New Seamer Improves Safety and Efficiency

V&S Tubular Products LLC installed a new BSCO high capacity seam welder at our facility in Muskogee, Okla. in May 2018, enabling us to continue a steady increase in production as we continue to expand our operation. Like the new cutting ma-chine at our V&S Schuler Engineering facility in Canton, Ohio, the new seam welder will make our operation more efficient and improve safety.

We designed and constructed the previous seamer in-house when Tubular Products began operations in 1995. While that machine was reliable and met our production demands for more than 20 years, the need for a more modern and efficient machine be-came evident a few years ago as we started producing more and more tubular products.

The new machine can weld poles up to 60’ in length and 80” in diameter, and the seams are welded up to 80 percent penetration. It features a digital drive that assures steady and controlled movement of the steel, a cradling system that accepts the shaft halves and pushes the pieces together, and a conveyer that moves the pieces toward the welding unit. Hydraulic cylinders align the pieces and then the subarc welder fuses the shaft together, guided by a special tracking system to weld directly down the seam with superior accuracy.

The machine also lifts and rotates poles during the welding process, greatly reducing production time and injury risk. Previously, employees would weld one seam of the shaft and then manually flip the shaft with cranes and run it back through the old ma-chine to weld the opposite seam.

“This is an extremely specialized piece of equipment,” V&S Schuler Senior Vice President Greg Shaheen said. “It was a major investment in the future for our Tubular Products division. This machine helps us increase production, leading to better pricing and sales growth.”

We’ll also still use the old “work horse” from 1995 occasionally to produce specific size poles.

“As we continue to grow, our goal is to eventually replace our original seam-er with a second BSCO machine,” Shaheen said. “That’s the next step.”

“This is an extremely specialized piece of equipment. It was a major investment in the future for our Tubular Products division. This machine helps us increase production, leading to better pricing and sales growth.”

– Senior Vice President Greg Shaheen