By Andrea Svendsen, Managing Editor.
Aluminum Insights is currently in the process of performing the final installation and start up of its new extrusion facility in Syracuse, IN. Founded by Steve Brenneman, Jeff Miller, and Niles Graber-Alvarez (Figure 1), the startup company aims to serve customers in the Upper Midwest with a high level of service. The company strives to integrate seamlessly into their customers’ supply chain and be a partner in innovation, operating under the belief that small-to-mid-sized manufacturers should expect the same level of service as large multinational corporations, such as Ford, Boeing, and Tesla.
Starting Up a New Extrusion Company
Aluminum Insights is born from the knowledge garnered through the successes and challenges of previous operations. Steve Brenneman founded The Aluminum Trailer Co. in 1999. The company utilized a significant amount of aluminum extrusions in its trailers, which led to the idea of starting up an aluminum extrusion facility in 2006. The concept was based around using extruded profiles in the production of trailers, as well as selling profiles to RV customers. However, shortly after starting up the extrusion operation, the recession hit and impacted the RV industry, which represented the company’s main customers. Although The Aluminum Trailer Co. was able to continue operating, Brenneman found that it was not possible to sustain the extrusion business, which shut down in 2008.
In 2018, Brenneman stepped away from day-to-day management of The Aluminum Trailer Co. However, he soon began to feel the entrepreneurial itch and came back to the idea of starting up a new extrusion company. Drawing on what he learned from his previous attempt (such as being undercapitalized and relying too heavily on a single industry), Brenneman came together with Miller and Graber-Alvarez to found Aluminum Insights, an aluminum extrusion business designed to support manufacturers’ needs at a very high service level.
Understanding the kind of service that they wanted to provide came, in part, from the fact that Brenneman has served as both a customer and extruder. “We’re creating our strategy based on that,” said Brenneman. “I’m a customer of extrusions and other materials that has taken its supply chain to a pretty high level without any support from 98% of its suppliers. We would have loved to have had help from our suppliers, which could have taken our supply chain even further. So, that’s the basis for this business. I think customers would really appreciate having a supplier that’s a true partner, which is what we’re building in from the beginning. We have my trailer company as a customer, which can act as a guinea pig, and then we can duplicate what we learn with some of our other customers.”
Each having an Anabaptist education and upbringing, Brenneman, Miller, and Graber-Alvarez were also in agreement about other key principles of the planned company. Their goal is to provide meaningful work for people at all levels of the organization, ensure stewardship of the earth, and have positive involvement within the communities in which their company would operate. With those principles in place, the partners began the process of designing the Aluminum Insights operations.
Initially, the trio planned to acquire an existing building, with the aim of reducing the costs associated with starting up a new manufacturing operation. However, space was not readily available in the Elkhart, IN, area, where they wanted to set up shop. “By 2020, the RV business was booming in the area and every available building of any size was taken,” said Brenneman. “Since we needed to quickly find a spot to locate our plant, we found an industrial park down in Syracuse, on the southern edge of the county line, and we bought land there.”
Designing the new extrusion operation within an entirely new building offered the benefit of being able to engineer everything from the ground up. This enabled the company to custom build the facility and invest in state-of-the-art technologies, as well as incorporate lean processes and continuous improvement principles from day one. This will help the extruder to ensure efficient management systems, precise work flows, and reliable maintenance processes as the operation moves forward.
When developing the new building and its operating systems, Aluminum Insights put together a cross-functional team, including their die supplier, equipment supplier, customers, and builders. The company also worked with Lynn Brown, Consulting Collaborative, and Craig Werner, Werner Extrusion Solutions LLC. “Lynn Brown has so much knowledge and wisdom regarding extrusion, and he was integral in helping us create a plan that gives us a shot at success,” noted Brenneman. “Craig Werner also has years and years of experience. He helped us with press selection, as well as incorporating some design features to improve capability and output. He also introduced us to experienced people like our project manager, Fred Beaumont, who has installed presses all over the world.”
Presezzi Extrusion Group in Italy was also a key partner on the project, including the engineering and installation of a complete, highly automated extrusion line. “We chose Presezzi because they were interested in creating a true partnership,” said Brenneman. “In the marketplace today, a lot of people talk about partnerships but it’s rare to have a customer and supplier actually trust each other enough to follow through. Forming a partnership with Presezzi is a really good fit for both them and us. We’re excited to be working with them, and I think we’ll see mutual benefits in the years to come.”
