Ace to Provide Billet Handling and Service Cranes for Steel Facility

Ace World Companies will supply two additional cranes to Nucor’s Jewett, Tx. facility where the steel producer is expanding its hot rolled carbon production line. A 50 ton capacity overhead crane will handle steel billets, while a 5 ton crane will be used for service.

The order was placed in December 2014 with delivery and installation scheduled for this September. It is a landmark order in that Nucor, which offers an extensive range of carbon steel products, has become Ace’s largest customer in the steel producing sector; Nucor has 12 additional overhead cranes from Ace in operation across its expansive operation.

The 50 ton capacity crane will take billets off the cooling bed and stack them in the storage bay before transporting them from storage to the rolling mill. There, billets will be rolled into the variety of shapes and sizes required by Nucor’s customers such as angles, channels, flat bars, rounds, squares, and reinforcing steel.

Ace’s Kevin Beavers, who is overseeing the sales process, explained that the 50 ton billet handling crane will be controlled from an independently operated cab and provided with a spreader beam fitted with magnets. The 5 ton crane, meanwhile, will run the width of the bay for serving the larger lifting machine. The larger crane is tailored for Nucor’s requirements and the magnetic attachment will always be used to connect loads to the crane.

Beavers said: “There are only about 150 miles between our Fort Worth facility and Nucor’s Texas site in Jewett; we are proud to serve them as a local company but also as a hugely significant player in the steel industry with multiple facilities across the U.S. It is fitting that this latest order makes them our leading customer in this important sector.”

Ace’s facility in Fort Worth is about 80,000 square feet, sits on 15 acres, and serves as the firm’s corporate headquarters. Another site in Knoxville, Tn. (50,000 square feet) opened in September 2010 to increase Ace’s crane building capacity and serve as a warehouse for its Advantage products. Ace provides overhead bridge cranes, overhead gantry cranes, wire rope hoists, electric chain hoists, crane kits and end trucks. Visit the website at www.aceworldcompanies.com.