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When an aging steel mill in Utah closed in 1986, many experts in the steel industry believed the mill would never open again.  Fortunately, a strategic maintenance program preserved the plant's equipment during the shutdown and averted mothballing.

With a continuous caster capable of producing slabs up to 126-in. wide, and a rolling mill capable of rolling coils up to 132-in. wide, a wide-body plate but-up line would seem a natural progression.  Geneva Steel, in Vineyard, Utah, equipped with the wide caster and rolling mill, saw an opportunity to streamline its manufacturing of wide plate product.  Geneva Steel turned to Programmable Control Services (PCS) to provide engineering design and startup services for the control system on the new 126-in. plate cut-up line.

In the position-control drive and motor industry, one small company was facing some pretty big problems.  With aging electronics in position-control drives, heated, harsh environmental conditions, extensive downtime and high maintenance problems. Garco Building Systems needed help.  So they turned to Programmable Control Services.

From Coils to Plates...At What Gauge?

The task of uncoiling cold one-inch thick steel seems daunting, especially to someone outside the steel industry! Geneva Steel commissioned a new line in 1994 for processing coiled steel with dimensions up to one-inch thick and 126 inches wide. This line uncoils the steel, trims the sides, cuts the plates to length, levels, and stacks them. Geneva provided the mechanical design and Programmable Control Services, Inc. supplied the drives engineering and control integration. The line combines refurbished mechanical components with new controls, using Allen-Bradley PLC-5's and 1395 drives. This paper presents a process overview and discusses the reasons for the investment, the control system architecture, and the operator interface. It also looks at the relationship between the systems integrator and the customer. Finally, it covers some problems encountered, how they were overcome, and the present status of the line's operation.