3 Modern Metals® November 2012

run our operation as they installed it.”Since the first Leveltek line was built in

1994, the total machine population averages99.3 percent uptime, which Sipp attributesto a simple design with few moving parts. Inaddition, he notes, “Leveltek stretch levelingmachines require no foundation beyond aflat concrete floor. This enables us to installor retrofit lines in only two weeks with min-imal loss of production time.”

At MidWest, using the two levelingprocesses in tandem increases efficiency ofrunning coils, Robbins says. On the line,material is uncoiled and then is correctiveleveled with MidWest’s roller leveler.

“We actually work and level the steelfirst with two corrective levelers,” Robbinssays. “The significance of that, especiallyon heavy-gauge or high-strength tensilematerial is we’re able to get the coil set orcrossbow out of the steel. Systems that onlyhave a flattener and not a corrective lev-eler may remove the steel’s memory butrun the risk of not getting the steel totallyflat across its width.”

After corrective leveling, the steel con-tinues through the stretch leveler. “Gripperpads come down, and 2.8 million poundsof force stretch the steel several inchesthroughout a 50-foot length,” Robbins says.“One of the reasons we chose the Levelteksystem was due to their unique grippingtechnology that does not mark the steelwhen it is stretched. The steel then pro-ceeds to the shear, where it is cut to itsspecified length. It is then stacked, and theflat, memory-free bundles are ready to go.”

Robbins says it’s paramount to listen tocustomers and adjust processes to providehigh-quality steel at a low cost. “We’ve hadcustomers that have come back and been

blown away with the quality we’ve beenable to provide them [using the Leveltekequipment],” Robbins says. “Companiesthat have used temper-passed material be-fore were so impressed with the steel thatwe were able to provide them, they nowuse stretch-leveled steel for their memory-free needs.

“Being able to provide non-marked,memory-free sheet steel from 0.054 inchesto 5⁄8 inches thick and up to 100 inches widein mild through ultra-high-strength com-plements our other corrective levelers,slitters and shears,” Robbins continues. “Ourstate-of-the-art equipment along with ourseasoned and experienced workforce areable to provide the service, quality and valueAmerican manufacturers need to remaincompetitive nationally and globally.” �

coilprocessing

Leveltek, Benwood, W.Va., 304/232-8530,fax: 304/232-8536, www.leveltek.com.

MidWest Materials, Perry, Ohio,800/321-4143, fax: 440/259-5204,www.midwestmaterials.com.

Brian Robbins, MidWestMaterials’ CEO, celebrates thecompany’s 60th year in business.

coil processing

Tel: 440-259-5200 • Fax: 440-259-5204

3687 Shepard Road • Perry, Ohio 44081

w w w.midwestmater ia ls .com

MidWest Materials invests in a Leveltek stretch leveling systemto ensure customers receive high-quality, memory-free material

A COMPETITIVE FUTURE

The magazine for metal service centers, fabricators & OEMs/end users

BY LAUREN DUENSING

This year, Perry, Ohio-based Mid-West Materials, which wasco-founded in 1952 by JosephKoppelman, celebrated its 60th

year in business. The company has grownfrom a one-room sales office in Clevelandto its current 240,000-square-foot opera-tion. To increase its competitiveness in themarketplace, MidWest Materials installeda 1,400-ton Leveltek stretch leveling systemin December 2011.

The capital expenditure was part of amulti-year, multimillion dollar expansionthat included property improvements, up-grades and additions to facility equipmentand technology, replacing facility lightingwith energy-efficient fixtures, and newPeterbilt trucks for the company’s fleet. Thecompany also has enhanced its corporateidentity with a new logo and website.

Engineering flat materialEnsuring manufacturers can participate ina cutthroat global market is a growing chal-lenge for service centers, says BrianRobbins, CEO of MidWest Materials.“Our customers are competing directlywith manufacturers from outside theshores who are coming in with lower-costproducts. In order to make them compet-itive, they need higher-quality steel at alower cost. That requirement has beenpushed both downstream and upstream tous, so those distributors with a long-termvision need to invest in themselves if theywant to continue meeting industry needs.”

Beyond leveling and cut-to-length, themost quickly advancing technology forfabrication of metal sheets is laser cutting,says Bob Sipp, director, sales and market-ing at Leveltek International LLC,Benwood, W.Va.

