Using Thickness Gauges as a Yield Improvement Practice

Did you know that X-Ray Gauges Can Improve Your Yield?

Yield is one of the easiest ways for your steel producing or processing facility to increase efficiency and make more money. In 2022, where steel prices are at an all-time high, optimizing production and maximizing yield even fractionally can save millions of dollars to a steel producer or processor. Consequently, work is of the utmost importance to steel and aluminum mills interested in maximizing their bottom line.

Did you know you can increase your yield for process applications with a thickness gauge? As many processors advance their material arbitrarily until they are within the correct Gauge to start processing, they typically shear off too much material and waste time getting to the right thickness gauge before they start processing. This process involves a lot of manual checking and, in general, wasted time. Additionally, you may shear off more material than necessary because you don’t know precisely where the Gauge falls into the requested tolerance range.

As an example, galvanizing lines get “in gauge” with the following process:

1. Operator advances the sheet 50-100 feet
2. Line stops
3. The operator takes a manual check and determines Gauge is out of tolerance
4. Operator advances the sheet additional 50-100 feet
5. Line stops
6. The operator takes a manual check and determines Gauge is out of tolerance
7. Repeat
8. Repeat
9. Finally, Gauge is intolerant.

By utilizing an x-ray or isotope thickness gauge, the customer can report the thickness value in real-time to save operational time and minimize their waste. This takes a ton of time and wastes good material. Alternatively, if an x-ray thickness or isotope gauge are installed on the line, the customer will be continuously gauging thickness, and will know exactly where to stop their line to shear their thick head. They can shear at precisely this point and not waste any material in doing so. Additionally, there’s a huge time savings by not having to slowly advance the material forward and stop to check. The customer’s efficiency rates can skyrocket on these types of lines.

Additionally, thickness gauges can be set up with alarming and flagging capabilities that inform the customer when conditions present are not viable for production. This has the potential to reduce product rejects from customers and improve their standing with their customers. In many cases, the automotive industry requires these types of automated checks for their suppliers.

Global Gauge can help out in these situations. Global Gauge is the largest USA-based manufacturer of x-ray and isotope thickness gauges. We have been building x-ray gauges for 22+ years and are the go-to resource for many North American steel producers and processors who need a reliable x-ray gauge that will be supported for years to come. As our customers have grown, so have we. We’ve acquired several legacy installed bases of thickness gauging platforms and can upgrade or replace almost any type of our competitor’s gauges. These systems can be built from PLC or Remote I/O platforms, and we’re able to custom configure them from application to application based on our customers’ needs. Additionally, being established in Dayton, OH, we engineer, design, and build all of our precision measurement systems proudly in the USA

If your operations have a chance to increase yield by installing a thickness gauge, you’re throwing money away. These systems can often pay for themselves within a year or two of installation, and allow you much better insight into your operations.

Contact Global Gauge today to learn more about how we can help you with your thickness gauging needs to make your plant more optimized and save you time and money.