Steel manufacturing processes produce a tremendous amount of scrap metal. It’s not something that can truly be avoided unless the parts that are created use all of the steel ingot provided. In most cases, that is not the case and scrap metal is produced.
People often undermine the environmental benefits of scrap metal. They think that it is just wasted metal that is to be thrown out. In actuality, many steel processing plants recycle metal scraps into the process. Almost none of them is lost and wasted.
But then again, producing too many metal scraps is a sign of an unoptimized manufacturing procedure. Here are a few tips on how you can reduce the production of metal scraps within your manufacturing process!
Reduce Manual Handling
One way to reduce errors in the manufacturing process is to remove human labor. Rely on machine precision and consistency. This will greatly minimize the creation of scrap metal from damaged parts within the metal manufacturing process.
For this, automation is going to be your best friend. Machines will bring down the margin error to a very low percentage, especially if it is a machine that is designed to cut and work on steel. Automations can handle a task programmed into it without any risk of damaging the parts to be manufactured. Nor will it produce any more scraps than is necessary.
At the same time, you will no longer need to have your people experience too much labor in smithing the metals to the exact measurements every time. It is also an opportunity for your people to move up and be the one responsible for the machinery used!
This is the easiest thing that you can do when your production process deals with a singular or just a handful of steel components. Either way, investing in a device that does all the metalwork for your company that is focused on steel part creation will no doubt bring about a large ROI!
Use the Right Equipment
Nowadays, large metalwork companies have already created their machinery that is designed to form metal the way they want to. Some are even able to cut and fold them into specific shapes and sizes. These equipment are part of the norm for steel manufacturing companies.
If you are part of these companies, you have to make sure that the tools that you are using are the right ones. You can’t expect a machine that produces corner blocks to also produce smooth U-shaped metals—even if they have a way to customize their settings.
Use the tools to create the products that they were designed to output. Do not force them to create other products just for the sake of saving money.
Every company needs the right tool for the job for the maximum efficiency to be reached. Products made using the right tool will have little to no metal scraps as byproducts. Everything will be used efficiently and effectively because you used the right tool for the job.
On the other hand, if you use a piece of equipment to create something that was not designed to make, metal scraps are all but guaranteed.
Document Procedures
One reason why a steel manufacturing company produces a lot of metal scraps is that they do not realize just how much they create. These companies would often have their standard operating procedures set in stone. That includes the materials used for a specific process which would then produce a certain output. Sometimes, they will only focus on the net product and will outright ignore any byproducts to be taken care of by those involved in the process. It could also be the case that the documents are just outdated.
The whole process of manufacturing companies needs to be documented including the byproducts and the waste materials that they produce. That way, the management is aware of what they should do to all the resources and products that are used and produced.
Simply knowing this information is enough to reduce the metal scraps and waste products for each process that a company has. It also makes things more efficient and more precise. With everything documented thoroughly, you also know when something is wrong or if there are ways to improve the current state of things.
Key Takeaway
It is a good thing that the environmental benefits of metal scraps are the fact that it can be used over and over again thanks to recycling. Without its recyclability, these may be one of the worst bi-products that any manufacturing company can create.
With that in mind, steel manufacturing companies, and any other business that produces metal scraps as a waste material should do at least one of the tips mentioned above to reduce the creation of waste material as a whole. This will inevitably improve the efficiency of their processes and their business as a whole!
