Upwardly mobile solution

The Rochdale factory makes springs for flow control applications in the oil and gas, petrochemical and power generation markets, all of which are demanding faster delivery times. The 25 m high storage tower, called a Unitower, is being used to house the bar from which the springs are made. The store was built outside, adjacent to the factory wall, so as not to waste valuable space inside. John Hanson, director of Hanson Springs, said: "Whereas it used to take us up to three hours to find material buried at the bottom of conventional racking, bar is now available from the tower within three and a half minutes of calling it up on the computer control screen." What's more, he adds, this is a maximum cycle time – mostly the stock is delivered to the output station much faster. Previously, he says, production was planned around accessibility to particular bar. Now, the site has much more flexibility and can offer dramatically shorter lead times. Typical batch sizes for springs are from 2 to 50, requiring frequent changeover of the coiling plant. So prompt arrival of cut-to-length steel bar has improved the process significantly. Fifteen tonnes are processed each day and Hanson Springs says increased profitability will result in swift payback of the £1 million investment in the retrieval system and associated civil engineering work.