1. What Is a Street Light Pole Manufacturing Plant?

A street light pole manufacturing plant is where we take steel and turn it into street light poles.

We combine various machines and raw materials.

Along with workers and utilities. And manage production.

So there are many things to consider when starting a street light pole manufacturing plant.

Not only will you need to buy a street light pole making machine.

You may need:

• Raw steel warehouse
• Machine to cut steel plate
• Make blank for tapered street light poles
• Forming machine to form the pole
• Longitudinal welding machine
• Straightening machine
• Process pole head
• Flange making machine
• Access door processing machine
• Grinding machine
• Surface treatment
• Inspecting
• Warehouse for finished poles.

It all depends on what size of pole your planning on producing. And how many you plan to make.

Also think about what other products you may want to make in the future.

Street Light Pole Factory Setup 

2. What Can You Make at Your Street Light Pole Factory?

If you design your plant properly. You can make many different products.

Such as

• Street Light Poles
• Solar Street Light Poles
• Highway Light Poles
• Road Light Poles
• Signal Poles
• Camera Poles
• Smart Light Poles
• Garden Light Poles
• Decoration Light Poles
• High Mast Poles (Sections)

These products all require slightly different steps to make.

You can have a normal street light pole made out of a tapered street light pole.

And then you can add features to your smart light poles.

Its best to know what you want to produce when designing your plant.

3. Street Light Pole Manufacturing Process

There are many steps to making a street light pole.

Most start with steel plate and work their way up from there.

Here is an example of a process flow:

Steel Plate – Cutting – Forming – Welding – Straightening – Secondary Operations – Grinding – Surface Treatment – Inspection

First off you would pick out what size steel plate you need.

And make sure it meets your requirements.

You would then cut the steel plate to the desired size.

Your street light pole forming machine would form the pole.

The welding machine would then close up the seam on the pole.

Straighten the pole if needed.

Next you would need to work on your pole heads. Some may require bending or shrinking.

Then you can work on adding access doors. Holes for wires and mounting points.

Once those are done you can grind the pole down. To get any bumps from welding and sharp edges.

Now its time to either Galvanize or paint your poles.

Lastly you would want to inspect your pole.

4. Machines That You Can Have in Your Plant

As you can see above there are many machines you can have at your plant.

There are many more that can be added. It all depends on what you want your plant to be.

You can always out source some of these processes until your business grows.

5. Cutting Your Steel Plate

When you first cut your steel plate you are determining how long your pole will be.

So you want to make sure you have a good plate cutting system.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when buying a plate shearing machine.

• How long do you need to cut the plate.

• How thick do you need to cut.

• Width of the blank you want to cut.

• What kind of taper do you want to achieve.

• Accuracy

• Waste of steel

• Production rate

As stated above you want to limit the amount of waste steel you have.

Steel is expensive so you want to maximize the amount of steel you are using.

Also by having good consistent blanks will help your street light pole forming machine.

Plate Trapezoid Shearing Machine

6. Street Light Pole Forming

Now that you have your steel plate cut. Its time to form your pole.

There are many options when it comes to your street light pole forming machine.

You can form octagon poles.

• Polygonal Poles
• Tapered Poles
• Cones

And so on. Its all up to what you want to produce.

There are also different tonnages of pole forming machines.

So make sure you send us drawings of your products. So we can help you choose the right machine.

Having your pole formed correctly will also help when welding.

Hydraulic Pole Forming Machine

7. Welding Your Street Light Poles

Once you have formed your street light poles. You will need to weld them.

There are many options when it comes to welding.

You will want to consider.

• Current
• Voltage
• Speed
• Where your seam is located
• Torch location
• Thickness of material

Having a welding machine will allow you to control all of these.

And will allow you to stop doing repetitive tasks.

Of course you want to inspect your welds. Depending on what your product is and what your customer requires.

Automatic Pole Welding Machine

8. Straightening Your Pole

When you are forming and welding your pole. There is a chance it can become bent or out of line.

So you may want to consider adding a pole straightening machine to your line.

Pole straighteners will allow you to push or pull on your pole.

To gain better linearity of your pole.

