Declaration of Independence
Independence Tube Corporation (ITC) is one of North America’s leading manufacturers of square and rectangular structural steel tubing.
And with customers in the transportation, agricultural equipment, manufacturing and materials handling industries, its output must meet stringent quality and productivity levels — day in, day out, year after year. Which is why when it comes to choosing welders, ITC opts for EFD Induction.
John Helinski has a tough job. As the man running ITC’s brand new 310,000 square foot facility in Decatur, Alabama, he must ensure that the plant’s output of ASTM A500 2-1/2” square through 10” square tubes satisfies the quality requirements of some very demanding customers. At the same time, he has to maximize the plant’s equipment uptime and throughput. How does he do it? “Obviously, our choice of welder is crucial,” comments Helinski. “Weld quality must be consistently high, and the welder must deliver exceptional uptime. Other key criteria were flexibility and ease-of-use. For the new mill here in Alabama we wanted a welder that lets us change smoothly and quickly between different tube sizes. Finally, we wanted top-class technical support. If anything should go wrong, we don’t want excuses — we want prompt professional service.”
For Helinski and his team, the choice of welder supplier was quickly narrowed down to EFD Induction. “Actually, it wasn’t such a tough decision. We chose a 1,000 kW EFD Induction welder back in 1997 when we commissioned a new facility in Marseilles, Illinois. That plant has been very successful, due in no small part to fantastic weld quality and productivity. This positive experience with EFD Induction made them a natural choice for the new plant in Alabama.”
The new EFD Induction welder is a 1,200 kW Weldac. And according to Helinski, the equipment was ready to produce tubing less than a day after welder testing was completed. Moreover, since its installation last year the welder has, in Helinski’s words: “operated flawlessly.” Helinski is also impressed with the service and support ITC has received: “Absolutely, the EFD Induction guys are always ready to answer our questions. And should we need a service technician, one is dispatched to us as quickly as possible.”