The Siemens Industrial Solutions and Services Group (I&S) has received an order from ThyssenKrupp Steel AG to supply a new main drive for the BETA coupled tandem pickling line at its Dortmund plant. The order is valued at approximately three million euros.

For Stand No. 1, Siemens is supplying a new cylindrical-rotor synchronous motor with a nominal output of six megawatts. The motor will be powered by two Simovert ML DC link converters, which will help to facilitate high availability. The new motor will replace three direct-current motors, which have been in use since the tandem cold mill was built in the 1970s.

Compared to direct-current drives, the new drive system is more efficient, thus saving energy. At the same time, the Siemens solution requires much less maintenance and will thus increase the availability of the plant as a whole. With the new drive system, strips with a higher initial thickness can be rolled to the same final thicknesses.

Delivery, installation and commissioning of the drive systems are scheduled for July 2006.

With an annual raw steel output of 14 million tonnes and over 30,000 employees, ThyssenKrupp Steel is one of the world's leading producers of high-quality flat steel. The coupled tandem pickling line in Dortmund, modernized in 2003, is one of the company's most productive cold rolling mills.

The Siemens Industrial Solutions and Services Group (I&S) is the integrator of systems and solutions for industrial and infrastructure facilities and global service provider for the plant and projects business covering planning, installation, operation and the entire life cycle. I&S uses the electrical and technical products of other Siemens Groups in order to enhance productivity and improve competitiveness of companies in the sectors of metallurgy, water treatment, pulp and paper, oil and gas, marine engineering, open-cast mining, intelligent traffic systems and industrial services. In fiscal 2004 (to September 30) I&S employed a total of 30,000 people worldwide and achieved total sales of EUR 4.290 billion.