There are many sizes of pole straighteners. Make sure yours can accommodate your poles.

9. Pole Heads

Many street light poles have a lamp arm attached to the top of the pole.

So you may want to look into our Pole Head Bending Machine.

Our pole head bending machine can control the angle and radius of your bend.

And will allow you to repeat your bend each time.

There are also some poles that you will want to shrink the top of the pole.

You can use our Pipe Head Shrinking Machine to accomplish this.

Pole Head Bending Machine

Pipe Head Shrinking Machine

10. Making Access Doors and Flanges

There are other things you will want to add to your street light poles.

Like access doors to get to the electrical in the pole.

You may want to consider a Access Door Machine.

Or just drilling holes for wires and mounting brackets.

Another thing you will want to consider is making flanges for your poles.

Cutting the plate. Making holes. Grinding and drilling the flange in place.

All of these can be done with our flange machine.

By drilling your flange holes with a CNC you can ensure they are in the right location.

11. Grinding

Once you have completed all of your secondary operations. You may want to consider grinding.

There are many reasons to grind your pole.

• Grind your weld
• Get rid of sharp edges

Grind down your pole if you had a bump in it.

Once your done you can move onto surface treatment.

12. Galvanizing

Street lights are made for outdoor use.

So there needs to be some kind of rust prevention.

Galvanizing

This is a process where a layer of zinc is applied to your steel material.

To perform the entire galvanizing process you will need the following:

• Tank(s) for pretreatment
• Galvanizing equipment
• Material transfer
• Air flow
• Environment control
• Security measures

Due to this many companies will not do galvanizing inhouse.

Powder Coat

You can powder coat your pole if you want a finish color.

Paint

There are many paints that can be used on street light poles as well.

Whatever process you decide to use should fit your customers need.

13. Your Factory Layout

It’s important to think about how your factory will be set up.

Since we are dealing with a very long product we have to space our machines out appropriately.

Your factory will most likely look something like this:

Storage of Raw Materials

↓

Plate Cutting

↓

Forming of Poles

↓

Welding Longitudinally

↓

Straightening

↓

More Processes

↓

Grinding

↓

Quality Control

↓

Surface Treatment

↓

Finished Pole Storage

By having your factory laid out like this you are reducing travel distance.

You can also manage your processes easier.

Just make sure to leave enough room around machines that deal with long products.

14. How To Automate A Street Light Pole Factory

You have a few options when it comes to automating your street light pole factory.

If You Produce On A Smaller Scale

You can buy each process individually and have your employees transport the material to each station.

Automatic Machines With Some Manual Labor

Each machine can process your pole automatically but require labor to load/unload and transport to next process.

Automatic Street Light Pole Line

If you decide to build a full automatic street light pole production line you can include the following:

• Auto Placement
• Cnc Machining
• Automatic Feed
• Welding
• Transferring Of Material
• Controls
• Production Tracking

Just remember to automate where you need it. If you add more automation to your factory but do not have it balanced out you will not see any gain in production.

Automatic Street Light Pole Production Line 

15. Calculating Your Production

You need to know what you want to produce before buying your machines.

You should know the following:

• How many poles you want to produce per day
• How many shifts you plan to run
• Size of your average pole
• Thickness of material
• Amount of models
• Change over time
• Surface treatment capacity

Once you know these numbers you can start comparing machine cycle times.

Having a fast cutting machine won’t help if your bottleneck is welding.

Find a balance in your production to get the best results.

16. Quality Control

Any good street light pole manufacturing company will have quality control built into their process.

Raw Material

Measure steel and ensure you have all paper work.

Cutting

Ensure your trapezoid shape is measured correctly.

Forming

Make sure the cross section and welding seam is correct.

Welding

Visually inspect your weld. Make sure you weld meets your requirements.

Depending on your product you may need to do additional tests.

Measurement

• Length

• Bottom Measurement

• Top Measurement

• Thickness

• Straightness

• Angle

• Location of Holes

• Flange Size

Surface

Check for any deformations, nicks, burrs and paint defects.

17. What Else Will Your Factory Need?

Of course you will need machines for your factory. But there are other things to consider as well.

