Loading
myRockwellAutomation
Careers
Investors
PartnerNetwork Portal
Contact Us
Popular Resources
Compatibility & Downloads (PCDC) Knowledgebase Literature Library Lifecycle Status Learning+ Training Portal
 
Product Management
Asset Management (RAAMP) Installed Base Evaluation (IBE) My Equipment Self-Service Product Registration Repairs Service Contracts & Tickets Software Activation Software Subscriptions Sustainability Dashboard
 
Product Configuration and Selection
Advisor Bill of Materials CrossWorks Integrated Architecture Builder Product Catalog ProposalWorks Proposal Builder ProposalWorks Standards Builder Safety Automation Builder
 

 

View All Tools →

InformationInformation
This content is not available in your selected language.
Rockwell Automation logo
Products
Hardware
What's New in Hardware
Circuit & Load Protection Condition Monitoring Connection Devices Distributed Control Systems Drives Energy Monitoring Human Machine Interface (HMI) Independent Cart Technology Industrial Computers & Monitors Industrial Control Products Input/Output Modules Lighting Control
Motion Control Motor Control Network Security & Infrastructure Packaged Solutions Power Supplies Programmable Controllers Push Buttons & Signaling Devices Relays & Timers Safety Instrumented Systems Safety Products Sensors & Switches Signal Interface
Software
What's New in Software
Cloud Software
 
Design
Studio 5000 FactoryTalk Logix Echo Emulate3D Digital Twin Arena Simulation FactoryTalk Design Studio FactoryTalk Twin Studio FactoryTalk Vault
 
Analytics & Data
FactoryTalk Historian FactoryTalk Analytics FactoryTalk Analytics LogixAI FactoryTalk DataMosaix FactoryTalk Energy Manager Thingworx IIoT FactoryTalk Transaction Manager FactoryTalk Edge Manager Model Predictive Control
HMI
FactoryTalk View FactoryTalk Optix
 
MES
Plex MES FactoryTalk ProductionCentre FactoryTalk PharmaSuite Plex MES for Food & Beverage FactoryTalk CPGSuite Plex Quality Management System Plex Enterprise Resource Planning Plex Asset Performance Management Plex Production Monitoring Finite Scheduler FactoryTalk EIHub
 
Performance Monitoring
FactoryTalk Metrics OEE
 
Thin Client Management
ThinManager
Maintenance
Fiix CMMS FactoryTalk Analytics GuardianAI FactoryTalk AssetCentre FactoryTalk Remote Access FactoryTalk Network Manager Emonitor
 
Process
PlantPAx FactoryTalk Batch
 
Industrial Communications
FactoryTalk Linx
 
XR/Augmented Reality
Vuforia
Product Directory Allen‑Bradley FactoryTalk
Services
Asset Optimization & Workforce Services
Asset Optimization Services Overview Equipment Repair Equipment Remanufacturing Repair and Inventory Agreements Integrated Service Agreements Remote Support & Monitoring Onsite & Field Services Safety Services Training Services
Cybersecurity & Network Infrastructure
Cybersecurity Industrial Network Infrastructure Pre-Engineered Network Solutions
Digital Thread
Overview
Production Automation
Overview Coordinated Drive System Solutions
LifecycleIQ Services
LifecycleIQ Services
LifecycleIQ Services
Lifecycle Services help your manufacturing facility work faster, smarter and with greater agility at every lifecycle stage.
Get Started
LifecycleIQ Services
Solutions & Industries
Solutions
Advanced Motion & Robotics Asset Management Cybersecurity Data Operations & Analytics Digital Thread Digital Transformation Industrial Automation Control Industrial Components Networks & Infrastructure On-Machine Solutions
Packaged Solutions Process Solutions Production Automation Production Operations Management Safety Solutions  Scalable Control & Visualization Smart Manufacturing Sustainable Solutions Workforce Enablement
 
Solutions for
OEMs
Industries
Automotive & Tire Cement Chemical Entertainment Fiber & Textiles Food & Beverage Household & Personal Care Hydrogen Infrastructure Life Sciences
Marine Metals Mining Oil & Gas Power Generation Print & Publishing Pulp & Paper Semiconductor Warehouse & Fulfillment Water Wastewater
Hawaiian Host Group Overcomes Multiple Packaging Challenges
Hawaiian Host Group Overcomes Multiple Packaging Challenges
Case Study
Case Study
Hawaiian Host Group Overcomes Multiple Packaging Challenges
Automation solution helps Cama Group machine carefully and precisely package delicate confectionary at scale and at speed – no matter the packaging format.
Read Now
View Case Studies
Support
Documentation
Technical Documentation Center Product Drawings & Wiring Diagrams Product Certifications Release Notes Technical Specifications
Product Support
Downloads Selection & Configuration Management
Training
Webinars Workforce Development Training Instructor-led Courses Certificate Programs Job Aids Training Workstations Learning+ Training Subscriptions
Contact Us
TechConnect Support Customer Care Software Portal Help General Inquiries
TechConnect Support
TechConnect Support

Get the knowledge and assistance for solving your technical challenges.

