Aluminum isn’t just remarkably strong for its weight
or immune to rust.
It’s also infinitely recyclable.
That’s why nearly 75% of all the aluminum ever made,
including that pointy thing
on the top of the Washington Monument,
is still in use today.
And these days with supply chains suffering worldwide,
large scale recyclers like Logan Aluminum
in Russellville, Kentucky,
are melting, rolling,
and shipping out all the product they possibly can,
including six million pounds due by days’ end.
But at the reversing mill,
operator Sarah Whitescarver has a 30 ton ingot
that’s refusing to fall in line.
- That’s not wanting to go into the mill,
so I’m gonna have to back it up, take it out of auto,
and I’m gonna have to run it manually.
- [Mike] To do that,
Sarah will use a pair of foot pedals
to roll the ingot down to a more manageable size.
- Nope, it’s not moving.
- [Mike] But that too isn’t working,
thanks to yet another hiccup in the system.
- The table rolls underneath the ingot are tripping.
When the table rolls are tripped,
it won’t move the ingot at all
no matter if you’re in manual, auto.
It doesn’t matter what you’re doing,
so I’m having to reset those too.
We’ll try this again.
Hold on.
I’m gonna try to use the foot pedals again.
Pedals work no problem.
Now, we’re gonna try again to go back into auto.
It looks like everything’s back in auto now
and running like it’s supposed to.
Luckily, we got out of it okay
and we didn’t get any downtime
or delay of production for it.
- [Mike] Back in the land of scrap and shredders,
Operating Technician Matt Turley’s still stuck
with the Zato shredder that’s still stuck.
- We’re trying to shred a million pounds a day up here
in cold bay,
so it is imperative that we get this jam out
so we can get back going.
- [Mike] And with the remote control approach
having already failed him,
his only recourse now is more power.
- Looks like we’re gonna have to get in there
and hit away at these bales,
try and bust ’em up with the front end loader.
You’ve gotta navigate just right
’cause this loader’s so big.
You gotta be super careful
not to hit any of these electrical components
or any of these hydraulics.
- [Mike] It’s a process
not unlike conducting brain surgery with a screwdriver,
but in the right hands,
this loader seems to be doing the trick.
- See the cans coming down.
I think we’re hitting the right spot here.
That looks good.
- [Mike] With the jammed bales sufficiently broken up
or seemingly so,
Matt heads back to the control room to monitor its progress.
- Good deal.
Looks like that loader loosened that material up enough
for us that we can go ahead and put her in manual.
There we go.
The jam is undone.
Voila.
Zato’s running and moving downstream.
- [Mike] Further down said stream,
Holding Furnace Technician Rosie Miles
is having issues of her own,
specifically with the batch of molten aluminum
that is isn’t quite up to snuff.
- We’re just out speck.
The only one that we’re worried about right now
is our manganese.
That one is an element that we have to have perfect.
- [Mike] Without the right amount of manganese,
the aluminum would be unworkable,
so Rosie will need to supplement this batch
with about 100 pounds worth.
- [Rosie] We put bags on top of the boom
and I will stir into the molten metal
that melt bay transfers over to us.
That’s pretty right there.
Now, I just take my time and stir it all.
- [Mike] And with the manganese thoroughly mixed in,
it’s time to test once again.
- And hopefully, it’ll be what we need
so we can start casting right away.
Now, that’s what we wanna see.
Perfect sample.
We can finally start a good cast.
- [Mike] For that,
Rosie heads over to one of Logan’s four casting areas
and starts positioning components
for her first pour of the day.
- This will be the trough
that distributes the metal so we can make three ingots.
So we’re hoping for a smooth, successful cast.
- [Mike] Since most of it happens underground,
here’s what that casting process usually looks like.
The trough Rosie’s installing will feed molten aluminum
into three vertical shafts beneath the floor,
each 25 feet long.
Then once the metal has cooled,
she’ll extract the shafts with the crane
and send them further down the production line.
But before all that happens,
she’ll need to ensure everything
is exactly where it’s supposed to be.
- [Rosie] In this process, starting to cast,
there’s no do overs.
We’re crossing all our Ts,
we’re dotting all of our Is.
Our pins.
This is what controls our metal flow.
If they’re not right, then we’re not right.
No matter how many times you do this part,
it always makes you get a little nervous.
- [Mike] That’s probably because each of these ingots
represents $75,000,
which certainly isn’t lost on Rosie,
but for better or worse, it’s time to start pouring.
- Here we go, here we go, here we go.
We’re gonna get outta the way.
- [Mike] In all,
it takes about 90 minutes for a cast to complete.
And since there’s not much to see here,
Rosie heads for the control room
to keep an eye on the process.
- Anything could happen at any time,
so we’ll stay suited up.
So what is that?
- What’s that?
- Oh, our holder’s going down.
We don’t want that.
- [Male Speaker] What’s happening?