Roller Leveler Testimonials
Centria
"Our NEW Auto Selective Hydraulic leveler from Bradbury is an awesome machine! By running in automatic mode and letting the leveler adjust itself, we achieve an in-house material flatness within ½ an I-Unit or less instead of the usual five to ten I-Units from outside sources. The steel and aluminum sheets from this machine are so flat you can’t physically find material issues. We now have zero problems feeding a production machine that requires sheet flatness to be within .004."
Dickie Jones
Plant Operations Manager
Oregon Feralloy Partners
"Working with Jim and the team at Bradbury is great. They are receptive, thorough, and respond to our need for constant innovation seriously. Oregon Feralloy Partners continues to grow because of the superior quality of our temper mill-leveler line and Bradbury's commitment to help us leverage their technology for the benefit of our customers."
Michael Fiore
Plant Manager
Portland, OR
Heidtman Steel Company
“We looked at other levelers for our pickling line and chose the Bradbury Leveler because of its robust design and ease of operation. Since installing the leveler over two years ago, its performance has exceeded our expectations. I would highly recommend Bradbury.”
David Cooley
Plant Manager
Cleveland, OH
Lapham-Hickey Steel
“Lapham Hickey Steel has noticed several advantages to running the e•Drive® and Flat Trak® systems. We run a very wide range of products on our line, from .015" to .134" thick, 4" to 72" wide, Hot Roll, Cold Roll, Galvanized, Low Carbon and High Carbon. The end result on the full line of products has been panel flat/laser quality sheets and blanks.
Secondly, our line operators love the e•Drive®. The interface and Flat Trak® system is extremely user friendly. The product is being leveled so consistently by the e•Drive® system that it removes the need for our operators to make adjustments to the leveler when running a coil. This allows them to be much more efficient.
Lastly, and most importantly, our customers love the product. The feedback we have received on the flatness and how the material processes in downstream operations, such as blanking, forming, and welding has been overwhelmingly positive. We have been running the e•Drive® Leveler for over six months now and have not had a single complaint or rejection.”
Brian Hickey
General Manager
Lapham-Hickey Steel
Chicago
ArcelorMittal
“In November of 2010, my team from ArcelorMittal — Global Research and Development in Metz, France, conducted extensive testing on the new Bradbury e•Drive® at Aceros Dondisch in Mexico City. We determined from data collected during the tests that the neutral axis shifted. After many years of testing around the world, this is the first time we have witnessed this shifting of the neutral axis on a roller leveler without tension bridles.”
Due to the results of the test, ArcelorMittal recently purchased a new leveler from Bradbury to work with higher yield materials. The new leveler will be installed later this year at ArcelorMittal Geel in Belgium.
Olivier Madelaine-Dupuich, PhD
Senior Researcher-Downstream Process
Global Research and Development
ArcelorMittal
Maizières-lès-Metz, France
Ratner Steel Supply Testimonial
“At Ratner Steel, we believe that our Bradbury leveler enables us to provide our customers with a superior product, and we know for a fact that it has improved our yields tremendously. We get panel-flat results from one end of the coil to the other. Our Bradbury leveler can handle quarter-inch-thick steel up to 72-inches wide. It was installed in 1999. That was six years and well over 300,000 tons ago, and we just changed rolls for the first time. This leveler has been essentially maintenance free. Bradbury pioneered hydraulic leveling, and there's no doubt in my mind that this technology achieves a higher degree of flatness than the mechanical levelers we've used. Bradbury makes a leveler that's easy to operate, easy to maintain, and easy to grow with. It has helped us gain market share.”
Mark Ratner
Ratner Steel Supply Co., Inc.
Roseville, MN
Delta Metals Testimonial:
“Seven years ago we were shopping and comparing levelers. We were impressed with Bradbury's hydraulic design and felt it would have faster reaction times and hold flatness more accurately. Bradbury installed our leveler in three days, and in seven years, we've never once had a problem – never once doubted our decision. Because we run hot-rolled, cold-rolled, and galvanized, the quick access for cleaning is also important. The flatness we got opened new markets for us. We let customers come into the plant to see how we could do quarter-inch steel up to 72 inches wide with “laser” flatness. No one else in our area can do quarter-inch steel with multiple blanking and consistently keep it laser flat.”
Gary Anderson
Delta Metals Company, Inc.
Memphis, TN
High Steel Service Center Testimonial
“We saw a Bradbury leveler in operation and were impressed with the leveling capability of the hydraulic design. That was fifteen years ago. We purchased and have been running a Bradbury leveler for at least two shifts a day ever since. It has stood up to heavy use and continues to do the job on our quarter-inch line. It regularly handles 14-gauge through quarter-inch steels in hot-rolled, cold-rolled, and galvanized product. Because of the high volume, we routinely replace the work rolls about every two years, whether they need it or not. Now we've upgraded to a Bradbury touch screen control on the old unit and bought a second Bradbury 72-inch leveler. This newer machine is used for 26- to 10-gauge work and does great on most gauges. We run prepainted material on the new line, and the Bradbury leveler preserves the paint and keeps it clean.”
Ron Koring
High Steel Service Center, Inc.
Lancaster, PA
Central Plains Steel Company Testimonial
“This is a cut-to-length service center. We bought our first Bradbury leveler in 1990 with 3 1/2-inch work rolls and a few years later bought a smaller Bradbury with 1 3/4-inch rolls that we use in our Kansas City facility. We estimate the slip limiters that come standard on the units have saved us plenty of downtime, headaches, and money. Bradbury levelers and people are tops in our book, and they have "killer" controls…service is a high priority for them. Bradbury modified our first unit with heavier cylinders so we could work 72-inch-wide, quarter-inch-thick grade 50. They installed a new drive system and slip limiters on an old competing leveler we have that kept breaking U-joints and shafts – and, of course, when one shaft breaks, there's damage to others…Bradbury builds a superior leveler.”
Gary O’Neal
Central Plains Steel Company
Wichita, KS