On the Japanese-built electrogalvanizing line at Great Lakes Steel, 44 collector heads, each with 40 brush assemblies, carry about 12,500 A to a liquid used to put galvanizing plating on rolled steel. Until recently, Great Lakes was going through 200 brushes a month and incurring the large costs and delayed delivery that can come with ordering from a foreign manufacturer.

Helwig Carbon regional sales representative Bill Clark was brought in, along with a competitor and a consulting engineer. All were asked to come up with a solution that would allow Great Lakes to drive down the cost of replacing the brushes on the collector heads. Both the competitor and the engineer felt a high copper content was necessary in the brushes for better electrical conductivity. Helwig Carbon disagreed, voicing the opinion that, even with high current, the amount of the current-carrying material (copper) could be slightly decreased and the amount of graphite increased to provide lubrication to extend brush life.

Great Lakes Steel went with Helwig Carbon's recommendation, implementing a composite brush system with an increased amount of graphite. Brush life doubled, costs went down, and delivery time decreased from 8-10 weeks to a few business days when Helwig Carbon products replaced the Japanese manufacturer's.

"Why buy your replacement parts from overseas when you can get them from a reliable source here in the U.S.?" said Mike Grabarkiewicz, electrical planner for Great Lakes Steel. "Helwig Carbon offers exceptional turnaround time, flexibility, design engineering, easy reordering, and significant cost savings -- in parts costs, production efficiency, and machinery dependability."