Alfa Acciai, Italy, has issued the final acceptance certificate to SMS Meer SpA, Italy, for its bar mill in Brescia.

SMS Meer’s scope of supply included the roughing, intermediate and prefinishing stands, and two finishing blocks with four passes. SMS Meer also supplied the patented high-speed delivery system (H.S.D.^®), cooling bed, layer transfer facilities, tying machines, hydraulic and lubricating units and all other ancillary facilities.

Alfa Acciai’s bar mill product mix includes rebar steel with diameters of 8 and 10 mm (with the two-slit process) as well as 12 and 16 mm diameter rebar. The mill’s production capacity is 50 tonnes per hour.

The double rotating channel of the high-speed delivery system is designed for simultaneous delivery of bars onto each of the drums (alternate delivery of two bars at a time from each of the two drums). This solution combines the two-slit rolling process for rebars (8 and 10 mm diameter) with the high-speed delivery onto the cooling bed so that production capacity for these smaller sizes is further increased.

SMS Meer SpA forms part of the Tube, Long Product and Forging Technology Business Area of the SMS group. SMS GmbH is the holding for a group of companies internationally active in plant construction and mechanical engineering relating to the processing of steel, non-ferrous metals and plastics. The group is divided into the Business Areas of Metallurgical Plant and Rolling Mill Technology, Tube, Long Product and Forging Technology and Plastics Technology. In the year 2004 some 9,500 employees worldwide generated a turnover of about EUR 2.20 billion.