Southwire has signed a contract with Consolidated Engineering Company (Kennesaw, Ga.) to manufacture and install an aluminum-wire annealing furnace in their Hawesville, Ky., production facility.
Southwirehas signed a contract withConsolidated Engineering Company(Kennesaw, Ga.) to manufacture and install an aluminum-wire annealing furnace in their Hawesville, Ky., production facility. The furnace will increase the facility's annealing capacity by 14 spools of aluminum wire (each weighing 12,500 pounds) in every 12-hour shift, boosting Southwire's aluminum-wire production by 350,000 pounds a day. The furnace will go into production in the fourth quarter of 2006.
Southwire required a highly efficient annealing production process, but the design had a 19-foot height constraint because of existing equipment. CEC proposed a mobile furnace that moves back and forth between load stations immediately after each load is finished annealing. This, coupled with a stationary-door design that allows the furnace to fit within the height requirements, proved to be the answer.