Automated Packaging System for Steel Pipe - Steel Storage Systems, Inc.

Custom Handling Conveyor System for Structural Tubing

“Casa Grande (mill) has increased productivity and improved safety by implementing the packaging line.”
Tom Robinson
Chief Engineer, Bull Moose Tube Company

Bull Moose Tube Mill Packaging System Touchscreen Control Display, Allen-Bradley

Automated Packaging System for sprinkler pipe mill. System ejects 20' - 40' pipe off the mill exit, accumulates, bundles, transfers to a banding station, and loads packaged bundles of pipe onto a staging transfers.

Tube Bundler on an automated mill Packaging System. A hex bundle of tubing is built to a programmed configuration.

Steel Storage Systems automated packaging system for sprinkler pipe mill

Bull Moose Tube Company has installed an Automated Packaging System supplied by Steel Storage Systems for its sprinkler pipe mill in Casa Grande, AZ. Bull Moose is a prominent manufacturer and marketer of tubular products in North America. The Casa Grande facility was opened in 2005 to serve the western United States and Mexico. It produces a full line of fire sprinkler pipe and stocks the company’s broad range of structural tubing. The Packaging System is designed for the full capabilities of the sprinkler pipe mill that rolls 1″ to 5″ diameters and in lengths from 18′ to 42′. The system design was a result of collaboration between Steel Storage and Bull Moose’s Chief Engineer, Tom Robinson.

The purpose of the Packaging System was to eliminate manual labor and to reduce mill stoppage due to handling bottlenecks. According to Robinson, “Casa Grande has increased productivity and improved safety by implementing the Packaging Line.” The system has also proved to be very dependable as Bull Moose runs the mill as much as three shifts a day.

The System receives pipe directly off the mill’s in-line paint process. Pipe is discharged onto an Accumulating Conveyor to dry and flow to a Bundler. The Bundler forms the pipes into layers and stacks them to create a complete bundle. Both hex and square/rectangular bundle configurations are possible. Once the bundle is built, a transport shuttles it laterally to a banding station. The banded bundle is then loaded onto a Discharge Conveyor to accumulate for bulk handling. All phases of the system run continuously to keep up with the mill’s maximum speed. The controls include a touch screen to select preset bundle configurations. Custom bundles can be easily programmed as well.

In addition to this installation, Steel Storage has other exit handling and packaging equipment in Bull Moose’s Elkhart, IN and Trenton, GA plants.

www.bullmoosetube.com

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