Flatrolled Steel, Inc. of Houston, Texas, has begun processing metal with their newly installed High Speed Multi-Cut Blanking Line from Red Bud Industries, Red Bud, Illinois. Flatrolled Steel, Inc. is committed to being one of the premier processors of hot rolled, cold rolled, P&O, galvanized, and prepainted precision blanks in the Southern United States. This commitment is demonstrated by their purchase of a Precision Multi-Cut Blanking Line capable of processing 72" (1829 mm) wide coils up to 60,000 lb (27,216 kg) at .135" (3.4 mm) thick and 400 FPM (122 MPM).

The new line features Red Bud's High Speed “Dual Action” Servo Controlled Grip Feed System capable of producing parts with length tolerances of ±.005" (.127 mm) and production rates reaching 400 FPM (122 MPM).

Red Bud's patented CNC Programmable Slitter with expandable arbors and Digital Positioning System is also incorporated into this line. Slitter knives are automatically positioned using information downloaded from the line's PLC. As each set of knives is positioned, horizontal clearances are automatically set. Once positioned, the Slitter's arbors are expanded, locking the knives into position. Traditional Slitters may take as long as forty to fifty minutes to set up while the CNC Programmable Slitter typically sets up in about two minutes per cut. This unique Slitter allows the line to process multiple back-to-back multi-blanking jobs without the need for multiple Slitter Heads or additional set up personnel.

This line also features an automatic CNC Positioning Stacker. To save time it automatically positions and locks the strip dividers into place while the Slitter is being set up.