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Kocks to Supply Reducing & Sizing Block for Republic’s Lackawanna Mill

Republic Engineered Products, Inc. has placed an order with Kocks Pittsburgh Co. for a 3-roll Reducing & Sizing block [RSB] as part of the modernization of their mill in Lackawanna, N.Y.
 
The 5-stand 370 Heavy-Duty RSB will be installed in the existing (circa 1976) bar and BIC mill behind stand No. 18, replacing HV stands No. 19 and 20. The RSB will work as a finishing block to produce rounds in the dimensional range of 19.05 to 82.6 mm (¾- to 3¼-inch) and hexagonal sections in the range of 20.65 to 57.15 mm (13/16- to 2¼-inch). It will also finish bar-in-coils within the same dimensional range and sections.
 
The new RSB is also expected to increase mill utilization by more than 20%, since all the possible sizes in these ranges will be made from only five feeders to the RSB coming from a true single-pass family. The RSB will allow the operator to produce any bar size at any time with premium quality and tolerances by facilitating "free-size" rolling—production of precisely graded finished sizes with the highest tolerances at reduced changing times.
 
Kocks Pittsburgh’s scope of supply also includes the quick automatic stand-changing system, the pass and guide remote adjustment, and the rollshop with the CAPAS computer-aided adjusting system for stands and guides. Kocks Pittsburgh will also provide the computer program BAMICON, which calculates the optimum adjusting values for motor speed, rolls and guides as well as gear steps according to the required final product.
 
Commissioning is scheduled for the 4th quarter of 2009. This will be Kocks’ 68th installation worldwide of a 3-roll RSB.
 
Republic Engineered Products is a leading North American supplier of special bar quality steel. The company is a subsidiary of the Simec Group, Guadalajara, Mexico, of which ICH, Mexico City, Mexico, is the majority owner, makes and sells more SBQ than anyone else in North America.
 
Kocks Pittsburgh Co. is a subsidiary of Friedrich Kocks GmbH & Co KG in Hilden, Germany.