November 26th, 1999
Rockwell Automation
6400 West Enterprise Drive
Mequon, Wisconsin 53092
Attn: Mr. Jon Simons – VP Standards & Process Engineering
Dear Sir:
I want to take this opportunity to express our appreciation for the fine work that Brian Boulter of Applied Industrial Control Solutions, and Tom Street and Chris DePiero of RA Systems Engineering did for us on the Alumax project. The project included new Rockwell Automation drive controls, coupled with roll bending and AGC by Mannesman Demag, on a 72" aluminum hot rolling mill. We experienced tension control and other stability difficulties throughout the commissioning period. The problems were intermittent and appeared to be product dependent. A number of Rockwell service engineers worked on the system for several months, however we found that improvements on some products only led to difficulties with others.
We flashed a main drive motor one afternoon and called for assistance. Tom Street, unable to get a flight to Lancaster until the following day, drove all night to get to the customer site early enough to meet with the motor supplier (GE) and correct the problem. His kind of commitment and dedication is becoming rare.
Brian and Chris arrived on site and solved our tension and stability problems within 3 days. Brian’s knowledge of the drive systems and rolling process were exceptional. His ability to observe the process, interpret information, formulate a solution and "design on the fly" were impressive. Brian and Chris worked as a team with our engineers in solving our problems. Chris observed tension instability during initial threading of the tension reel. This had been a nuisance for months. They corrected the problem in less than a day.
Please pass on our sincere thanks to Brian at Applied Industrial Control Solutions, and to Tom and Chris at Rockwell’s System Engineering group for a job well done. I hope to have the opportunity of working with them on many projects in the future.
Sincerely,
Thomas F. Kennedy
A.P. T.F.K.
