Supa New Mill Revolutionises Purlin Production

Bob Moore, President of BlueScope Lysaght Australia, has given the thumbs up to the brand new LYSAGHT® SupaPurlin mill currently being commissioned at the company's Chullora facility.

The machine was officially opened by Bob Moore at a ceremony on Tuesday, 21 October 2003 in the presence of BlueScope Lysaght's National Lead Team, the New South Wales Regional General Manager, Michael Meehan, and the dedicated commissioning team at Chullora.

"The new machine is fantastic," says Bob Moore. "It looks like money well spent already, from what I've seen. The quick changeover time and increased capacity will make a real difference to operations out here, it's even better when you see it in real life. The team at Chullora has done a sensational job bringing the project through to fruition virtually in house, giving us a high degree of ownership. It's going to show some great benefits as we go forward."

Worth A$3.5 million, the state of the art purlin mill is set to send productivity rates soaring, while increasing manufacturing flexibility, decreasing product lead times, and improving operator safety.

BlueScope Lysaght invested in the new technology after the success of the new LYSAGHT SupaZed® 200 purlin, which has been substituted for the standard 200 series of purlin in New South Wales over the last two years. The new LYSAGHT® SupaPurlin series, LYSAGHT SupaZed® and LYSAGHT SupaCee®, are the first major development in the field for decades.

"Our Research and Development department has designed a range of purlins that span longer, are stronger, and have better handling capabilities than standard purlins," says Miles Opacic, Business Unit Manager and leader of the new LYSAGHT® SupaPurlin mill project.

"The reaction in the marketplace to the LYSAGHT SupaZed® 200 purlin has been very positive. We are now dominating the Z200 market for project work, and we're winning the work on redesign, we are redesigning buildings using the LYSAGHT SupaZed® to give an overall cost saving to the customer."

"The LYSAGHT SupaZed® 200 has been such a success that we've now started looking at producing a complete range of SupaPurlin, the SUPA series, which will encompass LYSAGHT SupaZed® and LYSAGHT SupaCee® 150, 200, 250, 300 and 350 purlins. This has led to the decision to purchase the new LYSAGHT® SupaPurlin mill. It was a huge investment for BlueScope Lysaght. It's the biggest single machine investment that this company has ever made," he adds.

The new LYSAGHT® SupaPurlin machine will greatly benefit BlueScope Lysaght customers by significantly reducing lead times on the entire range of purlin profiles available.

"The new machine will enable us to almost halve all of our current lead times, as well as increasing the range that our Chullora factory offers. Up until now, we have only been able to offer the 150 and 200 series of purlins and the Z100s. The new mill will produce eleven different profiles," explains Miles.

Manufacturing flexibility and vastly increased capacity are further benefits of the new machine, says Miles. "Changeover times on the new machine, as opposed to taking 2 hours, will take just minutes. The machine capacity is about 4 to 5 times greater than the old machine. For example, we currently produce about 12 to 14 tonnes of LYSAGHT SupaZed® 200 per shift. This new machine will produce at least 30 to 40 tonnes per shift. And we expect to be able to eventually surpass that, once all the systems are in place."

The project, says Miles, is not just about purchasing the new machine. Every facet of purlin production at the mill has been examined, including safety issues, handling systems, and even job roles.

"We've made a large investment on the actual machine. But we've also looked at every aspect of how we produce and sell purlins, what we do like and what we don't like, and we've made improvements to every area of our operation."

BlueScope Lysaght's New South Wales Regional General Manager, Michael Meehan, is extremely happy with the new addition. "The machine is state of the art, it's a step up from what anyone else is doing. From a safety perspective it is extraordinarily good, as we've seen here today, you can just run the product through and no one has to touch it."

"From the customer's point of view, it's going to improve the service offer immensely," he adds. "We'll be able to offer a turn around of 96 hours on virtually any purlin. So our customers are going to get a lot of benefit out of this. And the new LYSAGHT® SupaPurlins themselves are exceptional. It's like comparing an all wheel drive car with a two wheel drive car. Purlins have been around forever and no one has been able to make any major advances until now. At the end of the day, no one else can offer anything like it."

LYSAGHT SupaZed® and LYSAGHT SupaCee® Purlins and Girts are only available in New South Wales.