Case Study

A two-crane refurbishment that cut billet handling by two-thirds and saved 1,100 tons a year.

Industry: Raw Materials

A U.S. mini-mill bar producer was losing more than 1,100 tons of raw material every year, not from defects, not from damage, but from the limitations of its own materials-handling equipment. Two existing P&H bridge cranes in the billet bay were undersized for the mill’s production goals, forcing operators to torch-cut every billet down to 11 or 14 feet before lifting and creating unavoidable scrap with every cut. The fix was not just bigger cranes. It was a complete rethink of the materials-handling line: refurbished higher-capacity bridge cranes, a structural support system tall and wide enough to house them, modern AC controls replacing the legacy DC system, and tight integration with a new energy-efficient gas furnace coming online in parallel, all while production stayed live.

Han-Tek delivered the crane portion of the program as a single coordinated multi-vendor build, with the cranes refurbished at a Wisconsin specialist shop and custom climate-controlled operator cabs fabricated in Canada, then integrated and installed on-site by Han-Tek’s own crew. Final certified load tests were completed in November 2004. Within two years, yield improvements alone paid back the cranes, the new structural system, and the new furnace combined.

Their Challenge:

Two existing P&H top-running double-girder bridge cranes were undersized for the mill’s production goals, forcing operators to torch-cut every billet down to 11 or 14 feet before lifting and creating roughly 1,100 tons of scrap material per year.
The upgrade target was much larger 40-foot billets, which required cranes with substantially higher rated working capacity than the legacy equipment could safely deliver.
A larger crane fleet meant the existing structural support system was inadequate; the new cranes needed a purpose-built building structure designed and erected around them.
The new cranes had to integrate cleanly with legacy mill machinery and a brand-new, larger, more energy-efficient gas furnace being commissioned at the same time.
The customer needed a fast, defensible ROI on a capital program that simultaneously touched cranes, civil structure, and process equipment, and the work had to happen without taking the mill off-line.

Our Solution:

Han-Tek refurbished and reinstalled the customer’s two P&H top-running double-girder bridge cranes, bringing each to a 40-ton working capacity for the customer’s service profile, as part of a fully engineered crane and hoist upgrade.
Each crane was equipped for billet-handling magnet service, with variable-frequency drives (VFDs) for precise speed and load control. New AC drive panels were specified to use the same physical interfaces as the previous DC system, so the mill’s spare-parts inventory and maintenance procedures stayed largely intact across the transition.
Custom climate-controlled operator cabs were fabricated by a Canadian specialty supplier and shipped directly to the mill, complete with integrated cab chairs and controllers. Each crane also received a separately air-conditioned drive-panel enclosure to extend electronic component life in the high-heat mill environment.
Han-Tek acted as single-point project manager across the multi-vendor build: crane mechanical refurbishment at a Wisconsin specialist shop, cab fabrication in Canada, and on-site staging, rigging, wiring, debug, and final integration by Han-Tek’s own installation crew.
Han-Tek confirmed full compatibility with the customer’s legacy mill machinery and the new larger gas furnace, then certified both cranes with on-site 70,000-pound load tests on November 29, 2004 and turned the equipment over to production.

The Results:

Steel savings of 1,100 tons per year: Larger cranes meant 40-foot billets could be handled directly, eliminating the torch-cuts down to 11 or 14 feet that had been the primary source of material waste.
Handling cut by two-thirds: Annual lift count dropped from 600,000 to 200,000 because every billet handled is now three times larger.
Two-year ROI on the capital program: Yield improvements alone generated enough savings within two years to pay back the cranes, the new structural system, and the new gas furnace combined.
Lower energy consumption: Fewer crane cycles required to move the same volume of steel, reducing total mill energy draw on the materials-handling side.
Reduced maintenance burden: New AC controls include built-in self-diagnostics that simplify troubleshooting and shorten time-to-repair on the line, and the climate-controlled cabs and enclosures protect electronic components from the high-heat mill environment.

Ready to solve a similar challenge? Let's talk.

"*" indicates required fields

Subscribe to Han-Tek Updates

Prefer a feed reader?Follow Han-Tek by RSS →