Reel take-back for manufacturers and plants

Cable and reels this work empties

Industrial parks around Chicago

The Elk Grove Village Business Park beside O'Hare is about six square miles and holds roughly 400 manufacturers. Northbrook's Sky Harbor Industrial Park has more than 700 manufacturing, light industrial and service businesses. On the Southeast Side, the Calumet Industrial Corridor covers about 4,197 acres in South Deering, East Side and Hegewisch and is the city's largest industrial corridor. Franklin Park, Bedford Park and the plants of Northwest Indiana add more.

Each of those places has receiving docks where reels arrive full and leave empty.

A standing take-back

For a plant the useful arrangement is a schedule. We agree a frequency based on how many reels arrive, the plant keeps empties in one spot, and each visit clears them with a ticket listing sizes and condition. Supplier-owned steel reels and coil carriers stay out of the load and go back to their owners on their own terms.

If a supplier already runs a return loop for its reels, keep using it; we take what that loop does not.

Small reels add up

Many plant reels are small: 12 to 24-inch plywood spools from wire and welding suppliers. One at a time they seem worthless, but a pallet of fifty dry plywood spools is a useful lot for workshops and rewinders. Stack them flat on pallets and shrink-wrap them, and they load in minutes.

What we need from the plant

1. A contact at receiving or maintenance.
2. Dock hours and whether a forklift driver can load.
3. A rough monthly count by size.
4. Any reels or carriers that belong to suppliers, so they can be left alone.

Receiving dock routine

The simplest routine is one designated spot near receiving where empties go the day the wire runs out. Mark it on the floor, keep it clear of fire lanes, and have the dock lead note the count on a whiteboard. When the count reaches the agreed number, or on the scheduled day, the pickup clears it.

Where we see this work

• Chicago neighbourhoods

  Calumet and Clearing plants whose suppliers ship wire, rod and rope on spools.

• The O'Hare corridor

  Franklin Park and Elk Grove fabricators emptying supplier spools at receiving.

• The North Shore and north suburbs

  Sky Harbor and Wheeling manufacturers with dock-side reel piles.

• The west suburbs

  Corn processing, food and packaging plants running continuous shifts.

• Northwest Indiana

  Steelmakers, refiners and processors whose maintenance outages empty heavy spools.

How the pickup runs

1. Count and photo

   Count the reels by flange size and send one photo of the stack and one of a reel tag.

2. Sort by tag and condition

   We read the tags and photos and tell you which reels we buy, which are returnable and which look like recycling.

3. Route each reel

   Every reel gets one exit: buyback, maker take-back, recycling or resupply.

4. Schedule by corridor

   We put you on the next corridor day in your area, or send a truck of its own for a big lot.

5. Load and settle

   The driver checks each reel, loads, and leaves one ticket showing what was bought, recycled and left.

Questions

Do you take steel reels from suppliers?

Not to buy. Steel reels belong to their supplier and go back on its terms.

Can you collect from a plant with no forklift?

Small reels can be hand-loaded. Larger ones need a forklift or a liftgate; tell us what is on site.

Do you charge for recycling broken reels?

Broken reels go out on the same visit. Any charge for a load that is mostly broken is agreed before the truck comes, never added afterwards.

Can scrap wire on a reel go with the pickup?

No. Strip it off first; the plant's scrap buyer pays for the metal, and a wound reel cannot be resold as empty.

Reel words on this page

Flange

The round side discs that hold the cable in. Flange diameter, edge to edge, is the size a reel is known by.

Drum (barrel)

The cylinder between the flanges that the cable winds around.

Traverse

The inside width between the flanges: how wide a layer of cable can be.

Arbor hole

The centre hole a spindle, shaft or payoff bar passes through.

Drive hole

A smaller hole off-centre in the flange that a drive pin uses to turn the reel.

Lagging / staves

The boards nailed around the drum, and the protective boards sometimes nailed across the flanges over finished cable.

Nailed vs bolted

Nailed reels are held together with nails and built for one trip; bolted reels have through-bolts and steel plates for many.

Returnable reel

A reel its maker expects back, usually stencilled or tagged to say so.

One-way reel

A reel nobody is collecting. Once empty, it belongs to whoever holds it.

Reel tag

The label or plate carrying the maker, the reel number and sometimes the return terms.

Payoff

The stand or trailer a reel turns on while cable is pulled off it.