Thompson Tractor Tour Highlights

We wish to thank Ashley Self, Bob Bacon, and Mike Reuter for hosting our small touring group last Thursday evening. As soon as we arrived, we stopped by the Thompson Power Systems Truck Department to learn about tweaks and power adjustments from their Caterpillar Engine Dyno experts. Thompson Tractor is highly regarded for servicing and repairing the Caterpillar Diesel engines found in over-the-road tractor rigs. Dyno testing is used to test and to adjust fuel, maximum horsepower output, and optimum efficiencies along with finding out-of-tune parts, diagnosing fixes, and settling on a combination that's ideal for the owner and the engine.

After talking awhile over refreshments, we were introduced to the Thompson Tractor family of businesses: Heavy Equipment, Lift Truck Division, CAT Rental Store, Power Systems, and Parts & Service. We found out that Thompson maintains a $25M inventory, retaining 95 - 97% of the parts necessary for service and repair on their shelves, available for on-site service and for immediate repairs. Two interesting forward-in-time-framed videos showed complete rebuilds of tractors. Our hosts further reviewed ongoing training policies and continuing education for service personnel. Thompson Tractor fully supports Heavy Equipment and Manufacturing Training and Educational facilities across the state of Alabama, including the development and participation in a joint-effort Caterpillar University. After a brief introduction to company history and education, our hosts touched on recent growth and expansion before stressing how important all three, employee satisfaction, strong customer partnerships and just as strong supplier partnerships have helped them build a rock-solid service business that should stand for another 50 years.

After a brief discussion answering open questions, our hosts walked us through the main inside service and repair facilities. From presses and exotic machinery used to rebuild canisters of all types and sizes to complete tear-downs, replacements and rebuilds of whole vehicles, we stopped by each station in turn to see from disassembly to reassembly of individual parts, such as transmissions and complete engine assemblies. Along the way, we stopped inside another Dyno Testing room where even the engine oil is analyzed in addition to confirming expected horsepower ratings, fuel efficiencies, and optimum performance. In order to maintain such an impressively clean indoor service depot, parts are complete washed and cleaned upon disassembly at the entrance. Including an environmentally sound, fully enclosed paint booth which serves as the last station and the assembled exit, the whole building was a clean-room. Every employee must be proud of their workspace. We stopped by to take a picture alongside one of the engine rebuilding stations:

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Just before closing for the evening, Bob, Ashley, and Mike took time to show us the fluid testing and diagostics laboratory that must rival the one from the home Caterpillar office in Peoria, Illinois. As we stood discussing farewells and until laters, our SME team invited Thompson to find an employee to begin actively participating with our humble group. We let them know that we are planning future events, such as a tour of the Tuscaloosa Mercedes plant, which should be a joint tour with the Mississippi SME membership, as well as other tours throughout the central Alabama region.

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If your company would consider hosting a tour for the Birmingham SME Chapter, or if you wish to join us on our adventures, please, email Blane.Vines@BhamFast.com for more information. For more information about the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, please, log on to http://www.sme.org/.

Thompson Tractor tour 08/27/2009 5 - 7 pm

Thompson Tractor looks forward to hosting the Birmingham SME group on Thursday afternoon, 08/27/2009 from 5:00 to 7:00pm. The event will take place in the Building 1 Auditorium, located on the east side of the Highway 79, Tarrant facilities at 2401 Pinson Hwy, Tarrant, AL 35217. The tour will target the Component Rebuild Center of Thompson Tractor along with the Caterpillar Certified Rebuild process, including a look at contamination control, the flow of materials, and internal processes developed from years of experience.

Planned Schedule:

5:00 - 5:30 Welcome

5:30 - 5:45 Thompson Tractor Company overview

5:45 - 6:00 Society of Manufacturing Engineers overview

6:00 - 7:00 Thompson Tractor Company facility tour

Thompson CAT is the full-line Caterpillar equipment dealer serving Alabama and panhandle Florida and represents Mitsubishi Caterpillar forklifts across most of Georgia. This Tarrant campus is the corporate headquarters for Thompson Tractor.

Please, bring Safety Glasses. Membership, please, RSVP. If you would like to join us for this tour or if you would like to join us on future tours, email BrianE@PrecisionGrinding.com or Blane.Vines@BhamFast.com for more information. Please, consult http://www.sme.org/ for more information about the SME and the benefits of being associated with our group.

Nucor Steel Tuscaloosa Plant Tour

Nucor Steel Tuscaloosa shut down the plant for our Thursday evening, end of the month tour. As a result, fifteen SME members and guests were allowed to "get close to the equipment" during our tour of the mill.

Our three hosts, Jon, Dave and Johnny welcomed us into their conference room for a brief history of this Tuscaloosa coil and discreet plate mill, along with some light refreshments.

We first climbed the stairs to the top of the mill to see where scrap steel is loaded into the Electric Arc Furnace. We saw the ladle metallurgy furnace that handles 150 tons of newly melted steel. Next in line, we stepped up to the mixing and testing portion of the mill where we were surprised to find that when adding Vanadium, steelworkers throw the whole can full of these precious rocks into the mix. Our tour guide, Jon Walton, let us know that temperatures get extremely hot along the way, beginning at 2300 degrees Farenheit before cooling toward 1000 degrees upon exiting as a finished product, prior to shearing. During production, most of the workers wear heavy, heat protection gear.

We followed the stairs down the path where the steel is poured into the slabcaster. As a rule, Nucor Tuscaloosa generates a standard-sized 5 1/4" slab in order to produce a uniform beginning size for all of their finished coil and discreet plate products. Again, SME members and guests were able to take a closer look at the cooling mechanics of the slabcaster while the mill was shut down. On the other side of the mezzanine, our guides showed us a "from-the-top view" of how the Steckel Mill works these slabs until the desired 5.26" thickness and flatness is achieved. As we made our way into the plate rolling, control room, we viewed monitors showing close-ups of various coil-rolling inspection points. Here, the slab is rolled to the desired coil thickness, then sheared, coiled to a rolled size. At this point, the desired thickness coil has been produced.

Additionally, we viewed the shear lines, the discreet plate lines, and we saw both, finished coils and finished 1/2" to 1 1/2" x 96" x 480" plates. At that time, all of these plates had metric measurements and specific heat and plate numbers written on their edges.

Both, during our introduction and the closing remarks, Dave Reinhold stressed the efforts made for adhering to the highest Safety Standards in the industry. Nucor prides itself on promoting Safety and Environmental Stewardship, while producing some of the highest quality steel products in the world. Dave took the time to answer several of our questions.

We finished our evening with a seafood dinner at Wintzell's. Al Hanhauser a member from the Mercedes Tuscaloosa plant shared one of the more interesting conversations when he introduced us to the new Mercedes SLS Series production vehicles that should rival the Ford Mustang AV-X10. Further, Nathan Cox, from COX MHP, an invited guest from the Mississippi SME chapter suggested that Alabama and Mississippi continue joint tours. Nathan suggested several upcoming Mississippi plant tours that would be of interest to our members.

SME Birmingham members and guests thank NUCOR STEEL for giving us this opportunity to see their Tuscaloosa coil and plate production facilities. We are also thankful for the invitation to come back when the mill is under heavy operation in order to see the steel produced live.