When Central Steel & Wire (CS&W), a high-quality metal products and services supplier for a wide range of customers from job shops to large OEMs, decided to move from the Chicago facility that had been its home for 80 years, it envisioned creating a state-of-the-art product depot and service center that used the industry’s most efficient material handling technology.
It would be a major transformation for CS&W because the company was leaving behind a labor-intensive method of material handling in favor of using automated guided vehicles (AGVs) to move its wide range of metal products.
“For the first time in the metal service center business, we brought in AGVs to replace standard material handling equipment,” said Nicole Giesie, vice president of operations at Central Steel & Wire – a member of the Ryerson Family of Companies. “It allowed us to use driverless vehicles to store and pull materials to fulfill customer orders.”
New Technology, New Facility
The greatest benefits from the use of AGVs, however, could only be realized by developing a new facility that incorporated racking with consistent pocket locations, evenly distributed and available throughout the location.
The presence of damaged racking arms in the existing facility would also have reduced the effectiveness of the AGVs, Giesie noted.
While AGVs require a significant investment, there is a substantial payoff in increased material handling efficiency and accuracy, reduced labor and decreased damage to racking, equipment and structures.
“With AGVs, we were able to utilize our workforce in other value-added tasks rather than just moving metal throughout the facility,” Giesie said.
Initial design discussions for the new facility began in August 2021, and included requirements relating to the use of AGVs in a 900,000-square-foot facility that would be developed in southern Chicagoland’s Village of University Park.
18,000 Storage Locations Needed
The University Park facility would need 18,000 storage locations to accommodate 6,000 product SKUs that have a combined weight of 50 million pounds of carbon steel, stainless steel, aluminum and specialty metals. Space was also needed for value-added work, such as precision cutting and tube laser operations.
For storage of all that metal, CS&W looked at racking manufacturers throughout the U.S., and then selected Steel King Industries, a leading manufacturer of storage rack and material handling products. The two companies had a long-standing relationship, in that CS&W supplies steel for Steel King’s products.
“Based on our existing strong relationship with Steel King, its reputation for reliability and for manufacturing extremely durable racking and its engineering expertise, we found them to have the best solution for our needs,” Giesie said.
Steel King Dealer Fulfilled Project Manager Role
Another factor that would work to CS&W’s advantage was the involvement of Steel King dealer Container Systems, Inc of suburban Chicago.
“This was an extremely large project for Central Steel & Wire,” Giesie said. “We needed a reliable partner to ensure success, and Container Systems proved to be that partner. In a project of this size, there is a lot that can go wrong, dealing with a lot of different contractors, equipment vendors, etc. Having Container Systems involved removed that burden from us, and kept the project moving forward to the point that installation was completed ahead of schedule.”
The new facility uses Steel King’s I-beam cantilever racking for 1,300 uprights and guard rail products. I-beam cantilever steel storage racks allow access from both sides. This design saves horizontal space normally lost to rack structure, reduces fork truck damage and allows for faster load and unload times.
The Steel King I-beam cantilever racking is built for longevity, with structural steel construction and a 50,000 psi minimum yield. A heavy arm connector plate and bolted column-to-base connections adds to durability. Metal services businesses often use I-beam cantilever racking to store items such as pipe, tubing, rolls, steel bars, sheet steel and structural members.
CS&W installed an advanced cantilever racking system, featuring over 1,000 double-sided columns and 30,000 arms and added the AGV system to enable them to store and handle 50 million pounds of metal.Steel King Industries
The cantilever racking is comprised of more than 1,000 double-sided columns, more than 30,000 arms and more than 15,000 linear feet of structural metal for guard rails. “It took 70 truckloads to deliver the racking and guard rail elements – all which came at a pace whereby installers never had to stop their work”, noted Mike Scarlati of Container Systems.
“This was a huge order, and what made it work was Steel King’s ability to get their product out on time, so installers always had buildable material on hand,” said Scarlati.
“The racking system was able to have narrower aisles – and thus have a greater storage density – through an engineering solution designed by Steel King,” said Kurt Larson, the company’s regional sales manager for the central U.S. “Our engineers designed notches in rails to guide Combilift AGVvehicles, which meant that more space could be dedicated to racking rather than to aisles.”
“The new racking system is allowing CS&W to operate more efficiently and with greater productivity. It also will let the company adjust racking to meet changing needs. In their former facility, the racking elements were all welded, so adjustments could not be made. With our system, they’ll be able to reconfigure the racking to accommodate changing storage needs,” Larson said.
Metal companies like CS&W that seek to dramatically improve the efficiency of their material handling will benefit from working with experienced partners that can tailor industry best practice solutions to their specific requirements.