Cold rolling specialist saves UK PDS 30k pa

By changing to Castrol, cold rolling specialist JB and S Lees is saving UK PDS 30,000 a year, and improving the working environment for its mill operators

By changing to Castrol, cold rolling specialist JB and S Lees is saving UK PDS 30,000 a year, and improving the working environment for its mill operators.

J B and S Lees specialises in cold re-rolling a wide range of materials from mild steel to high carbon and alloy steels.

Finished products are exported to customers all over the world for stamping, pressing and deep-drawing applications in the automotive and other industries.

The company also produces hardened and tempered strip and electron beam welded bimetal strip.

High carbon steel and bimetal grades are primarily used to produce saws for cutting applications in wood, plastics and metals.

The JB and S Lees production facility at West Bromwich, Birmingham houses various types of annealing furnaces and a number of cold rolling mills - two of them high-performance mills that are used for the main rolling production.

Three years ago Castrol was invited with other lubricant suppliers, to offer a solution to a number of problems JB and S Lees was experiencing with its existing coolant.

Martin Jones, R and D manager at J B and S Lees said: "We were experiencing very short coolant life that meant we had to change fluid every 7-10 days, which was costing us a great deal of money.

We also encountered serious bacterial problems that had potential health and safety implications".

Besides the cost of lubricant, Martin says that emptying and cleaning down the mills was losing them up to seven hours production time for each disposal, plus there was a significant environmental cost for waste removal.

Following presentations from the coolant suppliers, Castrol Iloform RS65 was selected for a twelve-month trial in the smaller of the two high-performance mills, in order to build up JB and S Lees experience of the product.

Martin Jones reports that after a very successful trial the main mill was also converted to the fluid a year ago.

Says Martin: "The Iloform RS65 is working very well and we estimate that, taking into account the reduced coolant cost and savings on indirect cost such as production downtime, machine emptying, cleaning and re-filling, and tanker costs for disposal, we are achieving annual savings of UK PDS 30,000 since we changed".

By recommending weekly monitoring of the lubricant to ensure that biocide levels are maintained, Castrol has also helped to address the health and safety issues caused by excessive bacterial growth.

Explains Martin: "Previously, biocide levels were deteriorating to zero allowing bacterial activity to increase to a point where the coolant was unusable.

"Now, the Castrol laboratory service allows us to be much more pro-active.

We send a fluid sample every week for analysis and receive a written report - by email and post - advising us of the condition of the fluid and recommending the amount of biocide required to bring it back to its optimum level".

Summing up, he says the change to Iloform RS65 was very worthwhile and is now producing excellent results.

"We are very happy with the product, and with the service Castrol provides,".

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