NEWS
Allied Steelrode secures
second stretcher leveller
Local steel major stretches steel, capacity and competitiveness
with second stretcher leveller.
Allied Steelrode Stretcher Material (ASSM) facility in Midvaal, Gauteng.
A
llied Steelrode made history in 2015
with the purchase and
commissioning of South Africa’s
very first dedicated stretcher leveller. With a
length of 120m, the stretcher leveller is
capable of processing material up to 12mm
thick, 2m wide and up to 15m in length, fed
from coils weighing up to 33 tons.
With this innovative machine in place at
their stretcher leveller facility in Midvaal,
Allied Steelrode was able to far more
effectively produce stretched and flattened
steel. “The effectiveness of our stretcher
leveller process has been evidenced by the
ever-increasing demand for our
trademarked brand, Allied Steelrode
Stretcher Material (ASSM), which, since 2015,
has been growing rapidly,” highlights Allied
Steelrode executive director Warne Rippon.
“As the demand for our ASSM grew
exponentially, we soon saw the need for a
second, even more powerful stretcher
4
JAN - FEB 2019
CLADDING // CONCRETE // INSULATION // STEEL // THATCH // TIMBER // TRANSLUCENT // WATERPROOFING // COMPONENTS
leveller. This became fully operational in
July 2018,” explains Rippon’s partner in
Allied Steelrode, CEO Arun Chadha.
Chadha continues, “This second stretcher
leveller – together with the first one – is a
boon to the downstream steel sector as, in
these constrained economic times,
companies are managing their inventory on
a much stricter 'just-in-time' basis with little
or no stockholding. The installation of the
second stretcher leveller will allow for
greater operational efficiencies, resulting in
shorter lead times to delivery.”
The two stretcher levellers boast varying
capabilities – the first stretcher leveller is
able to process steel gauges from 1.2mm to
12mm, while the second processes gauges
from 3mm to 12mm. “What this means for us
is that we have been able to drastically
reduce the time lost in setting up when
changing from one type of material to
another,” explains Rippon.
“To physically stretch steel requires immense
forces to be applied, which in turn requires a
machine of some considerable scale,”
comments Chadha. The new stretcher leveller
weighs in at some 250 tons, and to
accommodate this machine, the Midvaal facility
needed to be expanded to a total of 15 000m².
The provision of professionally stretcher-
levelled ASSM steel provides a substantial
benefit to South Africa’s manufacturing and
fabrication sector, notes Rippon. “It will
furthermore contribute to the upturn in the
demand for steel, which we expect will come
once the larger infrastructure projects get
underway as a result of government’s recently
announced economic stimulus package.
“This will also provide a springboard to
improving the quality of our locally
produced steel and steel products which will
ultimately allow the country to be more
competitive in the global manufacturing
arena,” concludes Rippon.
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