfying customer delivery requirements is found in their ongoing process of supplying steel plate blanks for rolling, welding and other downstream manufacturing processes. That can be a challenge when four million pounds of steel every month is required for this process.

A new Cut-To-Length Coil Processing Line from the Sesco Products Group division of Coe Press Equipment (Sterling Heights, MI) is now helping them to ensure the availability of raw material inventories, improved quality, the elimination of secondary material preparation processes, and most importantly, the savings of hundreds of thousands of dollars annually in lower material purchase and scrap costs.

Their “Bottom Line” Decision To Cut It Internally

Previously, LIDE contracted to have plate steel cut to useable blank shape and delivered on a daily basis. But there were issues in controlling their own destiny with raw materials, as well as quality issues with the squareness of the blank (they would often have to add an additional process of shearing up to ½” of the material to square it up for downstream welding processes).

Bobby Lide, company Vice President states, “We’re bottom line guys here. We figured if we were using three to four million pounds a month and it was costing us $30,000 to $40,000 per month to have our material cut, the price of the machine vs. cutting our own material became a “no-brainer.” We figured it to be about a two year or less pay off.  That was the key reason we purchased the Sesco CTL system.”

When they decided to become their own toll processor by processing blanks from delivered coil stock, they contacted a few machine suppliers including Coe Press Equipment. The solution resulted in a Sesco Products Group 72” wide Reel/Straightener/Feeder with Hydraulic Shear and Drop-Type Stacker Unit.  The system can handle coil from 12” to 72” widths and up to 60,000 pound coil weights. It can process .250” x 72” wide cold rolled steel (thicker material processing often includes .375” x 60” work), as well as .187” x 72” stainless steel work. It provides a fast line speed of 60 FPM processing. A description of the Sesco line follows:

• Large coils are loaded on the traveling coil car via a remote jog pendant, simplifying the loading on to the coil reel and providing a pre-staging for the next coil (and the coil car tracks extend outside of the building for easier loading).
• The traveling coil reel is built with extremely heavy-duty components and an all-welded construction, as well as providing for automatic coil centering to assure proper coil location. During the uncoiling process, the O.D. is laser monitored and back tension is compensated for as the coil diameter depletes, important with thicker material processing.

• Cut-to-length blanks are dropped onto an air operated drop stacker unit. A heavy duty forklift removes the heavy quantity of cut-to-length blanks. A LIDE CTL operator performs a “hands-free” coil threading via the Panelview 1000 touch screen operator interface. The system is capable of both English and Spanish language communications. A secondary control unit is strategically located near the blank exit station of the Sesco CTL line.

  Safe and hands-free material threading can happen in minutes by just a single operator because of its hydraulic peeler/threader/hold down station.
• To ensure precision material straightening and blank length shearing, a combination seven roll (5.6” diameter rollers) straightener/feeder system gives LIDE operators simplified coil length/width and processing speed parameter control via a simple to use operator interface.
• Next, a hydraulic shear delivers appropriate blank lengths (up to 240”) in a fast and precise manner, dropping the blank onto an air operated drop stacker unit (with a hydraulic scissor table capable of handling a full coil weight of 60,000#).
• A set of positive driven conveyor rollers position stacks to the exit conveyor for removal by a heavy-duty forklift.
• And the entire system is controlled at a single location by a user-friendly Panelview 1000 touch screen system with English/Spanish capabilities (a second push button control station provides a second operation point for the stacker functions)

Here are a few additional thoughts from Bobby Lide on their related manufacturing challenges and the positive results the Sesco Cut-To-Length Line has brought them:

On Controlling Their Material Supply Destiny…

“Most of the time, we could get our material when we wanted it, but our large quantities demanded that we buy it 90 days ahead of time at a barge load at a time from overseas vendors. You can’t logistically or cost-effectively just call up and buy 5 or 6 loads a day. We needed the cut-to-length line because with one hurricane or one boat sinking or some other type of disaster, then you’re in trouble. We decided it was better to haul coil up here instead of hauling cut plate.  This led to saving a penny a pound, plus it was easier to haul it to our location. The material shipping was costing us twice when you think about the fact that they move it off the barge to a holding facility and then from the holding facility to the cut length facility. And that had an effect on the overall material cost and vendor delivery issues that we don’t have to worry about today.”

