On June 2nd 2011, A Finkl & Sons, with the help of Great Lakes Mechanical Services in Crete, Illinois and SMS Diemag, celebrated something that hasn't happened in over 100 years on the south side of Chicago; a first heat of a new steel forging furnace.

Designed by SMS, the 90 tonne electric arc furnace was assembled over the course of 16 months by Great Lakes Mechanical's Mr Gary Lombardi and staff, in conjunction with Finkl technicians.

He said that "Open communication made the process a true partnership between our three organizations. This was an outstanding experience."

Mr Frank Wilson, mechanic with Great Lakes, said that "Apparently, outstanding also applies to Lombardi's technical skills. Building the new furnace meant assembly from the ground up, including the hydraulic system and the furnace casing itself. SMS's plans often needed field modifications because of unexpected difficulties and we were able to create redesigns that worked for Finkl and for SMS. Sometimes, what worked on paper just didn't work in the field. We encountered and managed hundreds of challenges daily. That's something we are very skilled in seeing and creating real, workable solutions when faced with problems. Gary can look at a machine, a problem, and just figure out how it works, why it works or doesn't how to fix it and how to make it work better."

The blast of a first heat is used as a proving ground to resolve any issues with resulting steel quality. Mr Lombardi said that "It went much better than we expected, although we did have a few bugs to work out."

Mr John Guliana VP of Engineering at Finkl said that "The first Southside heat in 100 years is pretty amazing by itself. But it's even more it's so significant for Chicagoland steel. We are expanding, we're growing, we're going forward. This industry is turning around."

(Sourced from Great Lakes Mechanical Services)