Learn More about TechConnect
Compatibility and Downloads (PCDC) Knowledgebase Literature Library Engage Online Community
Sales & Partners
Find a Partner
Go to the Partner Finder
 
Our PartnerNetwork
PartnerNetwork Program Digital Partners Distributor Partners Licensed Developers
Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) Partners Strategic Alliance Partners System Integrator Partners Technology Partners
Order Online
Software Subscriptions E-learning Training Instructor-led Training Learning+ Training Subscriptions
What is the PartnerNetwork™?
What is the PartnerNetwork™?

Our Rockwell Automation PartnerNetwork™ program gives our customers access to the best people, products, services and solutions to meet manufacturing goals and bring The Connected Enterprise to life.

Explore Now
myRockwellAutomation
Careers
Investors
PartnerNetwork Portal
Contact Us
Resources
Popular Resources
Compatibility & Downloads (PCDC) Knowledgebase Literature Library Lifecycle Status Learning+ Training Portal
 
Product Management
Asset Management (RAAMP) Installed Base Evaluation (IBE) My Equipment Self-Service Product Registration Repairs Service Contracts & Tickets Software Activation Software Subscriptions Sustainability Dashboard
 
Product Configuration and Selection
Advisor Bill of Materials CrossWorks Integrated Architecture Builder Product Catalog ProposalWorks Proposal Builder ProposalWorks Standards Builder Safety Automation Builder
 

 

View All Tools →

Select country or region
  • Netherlands
  • Argentina
  • Australia
  • Belgique | Belgium
  • Brasil
  • Canada
  • Colombia
  • Czech Republic
  • Denmark
  • Deutschland
  • España
  • Finland
  • France
  • Hungary
  • India
  • Indonesia
  • Ireland
  • Israel
  • Italia
  • México
  • New Zealand
  • Norway
  • Poland
  • Portugal
  • Puerto Rico
  • Romania
  • Russia
  • Schweiz | Suisse
  • Singapore
  • South Africa
  • Sweden
  • Turkey
  • Ukraine
  • United Arab Emirates
  • United Kingdom
  • United States
  • Österreich
  • 中国
  • 台灣, 中國
  • 日本
  • 한국
Select language
  • English
  • Deutsch
  • Español
  • Français
  • Italiano
  • Português
  • 日本語
  • 简体中文
  • 繁體中文
  • 한국어
Sign In Create an Account
Why Create an Account?
Create bills of materials, submit repair quotes, register products and more!

Manage your e-communication subscription preferences.

Manage your user profile.
Welcome, {0}
Residing Location
My Account Sign Out
Your recent searches
  • HistoryHistory
    CloseClose
  • HistoryHistory
    CloseClose
  • HistoryHistory
    CloseClose
  • HistoryHistory
    CloseClose
  • HistoryHistory
    CloseClose
  • HistoryHistory
    CloseClose
All
Products
Documents
Downloads
Suggested search terms
  • SearchSearch
  • SearchSearch
  • SearchSearch
  • SearchSearch
  • SearchSearch
  • SearchSearch
Results for "{0}"
View all results
Product results for "{0}"
Product Image
Product Image
Product Image
View all product results
Document results for "{0}"
Portable Document Format.pdf file type
Publication Type: Published Date: Language:
Portable Document Format.pdf file type
Publication Type: Published Date: Language:
Portable Document Format.pdf file type
Publication Type: Published Date: Language:
View all document results
Download results for "{0}"
DownloadDownload
Catalog Numbers:
DownloadDownload
Catalog Numbers:
DownloadDownload
Catalog Numbers:
View all download results
CASE STUDY | METALS
Recent ActivityRecent Activity
6 minute read

Utilization and uptime increase across the board at Barrett Steel thanks to digital transformation

CHG Electrical completely transforms steel stockholder’s operations with Fiix CMMS and ThingWorx IIoT software

Share This:

LinkedInLinkedIn
XX
FacebookFacebook
PrintPrint
EmailEmail

Barrett Steel

 are steel stock-holders, with 28 sites across the UK, generating £500m turnover per year. Barrett Steel have a USP in the market by selling ‘kits of steel’ to the construction industry.