On Holding Dimensional Tolerances And The Incurred Costs…

“When we hired others to cut our blanks, they couldn’t quite hold our needed tolerances. This resulted in our needing to square up the blank by shearing approximately a ½” from their delivered plate stock.  Our CTL line holds closer than an 1/8” to our required tolerances…and all we really need is 3/16”…and most important, when they lay it on the plate roller, they don’t have to measure because it’s already square.  We did the math…7,000 tanks a year and, on average, there are six sheets per tank and a lot of our tanks have 8 or 10 sheets…that’s 42,000 sheets of material. That’s 42,000 cuts that we’re saving, plus at 42,000 sheets of material at ½” long. Now factor in 5 minutes per cut times two men…that would lead to nearly $25,000 dollars per year in just labor savings just by eliminating that extra process of squaring the plate.”

On Processing Cosmetically-Challenging Stainless…

“We can process 72” wide materials at quarter inch thicknesses.  When we switch from mill-edge steel to a stainless material, we have to stop and perform some minimal cleaning to remove any scale left on the machine’s rollers with a simple chemical wash. For both cleaning processes and for maintenance needs, the rolls can be removed easily with a cartridge type of system rather than having to disassemble the whole straightener.  It makes it much easier and quicker to clean, inspect, replace or whatever.  But as far as cleaning it, it’s a simple process of running a chemical through the rollers.”

On Additional Business Opportunities...

“We’re giving a real look at offering steel service center-types of material supply to other local businesses with similar material needs. A second shift crew is being considered. In Texas, we work half a day, every day, whether we need to or not. Our half days are 12 hours, so the CTL line operators work 12 hour shifts and they might take a off at noon on Saturday, but I think normally they work, they like to work 5 or 6 days a week, 12 hours a day. So really, we just need another 8-hour shift. I don’t think there would be another OEM-based material supplier like this in the area. We might be able to coordinate some overflow work needed by local steel suppliers, especially since we’re strategically located between Dallas and Houston. And let’s not forget about the steel supply needs of our Louisiana facility. I think we’ll be cutting at least two loads of material a day for them, approximately 4 or 5 coils a day.”

On Coe’s Responsiveness…

“We had an issue with the machine going down that was our fault. We called Coe and the next day we had the part in here to get it fixed. Our experience with Coe and their rep H&O Die Supply (Dallas, TX) is that when they say they’re going to do something, they deliver upon that promise. In that case, we were only down probably 24 hours at the most.  And when things like this happen, and they do, we can’t afford the luxury of a week to ship a part or fix the machine. That would really hurt us real bad.”

More Information On The Companies

Coe Press Equipment Corporation, with headquarters in Sterling Heights, Michigan, is a leading producer of pressroom feed equipment including servo roll feeds, power straighteners, coil reels, and complete coil feed systems.  They design and build fully-integrated coil processing systems, blanking and cut-to-length lines, and space-saving compact coil lines for metal stamping and processing operations. For more information, contact Jim Ward at Coe Press Equipment Corporation, 40549 Brentwood, Sterling Heights, MI 48310. Phone: (586) 979-4400, fax (586) 979-2970, email: info@cpec.com, website: www.cpec.com.

COE’s sales representative in the state of Texas is H & O Die Supply, 2821 Ruder Street, Dallas, TX 75212. Phone: (214) 630-6660, Fax: 214-630-6693, email: sales@hodie.com, website: www.hodie.com.

For more information on LIDE Industries, contact them at 1618 W. Hwy 84, Mexia, TX 76667. Phone: 254-562-0233. Email: bobby@lideindustries.com. Web: www.lideindustries.com.

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