As with many other companies during the pandemic, Aluminum Insights faced frustrations caused by supply chain issues during the construction of its new facility. However, the company has persevered through these challenges and is optimistic about the potential market for extrusions. “When the pandemic hit, a number of manufacturers became hesitant and pulled back on their new investment projects. A lot of extrusion plants got canceled,” said Brenneman. “Suddenly, there wasn’t enough capacity, and we were able to jump into the business before a lot of the other new presses were ordered. Right now, the market conditions are really good and there seems to be a lot of demand.”
New Extrusion Facility
The new aluminum extrusion facility is situated in a 75,000 sq ft building, with room built-in to allow for a second extrusion press line if market demand requires it. The facility includes the extrusion press line, as well as a CNC fabrication and kitting operation and an on-site warehouse. The facility also features 500 kW of rooftop solar panels and eight acres of native grassland and trees surrounding the plant.
Presezzi Extrusion supplied all of the extrusion-related equipment for the facility, with the exception of the die cleaning system, which was supplied by Die Cleaning Equipment & Supply, Inc. in Phoenix, AZ. The order for the press line was placed in winter 2020. Following design and engineering, Presezzi worked with Aluminum Insights management to perform factory acceptance tests in October 2021 (Figure 2). Final installation and commissioning of the press is currently underway (Figure 3), with startup to happen later this month (August 2022).
The 26-MN, 8 inch front-loading press will extrude billet between 600 and 1,800 mm in length. The press features the PE.E.S.S. environmentally friendly energy-saving system, which uses a variable frequency drive (VFD) to optimize the extrusion process. The system makes it so that not all of the hydraulic pumps need to operate in order for the press to function. By only running the pumps that are necessary for extrusion, the system is able to reduce energy consumption and decrease dead cycle time, consequently increasing productivity.
A dedicated control pulpit houses the human-machine interface (HMI), which provides advanced digital optimization tools. This includes advanced machine control, providing integrated diagnostics and energy management, as well as maintenance and remote service support.
Upstream of the press, the line is equipped with a COIM log heating oven, a fully electric billet loader, and a high-speed die change station. The log heating oven with an incorporated hot log saw is designed to provide perfectly uniform heating of the logs, across both the diameter and length of the log. It features low energy consumption and minimal emissions, thanks to its optimal combustion ratio and the implementation of regenerative inlet air pre-heating, which will utilizes exhaust heat.
The complete handling system includes a quenching system, a single, frontal-type puller with a flying cut saw, a cooling table, a stretcher, a final cut-to-length saw, and stacker and basket handling conveyors for the aging ovens. The HECS® air/water quenching system uses Presezzi designed software that employs a mathematical model to ensure proper cooling of the extruded profiles. This enables the quenching system to continuously and automatically adjust the cooling gradient in order to reach the ideal cooling curve, depending on the specific alloy and the specific profile design, thus maximizing the mechanical properties of the end-product. The quench is designed so that the instruments (such as valves, pumps, and sensors) are always accessible, thus providing simple and ergonomic control and maintenance.
Profiles are removed from the press and quenching system with a single puller with flying cut saw. The puller includes an on-board motor and stiff kinematics designed to ensure that the puller cannot break in the case of a collision. After being cut, the profiles are drawn down the runout table and moved to the cooling table, which features a belt conveyor system that moves the profiles into position at the automated 50 ton stretcher (Figure 4).
The extruded profiles are cut to length (up to 10 m) at the precision finishing saw. The saw has an exhaust system that ensures optimal chip extraction along with high accuracy and cutting speeds. The profiles are then placed in baskets via the automatic profile stacking system and delivered to the aging oven, which can hold up to 16 baskets.
Once the press line starts operation, it will produce profiles primarily in 6000 series alloys, namely 6063, 6005, and 6061. The main markets served will be aluminum trailers, pontoon boats, fencing, and potentially some office furniture. “One of the great things about the equipment we purchased is it has a very robust quench system,” noted Brenneman. “So we will be able to run some harder alloys for automotive and other industries.”
Conclusion
With the startup of the press expected within the month, Aluminum Insights is focused on fully utilizing existing capacity. The company plans to have two shifts running by the end of the year, with a full three shifts working five to six days a week shortly thereafter. In the long term, the company wants to be a partner to its customers, not only delivering on time with perfect quality, but also helping with design, providing fast turnarounds on new shapes, supporting just-in-time deliveries, and being a warehouse for customers.
“When we embarked on this journey together, we had no idea that our strategy would be embraced in such a dramatic way,” said Brenneman. “We have five strategic customers, who we are focused on supporting right now—and we’re looking forward to growing in the future.”
Editor’s Note: This article first appeared in the August 2021 issue of Light Metal Age. To receive the current issue, please subscribe.