Challenge
  • Operations director recognized issues with availability, uptime, and maintenance, but needed robust and proven solution to collect, analyze, and disburse vast amounts of operational data and also manage maintenance more intelligently.
Solution
  • A Rockwell Automation solution was installed, which included:
    • ThingWorx® SaaS-based SCP (smart connected products) package from PTC
    • Fiix computerized maintenance management system (CMMS)
Result

Based on pilot projects, asset utilization improvements will result in significant additional revenue (£ millions)

  • Pilot site demonstrates increased productivity, more efficient logistics and reduced operational costs.
  • 90% of the crane team’s maintenance work is now proactive
  • Transportation is far more efficient, with loads matched to vehicle capacities
  • Electrical consumption (including offices) being far more closely monitored, with shift-pattern based savings already identified and remedial action in place
  • Data gathering and analysis already being broadened to other operational disciplines

“All the data was already there, we just weren’t collecting it… or using it,” explains Paul Burke, Head of Engineering at Barrett Steel

, the UK’s largest independent steel stockholder.

A relatively simple premise that has since evolved into the driving force behind a remarkable digital transformation – underpinned by the ThingWorx®

SaaS-based SCP (smart connected products) package from PTC and the Fiix
computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) from Rockwell Automation.

This evolution has subsequently resulted in comprehensive savings in budget, unproductive machine time, employee hours, transportation and energy consumption, not to mention a completely revised proactive maintenance regime; and there is so much more to achieve.

Challenge

When he took over as Head of Engineering across all Barrett Steel’s sites, Burke applied a mindset that he had nurtured from his experience in manufacturing and set about identifying significant operational efficiencies across all facets of the company.

But these efficiencies would only become apparent if he had much clearer and deeper insights into the various operations, which included offices, cranes, loading, cutting, logistics and maintenance.

“I wanted as much operational data as possible, including power use, run time, downtime, repairs, vehicle locations and productivity, to name but a few,” Burke explains. “I needed contextualized operational data upon which I can base my decisions and help operations managers make their decisions – not just relating to one machine and one site, but across the entire enterprise.”

Solution

Initially concentrating on machine capacity and order turnaround, Burke’s first paper-based system underwent a rapid evolution. With the help of CHG Electrical

– a trusted supplier of Barrett Steel and member of the Rockwell Automation PartnerNetwork as a recognized system integrator – the updated approach took the form of an electronic data-collection solution, with Rockwell Automation PLCs and software providing the all-important interface to the machine-level metrics.

Peter Clarke, CEO of CHG Electrical, explains: “Paul was looking to identify reasons for downtime, such as maintenance, lack of stock or staff availability. As such, we ran a trial on one machine at one site, and then extrapolated this data across all sites with similar machines. We quickly realized that there was a very strong business case for a large integration project encompassing 52 machines across 10 sites.”

At this stage, CHG and Barrett Steel agreed that dedicated software would be a better approach to cater for all the disparate data sources, the anticipated wider roll out, and eventual multi-site scalability. This decision led to the deployment of the ThingWorx platform and the Fiix CMMS.

Armed with these tools and a more streamlined ability to collect and analyze data, Barrett Steel and CHG started identifying other potentially data-rich operations that could be analyzed and improved.

Result

To date, the results have been hugely impressive. “We ran a trial on one machine at one site, which highlighted that a 1% improvement in utilization would result in £250,000 of additional income,” Burke enthuses. “Even a conservative improvement of 5% equates to more than £1 million of additional revenue. We then extrapolated the results across all sites with similar machines.

“We also looked at unplanned downtime and discovered that when we used industry-standard data – which is still very conservative – £5 million of downtime could be improved by simply better managing the 40 asset-care engineers. Even a 10% improvement equates to £500,000. It was this realization that led to the deployment of Fiix.

“90% of our crane team’s maintenance work is now proactive,” he explains. “In fact, using the original rudimentary approach, the payback on one site with eight machines would have been just six months; with Fiix rolled out across all sites, the payback will be just as impressive.

