Production Rate and Conversion Cost
Standard roll forming machines are usually equipped for operation at a nominal rate of 100 FPM, but may easily be designed for a higher or lower speed to meet a specific requirement. At that rate, the daily production average is about 25,000 to 30,000 feet of section over an 8 hour period. This takes into account the usual delays for loading coils, threading the mill, clearing away finished product, and other periods of downtime that might enter the picture.
Needless to say, conversion costs will vary from plant to plant and from one project to another. Each job must be analyzed individually; for this reason, general observations hold almost no value. However, if a roll forming system is highly productive and inexpensive to operate, the roll forming and shaping of nearly any product will yield a lower conversion cost than any other method.
Production Management and Operation
With today’s electrical controls and computer technology, it is possible to integrate the roll former operation with a business’s MRP system and schedule when and how much product is roll formed. Even project dimensions, such as lengths, quantities, and hole patterns, can be directed from a company’s incoming orders and routed to the roll forming machine controls. By incorporating product-specific labeling or inkjet marking to identify the product coming off the roll former, it can easily be paired to its’ corresponding order. This integration can be added to existing roll former installations by upgrading the control scheme, or planned in the early stages of developing new installations. In order to operate such a system, facilities need to have the proper hardware and software infrastructure convert incoming orders to a data format that can be processed and transmitted to the roll formers production queue. In other words, businesses need to invest in the proper technologies before they reap the benefits of a fully automated ordering process.