Allied Steelrode has now completing a second upgrade to its cut-to-length CTL3 line while further improvements are mooted. The company’s deputy CEO, Justin Cloete, explains.
Over the past decade, Allied Steelrode has become known in the steel industry for its passion for customer service and bold, strategic investments in advanced technology. To date, the company's largest investment has been in a dedicated stretcher leveller, which was especially manufactured to Allied Steelrode specifications. Ordered in 2013, it was installed in a new purpose-built facility in Midvaal in the first quarter of 2015.
Additional investment of this nature – namely a second and even more powerful stretcher leveller with higher specification – is now being installed at the same Midvaal facility, with additional technology investments to follow later in 2019.
However, in a further investment in customer service excellence by this leading steel major, Allied Steelrode has embarked on state-of-the-art software upgrades of its cut-to-length lines. This involves a complete strip-out and replacement of the electronics on these lines; and the introduction of new, custom-developed software to ensure continuously improving efficiency and productivity levels.
The company has completed the upgrade of its CTL4 cut-to-length line in January 2017; while the upgrade to its CTL3 line is due for imminent completion.
Allied Steelrode deputy CEO, Justin Cloete, explains the background to this ambitious programme: “Our cut-to-length lines were procured many years ago from an Italian manufacturer. Over the years, the level of online support from this company waned to the point where we needed to look for an alternative source of support. In addition, since those machines were introduced, control electronics has advanced considerably. The outdated electronics and software meant that these lines were operating at reduced output and were becoming expensive to maintain,” he says.
Allied Steelrode's COO, Marius Bezuidenhout, has previous experience with Nidec Industrial Automation, an international electronics and software company with a strong South African footprint.
“We turned to local industrial automation experts Nidec for a complete upgrade of both the machine control electronics and the related software,” he explains.
In an exciting development for Allied Steelrode … read more.