Depending on what machines you buy you will need to know what utilities are needed.

Some utilities to consider are:

• Power
• Air
• Hydraulics
• Welding Power
• Ventilation
• Extraction
• Cranes
• Material Handling
• Maintenance Equipment
• Quality Control Equipment

Remember to consider how you are going to handle your material. Steel and long products can be very heavy. Make sure your lifting capacity can accommodate the largest workpiece you will be using.

Leave adequate room around your machines to work safely.

Home

18. How Do I Start My Street Light Pole Factory?

When starting a street light pole manufacturing business there are a few steps to take.

1. Decide what type of poles you want to produce

2. Create your pole drawing(s)

• Length
• Bottom Diameter
• Top Diameter
• Thickness
• Material
• Cross Section
• Head Style

3. Determine how many poles you want to produce

4. Decide on what processes you want to do in your factory.

5. Select your machines based on what you want to produce.

6. Set up your factory layout. Consider your machines and how you will store and transfer material.

7. Build out utilities.

8. Install and commission your equipment.

9. Run test production. Inspect each process.

10. Adjust machine settings for normal production.

19. Why You Should Choose Us For Your Production Line

Your machine manufacturer will play a big role in your business. Not only will they supply your machines but they can assist with running your business.

When choosing a supplier here are some things to keep in mind:

Do they understand the process of making street light poles?

Are their machines large enough for the product you want to make?

Will they customize their machines to your application?

How will your machines connect?

What size will your factory need to be?

Will they install your equipment and shorten your lead time?

What kind of after sale service do they offer?

20. About Nanjing Bangwin Machine

Nanjing Bangwin Machine is a industrial machine and solution provider.

When building your street light pole manufacturing plant we can start with your end product. Once we know your pole dimensions we can choose the right machines for your application.

We can provide you with:

• Plate Trapezoid Shear Machine
• Hydraulic Pole Forming Machine
• Auto Welding Machine
• Pole Head Bending Machine
• Pipe Head Shrinking Machine
• Straightening Machine
• Grinder
• Material Handling

We can also help you plan out your production line to allow your machines to connect and transfer material through your workshop.

Read More From Nanjing Bangwin Machine

Street Light Pole Production Line Manufacturer

21. Frequently Asked Questions

l What machines do I need to build my street light pole factory?

You will need a plate shear, hydraulic forming machine, welding machine, straightener and any secondary machines depending on your application.

l What material do I need to build a street light pole?

Most street light poles are made out of steel plate. This can vary based on your applications.

l Can I produce different sizes of street light poles in one factory?

Yes, as long as your machines are able to produce your desired product.

l Can I produce solar street light poles and regular street light poles?

Yes you can produce both in the same factory. Just make sure your factory can handle the additional requirements for solar.

l Can I produce octagonal street light poles?

Yes you just need to have the proper forming equipment.

l Do I need an automatic street light pole line?

Not necessarily. It will depend on your production needs and labor.

l Do I need to build a galvanizing plant?

No you can either build your own galvanizing plant or outsource the process.

l How big does my factory need to be?

That depends on what product you want to make. The longer your pole is the bigger your factory will need to be. There are also factors such as storing material and surface treatment.

l How much does it cost to build a street light pole factory?

It will depend on many factors. Machine capacity, automation, pole size, factory, additional equipment and surface treatment. We will need to do a technical configuration to give you a price.

l What information should I send you to receive a quotation?

Send us your typical pole drawing. Include the length, diameter range, thickness and material you will be using. Also let us know your production needs and if you want automation.

22. Final Thoughts

When building your street light pole factory there are many things to consider. Your machines, utilities, handling of material, quality control and management of your production.

Start with your end product and build off of that. Know your pole size(s), material and amount you want to produce. Then we can select the correct machines to cut, form, weld and straighten your pole. We can also add secondary machines to your line.

Automation will also help you with repetitive tasks and can save you time if your production allows for it.

With the right factory setup you can produce street lights, solar lights, highway lights, traffic lights, smart city lights and more.

If you would like to learn more about starting a street light pole manufacturing business contact Nanjing Bangwin Machine.