Schedule
13–16 October 2025 • Mobile, AL, USA
Sunday, 12 October 2025 | |
| 4–6 p.m. | Registration |
Monday, 13 October 2025 | |
| 7 a.m. | Registration and Breakfast |
| 8 a.m. | Keynote Presentation |
| 8:30 a.m. | Supporting a Safety Culture — "Ownership" Paul Thurber, Everguard.ai Safety requires ownership! Safety is personal; however, when practiced correctly, it has team results. |
| 9:15 a.m. | Group Discussion on Safety |
| 9:45 a.m. | Break |
| 10:10 a.m. | Overview of Rolling Nancy Hake, NLMK Indiana This session discusses the evolution of rolling processes and provides an overview of the components of rolling mills and the role the equipment plays in delivering a quality product to customers. |
| 11 a.m. | Basic Rolling Theory Yuli Liu, Quad Engineering Inc. This presentation begins with basic concepts of rolling, and then introduces the theories to calculate rolling force, torque and power. A common misunderstanding on gaugemeter control model is rectified. An interactive program will be used to demonstrate basic rolling theories. |
| Noon | Lunch |
| 1 p.m. | Review of Metallurgical Basics John Speer, Colorado School of Mines |
| 2 p.m. | Break |
| 2:15 p.m. | Application of Fundamentals to Hot-Rolled Processing/Products John Speer, Colorado School of Mines |
| 3 p.m. | The Reheat Furnace Matt Druciak, Tenova Inc. This presentation will cover the basics of reheat furnaces. Topics will include use, history, several types, different components, and recent advancements of reheat furnaces and how it plays a vital role in the rolling mill facility. |
| 4 p.m. | Roughing Mill Area Equipment Raymond Young, Primetals Technologies This presentation will provide a comprehensive overview of the equipment and major components found in the roughing mill area of a hot strip mill. Attendees will gain an understanding of the functional aspects and operational principles of key machinery, including: Roughing stands — the primary function and design features of roughing stands, which are responsible for the initial reduction of steel slabs; descaling systems — an explanation of the descaling process and the equipment used to remove surface scale from the slabs before they enter the roughing stands; and thermal control equipment — the role of thermal control equipment in managing the temperature of the slabs throughout the roughing process to ensure optimal rolling conditions. |
| 5 p.m. | Reception |
Tuesday, 14 October 2025 | |
| 7 a.m. | Breakfast |
| 8 a.m. | Introductions and Safety Share |
| 8:30 a.m. | Flatness With Profile Control Eugene Nikitenko, United States Steel Corporation The presentation covers the fundamentals of flatness defects development, their relationship to strip profile changes, and the actuators used to control flatness and profile. |
| 9:45 a.m. | Break |
| 10 a.m. | Roll Design Concepts |
| 11 a.m. | Finishing Mill Equipment 1 and 2 |
| Noon | Lunch |
| 1 p.m. | Plant Tour of AM/NS Calvert LLC |
| 5-6 p.m. | Reception |
Wednesday, 15 October 2025 | |
| 7 a.m. | Breakfast |
| HOT SHEET ROLLING TRACK | |
| 8 a.m. | Hot Sheet Introductions and Safety Share |
| 8:15 a.m. | Finishing Mill Operations and Temperature Control |
| 9:30 a.m. | Break |
| 9:45 a.m. | Mini-Mills and Runout Table Cooling Stuart Hardcastle, Hatch Overview of the history and current status of mini-mills, what are they and is the definition current. Runout table cooling technology and design considerations. |
| 10:45 a.m. | Continued Developments in Hot Rolling Jennifer Grzyb, SMS group Inc. This is a presentation on recent developments in hot rolling and technologies to support green steel production. |
| 11:45 a.m. | Lunch |
| 12:45 p.m. | Hot Strip Mill Surface Defects – Automated Surface Inspection Systems Gregory Gutmann, ISRA Vision Parsytec Take a view into the use and application of automated surface inspection for hot rolling mills. Gain an understanding of how images are captured and processed to generate a surface inspection report. |
| 1:45 p.m. | Break |
| 2 p.m. | Common Identified Imperfections – Automated Surface Inspection Equipment Kevin Michael Skero, Nucor Steel West Virginia A brief overview of the most common issues that are associated with hot rolling sheet products. |
| 3 p.m. | Roll Failure and Possible Issues |
| 4:15 p.m. | Question-and-Answer Session |
| PLATE ROLLING TRACK | |
| 8 a.m. Plate Rolling Introduction and Safety Share | |
| 8:15 a.m. | Introduction to Discrete Plate Rolling |
| 9:30 a.m. | Break |
| 9:45 a.m. | Steckel Rolling — Process and Equipment |
| 10:45 a.m. | Plate Finishing Equipment Qiulin Yu, Nucor Steel Tuscaloosa Inc. This section will provide a brief overview of typical plate mill configurations or layouts. The focus will be on the plate finishing equipment, with detailed discussion of key processes such as plate cooling, leveling, shearing, sidetrimming, inspection, testing, marking and stack piling. |
| 11:45 a.m. | Lunch |
| 12:45 p.m. | Practical Aspects of Plate Leveling Sebastien Maillard, Clecim, and John Hinton, Primetals Technologies Ltd. Fundamentals of plate leveling: physical principles, operational practices, technologies, trends. |
| 1:45 p.m. | Break |
| 2 p.m. | Plate Heat Treatment |
| 3 p.m. | Roll Failure and Possible Issues |
| 4 p.m. | Question-and-Answer Session |
Thursday, 16 October 2025 | |
| 7 a.m. | Breakfast |
| 8 a.m. | Introductions and Safety Share |
| 8:15 a.m. | Drivetrain Design Ken Hutter, Belden-Hutter Inc. Equipment design, forces and life considerations are discussed for the drivetrain. |
| 9:15 a.m. | Hot Strip Downcoilers — Practical Considerations for Operation and Maintenance Jose M. de Jesus Jr. A practical discussion of downcoiler equipment and the operating parameters and the operating sequence, with consideration of the maintenance parameters that affect the operation. |
| 10 a.m. | Break |
| 10:15 a.m. | Runout Table Cooling Technology Stuart Hardcastle, Hatch |
| 11 a.m. | Descaling, Roll Cooling and Spray Issues in Hot Rolling |
| Noon | Lunch |
| 1 p.m. | Gauge and Width Control in Hot Rolling Reginald Snyder, TMEIC Corp. America This instructional presentation is an overview of the concepts and control methods used in hot strip mills and plate mills for control of width and thickness. Practical considerations for quality issues in various mill configurations are provided. |
| 2:30 p.m. | Break |
| 2:45 p.m. | Hot Mill Equipment Reliability and Maintenance Ehren Plew, NLMK Indiana |
| 3:45 p.m. | Maintenance and Reliability |
| 4:45 p.m. | Question-and-Answer Session and Conference Adjourn |