A steel deal as sweet as sugar
25/05/2018
Australian-made BlueScope and Orrcon steel products are being used in a multi-million dollar cane bin manufacturing project by Australia’s biggest sugar producer - Wilmar Sugar Australia.
After deciding to bring manufacturing of its cane bins back in-house in 2016, Wilmar Sugar sought out a steel supplier that could keep up with the mass supply and tight deadlines the project would demand.
BlueScope Distribution was the successful tender coming out on top due to the company’s safety procedures, employee capability, and its ability to deliver quality products on time and within budget.
Orrcon Steel had an important role to play, supplying 250 tonnes of CHS, SHS and RHS section tubes around the outside frames of the cane bins.
Wilmar’s Works Program Manager, Vito Giarrusso, said, We’re proud to be able to keep jobs local and support the economy by using Australian-made Orrcon Steel.”
With Wilmar Sugar’s cane bins ranging in size from four-tonne capacity to 11-tonne capacity, the sugar producer required a consistent supply of CHS, SHS and RHS in a variety of sizes.
Impressed by the first project, BlueScope Distribution has just secured a second tender with another estimated 240 tonnes of Orrcon Steel tube being supplied to Wilmar Sugar between April and September 2018.
In addition to the replacement of old bins at Wilmar Sugar’s Burdekin and Mackay region mills, the 2018 project will also include the fabrication of specially designed 11-tonne capacity units for Wilmar Sugar’s two Herbert region mills.
These new models have been designed by the company’s in-house team to minimise mill stops, and will eventually phase out older bin types in the region.
With the cane bins manufactured at Wilmar’s on-site workshops by teams of qualified and apprentice boilermakers, this project will enable the sugar producer to maintain and expand their skilled workforce.
BlueScope Distribution’s Townsville Branch Manager, David Gurry, said “the partnership with Wilmar Sugar is a great opportunity to replace imports with a locally manufactured end product.”
For more information on Wilmar Sugar please visit https://www.wilmarsugarmills.com.au/.