“Laser technology does not like mem-

ory in the metal,” he says. “When it hasmemory, the metal begins to move up anddown, and it has the capability of destroy-ing the laser head. If it does that, the lineshuts down, production goes to zero, itneeds mechanics to fix it and the laserheads are worth between $4,000 and$10,000 each.”

Robbins says processes such as roller lev-eling are “extremely efficient and able tounroll coils of steel and corrective levelthem so they are flat.” However, he pointsout it’s similar to rolling up a piece ofpaper and letting it go—it’s still curled upat the ends. “That is why it needs to be lev-eled,” he notes.

“Corrective leveling will flatten the steel,but under certain stresses the material couldrevert back to its original coiled shape, andthe memory may return,” he says.

“We continue to use corrective levelingto provide flat steel for many of our cus-

A COMPETITIVEFUTUREMidWest Materials invests in a Leveltek stretch leveling systemto ensure customers receive high-quality, memory-free material

1 Modern Metals® November 2012

coilprocessing As seen in the November 2012 issue of

tomers,” Robbins continues. He notes,however, MidWest invested in the stretchleveling system as a result of increased de-mand for memory-free steel.

Mark-free materialLeveltek has been involved with stretch lev-eling systems since 1993. The companydesigns, manufacturers and installs levelingsystems, new light to heavy-gauge cut-to-length and coil-to-coil lines. It also providestoll processing services.

Leveltek equipment has the capability tostretch level all types of ferrous and nonfer-rous coiled material—carbon steel, stainlesssteel, titanium, aluminum, brass, copper,high-temperature alloys, galvanized steel, aswell as painted and embossed carbon steeland floor plate.

“We built the first machine for ourselves,”Sipp says. “It was a coil-to-coil machine forthe stainless steel industry. We intended to

be a toll processor for specific accounts.”Less than a year later, a company from

Italy approached Leveltek, curious aboutthe company’s ability to stretch level brightannealed stainless without marking it.“They came to our plant, brought a coilwith them and wanted us to stretch levelit,” Sipp says. “So we put their coil on,stretch leveled it without marking it, re-coiled it and they were so pleased that theywanted one of the machines. That was ourentry into the machine-building business.”

The company’s experience as a tollprocessor gives it an around-the-clock labo-ratory to test and improve its technology forall types of material, particularly specializedmaterials, such as high-nickel alloys, stain-less and titanium.

“We’ve seen just about every defect onthe toll processing side,” says Amy Dief-fenbauch, sales and marketing manager atLeveltek. “Our guys can make modifica-

tions to equipment to accommodate thetypes of defects that we’re seeing on a con-tinuing basis.”

“Because we actually invented the tech-nology of nonmarking stretch leveling,there are no operators in the world thathave more experience with stretchingmetal than ours in our toll processing fa-cilities in two plants,” Sipp says. “We havepeople that have been stretch leveling ma-terial in excess of 20 years. More thanlikely, our operators have seen it before be-cause they’ve been doing it longer thananybody else.”

Stretching out stressStretch levelers pull the material to the pointwhere it eliminates its memory, Robbinssays. He notes stretch leveling technology isnot new. For decades, MidWest Materialshad a sheet stretcher that would clampdown on an individual sheet and pull, “sim-ilar to the medieval punishment of the rack.When we couldn’t get steel flat enough, wewould stretch it.”

However, using that stretcher was a time-consuming process, and it left marks on thesteel. Leveltek’s technology grips the steelwithout slipping or leaving marks, whilestill providing “100 percent equal contactacross the entire width of the coil,” Sippsays. “We are able to align grains within themetal perfectly across the entire width, andthat creates, in the colloquial terminology,memory-free steel,” removing shape defectssuch as edge wave, center buckle, quarterbuckle, camber, crossbow, mandrel or coilbreaks, some types of chatter, mill chopand twist.

MidWest Materials came to Leveltekwith the goal of achieving memory-freecarbon steel. “We designed a machine thatwould do that and retrofit into their exist-ing roller leveling line,” Sipp says. Leveltekinserted the stretch leveler into the line be-tween the roller levelers and the shear.

“There are only five moving parts on theline,” Robbins says, making installation arelatively painless three-week process. “Thedisruption was minimal, so we could still

November 2012 Modern Metals® 2

The MidWest rail siding goesdirectly into the warehousewhere three rail cars can beloaded and unloaded.

MidWest Materials’ stretchleveling system complements itsother corrective levelers, slittersand shears.