“Using ThingWorx to capture and collate the data, we have also identified surplus machine capacity on other sites to the tune of £300,000. If we equate this into capital expenditure for new cranes, loaders and forklifts, we justify the investment in ThingWorx for four years, in just one year’s savings.”

And it’s not just the heavy work that has benefitted from this new data-driven paradigm, Burke has also identified and measured other disciplines within the company’s operations.

“Thanks to ThingWorx being cloud based and offering open APIs,” Clarke continues, “we can pull in other disparate sources of data that previously weren’t being looked at by Barrett Steel and put them in context with other operational data. Logistics and energy usage are big parts of this.

“From the transportation side of things, we are looking at vehicles in terms of fuel use, miles travelled, and the weight of steel being moved. Armed with this, we can deploy the most suitable vehicles for the job. We also use ThingWorx to look at electrical use by measuring consumption based on shift patterns. We found that over £1.2 million or 40% of its electrical consumption was occurring during in non-operational shifts, due to lights being left on or equipment left running, so we immediately put a CO2 emissions reduction plan in place which would address air leaks, turn off unneeded machinery, sort out lighting ‘misuse’ with lux and presence sensors, and evolve the existing solar generation infrastructure. All these savings go onto the bottom line.”

“We’re not using true OEE at the moment,” Burke continues. “We’re just looking at utilization and availability, but we will introduce performance eventually. Quality is also not an issue as it is a very nominal benefit to us as scrappage rates are so low. We will certainly see productivity increases, but this is not a key metric at the moment, we’re currently at the issue-spotting stage.

“Having said that, on one site in Bradford, when we got its machines up to 80+% OEE/utilization, we certainly saw increased product onto vehicles and out of the door, a rise in the number of drivers out on time, and a significant reduction in driver and weekend overtime, due to planning around traffic and rush hours.

“We’ve also not lost sight of how important people are in the overall equation. People must work on and with the data. You can collect it and monitor it, but if you don’t act on it and make good operational decisions, which produce tangible results, then the motivation to use it falls. It is vital that you use it and be motivated to use it.

“Initially some operators thought we were observing them, but once we showed them that it was the machines under the spotlight and then showed them what we had learnt, there was a noticeable shift in attitude, which is even more apparent compared to lines that are not currently being monitored. Not only is the attitude different, but the productivity levels on the monitored lines are hugely improved. Looking at the project as a whole, we’re not there yet, but we can see the very bright light at the end of the tunnel.”

Burke saves the most convincing idiom until the end; and it’s the one he used in front of his management team after he had presented the business case for digital transformation. He simply said: “It’s up to you whether we can afford it or not, but I don’t think we can afford NOT to do it!”

Topics: Metals Drive Sustainability Empower People Optimize Production Accelerate Digital Transformation Build Resilience Digital Transformation Thingworx IIoT Fiix CMMS
Recommended for You
Loading
  1. Chevron LeftChevron Left United Kingdom Chevron RightChevron Right
  2. Chevron LeftChevron Left Com... Chevron RightChevron Right
  3. Chevron LeftChevron Left News Chevron RightChevron Right
  4. Chevron LeftChevron Left Case Studies Chevron RightChevron Right
  5. Chevron LeftChevron Left Utilization and uptime increase across the board at Barrett Steel thanks to digital transformation Chevron RightChevron Right
Company
About Us Accessibility Careers Diversity, Ethics and Integrity Engage Online Community Investor Relations Modern Slavery Statement Sustainability Trust Center
 
News & Events
Newsroom Press Releases Automation Fair Upcoming Events
 
Trending Topics
Cybersecurity Digital Transformation Smart Manufacturing The Connected Enterprise®
 
Training
Webinars Workforce Development Training
 
PartnerNetwork
Find a Partner What is the PartnerNetwork?
 
Our Brands
Allen-Bradley FactoryTalk LifecycleIQ Services
Contact Us
TechConnect Support Customer Care General Inquiries How to Buy Report Ethical Concerns
Insights
ROKStudios Management Perspectives Results Achieved Case Studies Blogs Automation Today Podcasts
BlogRockwell Automation's Blog
NL | EN
Legal Notices
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Email Preferences
Cookie Settings
Accessibility Settings
© 2025 Rockwell Automation
United Kingdom
Please update your cookie preferences to continue.
This feature requires cookies to enhance your experience. Please update your preferences to allow for these cookies:
  • Social Media Cookies
  • Functional Cookies
  • Performance Cookies
  • Marketing Cookies
  • All Cookies
You can update your preferences at any time. For more information please see our Privacy Policy
CloseClose