10-06-2010, 11:41 AM
As Reinhard mentions, most in-plant coil handling is done by rubber-wheeled road machinery, either large forklift-type vehicles or straddle carriers. Overhead cranes, equipped with large "C" hooks, would do in-mill movements, including loading and unloading coil cars, as most coils sit longitudinally on the cars.
At the plant where I worked (not in the strip mill, though), coils not completely processed were stored outdoors, on the ground. When required, they were picked-up, run through a "pickle line" to remove scale and surface rust, then the other processing was completed. Finished coils were often shipped in plugdoor boxcars, a high percentage of them, surprisingly, lettered for Union Pacific. These finished coils, often coated (tinned or galvanised, etc.) were stored indoors in an area adjacent to, but not a direct part of the finishing mill, so the shipping was a separate operation. Likewise, raw material in the form of slabs was received, often dead cold, for re-heating, then went through a multi-stage rolling process to become a coil - this could end up either in the outdoor storage area or move on the the finishing steps.
Because our strip mill was an older one producing specialty strip of a narrower width than many of the applications required nowadays, larger slabs were shipped (by truck) to another company operation where there was a modern strip mill. Once the slabs had been converted to coils, many were returned to our plant for further processing, specifically galvanising. If I'm not mistaken, most of these coils moved in the same trucks used to carry the slabs. I don't recall seeing many coil cars at all, although that may have been dependent on the type of coils being produced.
My guess is that the Walthers rolling mill is a generic mill that could represent a part of one of the many rolling mills used in steelmaking.
The mill where I worked turned ingots into slabs and was only the first of several rolling mills encountered before a finished product went out the door. There was also a strip mill, bar mill, billet mill, plate mill, and many specialty rolling mills that produced specific rolled products, shapes, or grades of steel. Nowadays, most of these products are made elsewhere, and very little of the original operations remain.
Wayne
At the plant where I worked (not in the strip mill, though), coils not completely processed were stored outdoors, on the ground. When required, they were picked-up, run through a "pickle line" to remove scale and surface rust, then the other processing was completed. Finished coils were often shipped in plugdoor boxcars, a high percentage of them, surprisingly, lettered for Union Pacific. These finished coils, often coated (tinned or galvanised, etc.) were stored indoors in an area adjacent to, but not a direct part of the finishing mill, so the shipping was a separate operation. Likewise, raw material in the form of slabs was received, often dead cold, for re-heating, then went through a multi-stage rolling process to become a coil - this could end up either in the outdoor storage area or move on the the finishing steps.
Because our strip mill was an older one producing specialty strip of a narrower width than many of the applications required nowadays, larger slabs were shipped (by truck) to another company operation where there was a modern strip mill. Once the slabs had been converted to coils, many were returned to our plant for further processing, specifically galvanising. If I'm not mistaken, most of these coils moved in the same trucks used to carry the slabs. I don't recall seeing many coil cars at all, although that may have been dependent on the type of coils being produced.
My guess is that the Walthers rolling mill is a generic mill that could represent a part of one of the many rolling mills used in steelmaking.
The mill where I worked turned ingots into slabs and was only the first of several rolling mills encountered before a finished product went out the door. There was also a strip mill, bar mill, billet mill, plate mill, and many specialty rolling mills that produced specific rolled products, shapes, or grades of steel. Nowadays, most of these products are made elsewhere, and very little of the original operations remain.
Wayne