BY LAUREN DUENSING

This year, Perry, Ohio-based Mid-West Materials, which wasco-founded in 1952 by JosephKoppelman, celebrated its 60th

year in business. The company has grownfrom a one-room sales office in Clevelandto its current 240,000-square-foot opera-tion. To increase its competitiveness in themarketplace, MidWest Materials installeda 1,400-ton Leveltek stretch leveling systemin December 2011.

The capital expenditure was part of amulti-year, multimillion dollar expansionthat included property improvements, up-grades and additions to facility equipmentand technology, replacing facility lightingwith energy-efficient fixtures, and newPeterbilt trucks for the company’s fleet. Thecompany also has enhanced its corporateidentity with a new logo and website.

Engineering flat materialEnsuring manufacturers can participate ina cutthroat global market is a growing chal-lenge for service centers, says BrianRobbins, CEO of MidWest Materials.“Our customers are competing directlywith manufacturers from outside theshores who are coming in with lower-costproducts. In order to make them compet-itive, they need higher-quality steel at alower cost. That requirement has beenpushed both downstream and upstream tous, so those distributors with a long-termvision need to invest in themselves if theywant to continue meeting industry needs.”

Beyond leveling and cut-to-length, themost quickly advancing technology forfabrication of metal sheets is laser cutting,says Bob Sipp, director, sales and market-ing at Leveltek International LLC,Benwood, W.Va.

“Laser technology does not like mem-

ory in the metal,” he says. “When it hasmemory, the metal begins to move up anddown, and it has the capability of destroy-ing the laser head. If it does that, the lineshuts down, production goes to zero, itneeds mechanics to fix it and the laserheads are worth between $4,000 and$10,000 each.”

Robbins says processes such as roller lev-eling are “extremely efficient and able tounroll coils of steel and corrective levelthem so they are flat.” However, he pointsout it’s similar to rolling up a piece ofpaper and letting it go—it’s still curled upat the ends. “That is why it needs to be lev-eled,” he notes.

“Corrective leveling will flatten the steel,but under certain stresses the material couldrevert back to its original coiled shape, andthe memory may return,” he says.

“We continue to use corrective levelingto provide flat steel for many of our cus-

A COMPETITIVEFUTUREMidWest Materials invests in a Leveltek stretch leveling systemto ensure customers receive high-quality, memory-free material

1 Modern Metals® November 2012

coilprocessing As seen in the November 2012 issue of

tomers,” Robbins continues. He notes,however, MidWest invested in the stretchleveling system as a result of increased de-mand for memory-free steel.

Mark-free materialLeveltek has been involved with stretch lev-eling systems since 1993. The companydesigns, manufacturers and installs levelingsystems, new light to heavy-gauge cut-to-length and coil-to-coil lines. It also providestoll processing services.

Leveltek equipment has the capability tostretch level all types of ferrous and nonfer-rous coiled material—carbon steel, stainlesssteel, titanium, aluminum, brass, copper,high-temperature alloys, galvanized steel, aswell as painted and embossed carbon steeland floor plate.

“We built the first machine for ourselves,”Sipp says. “It was a coil-to-coil machine forthe stainless steel industry. We intended to

be a toll processor for specific accounts.”Less than a year later, a company from

Italy approached Leveltek, curious aboutthe company’s ability to stretch level brightannealed stainless without marking it.“They came to our plant, brought a coilwith them and wanted us to stretch levelit,” Sipp says. “So we put their coil on,stretch leveled it without marking it, re-coiled it and they were so pleased that theywanted one of the machines. That was ourentry into the machine-building business.”

The company’s experience as a tollprocessor gives it an around-the-clock labo-ratory to test and improve its technology forall types of material, particularly specializedmaterials, such as high-nickel alloys, stain-less and titanium.

“We’ve seen just about every defect onthe toll processing side,” says Amy Dief-fenbauch, sales and marketing manager atLeveltek. “Our guys can make modifica-

tions to equipment to accommodate thetypes of defects that we’re seeing on a con-tinuing basis.”

“Because we actually invented the tech-nology of nonmarking stretch leveling,there are no operators in the world thathave more experience with stretchingmetal than ours in our toll processing fa-cilities in two plants,” Sipp says. “We havepeople that have been stretch leveling ma-terial in excess of 20 years. More thanlikely, our operators have seen it before be-cause they’ve been doing it longer thananybody else.”

