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Gerdau Gives a Thumbs Up to a New Rolling Mill, Plans to Begin Plate Production This Summer
02/19/2016 - Long steel maker Gerdau has issued the final acceptance certificate for its new Steckel mill at its Ouro Branco plant in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, according to the vendor on the project.
The vendor, Primetals Technologies, said the Steckel mill is designed to roll strip in widths between 900 mm and 2,100 mm and in thicknesses between 2 mm and 20 mm. It has an annual capacity of 800,000 metric tons. Primetals provided all of the mechanical equipment, including the Steckel rolling stand and coiler furnaces, a crop shear, a laminar flow cooling section, the downcoiler and associated coil handling equipment, and the electrical and automation package.
The new mill is part of a larger investment Gerdau has made in the steel works, Primetals said. The investment, which also includes a 2-strand continuous caster and a plate mill, was meant to establish Gerdau as a flat steel producer in Brazil. Flat steel production began in 2013 at the plant, and in January, it reached a production milestone, its 1 millionth metric ton of hot rolled coil.
The plant also is to begin making heavy plate this summer and has signed a technical co-operation agreement with Japan's JFE Steel Corp. to help advance those plans.
In a statement, Gerdau said the agreement, which covers the rolling and meltshop operations, will optimize the learning curve of the facility's heavy plate rolling mill.
"JFE's technical consultants will help Gerdau to improve its technological mastery of heavy plate production, which should accelerate advances in its production processes," the company said. "By July, the rolling mill should be producing a complete array of gauges."
The heavy plate mill will be capable of producing 1.1 million metric tons annually.
The new mill is part of a larger investment Gerdau has made in the steel works, Primetals said. The investment, which also includes a 2-strand continuous caster and a plate mill, was meant to establish Gerdau as a flat steel producer in Brazil. Flat steel production began in 2013 at the plant, and in January, it reached a production milestone, its 1 millionth metric ton of hot rolled coil.
The plant also is to begin making heavy plate this summer and has signed a technical co-operation agreement with Japan's JFE Steel Corp. to help advance those plans.
In a statement, Gerdau said the agreement, which covers the rolling and meltshop operations, will optimize the learning curve of the facility's heavy plate rolling mill.
"JFE's technical consultants will help Gerdau to improve its technological mastery of heavy plate production, which should accelerate advances in its production processes," the company said. "By July, the rolling mill should be producing a complete array of gauges."
The heavy plate mill will be capable of producing 1.1 million metric tons annually.