Stretching out stressStretch levelers pull the material to the pointwhere it eliminates its memory, Robbinssays. He notes stretch leveling technology isnot new. For decades, MidWest Materialshad a sheet stretcher that would clampdown on an individual sheet and pull, “sim-ilar to the medieval punishment of the rack.When we couldn’t get steel flat enough, wewould stretch it.”

However, using that stretcher was a time-consuming process, and it left marks on thesteel. Leveltek’s technology grips the steelwithout slipping or leaving marks, whilestill providing “100 percent equal contactacross the entire width of the coil,” Sippsays. “We are able to align grains within themetal perfectly across the entire width, andthat creates, in the colloquial terminology,memory-free steel,” removing shape defectssuch as edge wave, center buckle, quarterbuckle, camber, crossbow, mandrel or coilbreaks, some types of chatter, mill chopand twist.

MidWest Materials came to Leveltekwith the goal of achieving memory-freecarbon steel. “We designed a machine thatwould do that and retrofit into their exist-ing roller leveling line,” Sipp says. Leveltekinserted the stretch leveler into the line be-tween the roller levelers and the shear.

“There are only five moving parts on theline,” Robbins says, making installation arelatively painless three-week process. “Thedisruption was minimal, so we could still

November 2012 Modern Metals® 2

The MidWest rail siding goesdirectly into the warehousewhere three rail cars can beloaded and unloaded.

MidWest Materials’ stretchleveling system complements itsother corrective levelers, slittersand shears.

3 Modern Metals® November 2012

run our operation as they installed it.”Since the first Leveltek line was built in

1994, the total machine population averages99.3 percent uptime, which Sipp attributesto a simple design with few moving parts. Inaddition, he notes, “Leveltek stretch levelingmachines require no foundation beyond aflat concrete floor. This enables us to installor retrofit lines in only two weeks with min-imal loss of production time.”

At MidWest, using the two levelingprocesses in tandem increases efficiency ofrunning coils, Robbins says. On the line,material is uncoiled and then is correctiveleveled with MidWest’s roller leveler.

“We actually work and level the steelfirst with two corrective levelers,” Robbinssays. “The significance of that, especiallyon heavy-gauge or high-strength tensilematerial is we’re able to get the coil set orcrossbow out of the steel. Systems that onlyhave a flattener and not a corrective lev-eler may remove the steel’s memory butrun the risk of not getting the steel totallyflat across its width.”

After corrective leveling, the steel con-tinues through the stretch leveler. “Gripperpads come down, and 2.8 million poundsof force stretch the steel several inchesthroughout a 50-foot length,” Robbins says.“One of the reasons we chose the Levelteksystem was due to their unique grippingtechnology that does not mark the steelwhen it is stretched. The steel then pro-ceeds to the shear, where it is cut to itsspecified length. It is then stacked, and theflat, memory-free bundles are ready to go.”

Robbins says it’s paramount to listen tocustomers and adjust processes to providehigh-quality steel at a low cost. “We’ve hadcustomers that have come back and been

blown away with the quality we’ve beenable to provide them [using the Leveltekequipment],” Robbins says. “Companiesthat have used temper-passed material be-fore were so impressed with the steel thatwe were able to provide them, they nowuse stretch-leveled steel for their memory-free needs.

“Being able to provide non-marked,memory-free sheet steel from 0.054 inchesto 5⁄8 inches thick and up to 100 inches widein mild through ultra-high-strength com-plements our other corrective levelers,slitters and shears,” Robbins continues. “Ourstate-of-the-art equipment along with ourseasoned and experienced workforce areable to provide the service, quality and valueAmerican manufacturers need to remaincompetitive nationally and globally.” �

coilprocessing

Leveltek, Benwood, W.Va., 304/232-8530,fax: 304/232-8536, www.leveltek.com.

MidWest Materials, Perry, Ohio,800/321-4143, fax: 440/259-5204,www.midwestmaterials.com.

Brian Robbins, MidWestMaterials’ CEO, celebrates thecompany’s 60th year in business.

coil processing

Tel: 440-259-5200 • Fax: 440-259-5204

3687 Shepard Road • Perry, Ohio 44081

w w w.midwestmater ia ls .com

MidWest Materials invests in a Leveltek stretch leveling systemto ensure customers receive high-quality, memory-free material

A COMPETITIVE FUTURE