Siemens’ Industrial Solutions and Services Group (I&S) has received an order from flat-steel producer Companhia Siderúrgica Paulista (Cosipa), Brazil, to replace their existing Slab Caster No. 3 located in Cubatão.

The project includes dismantling of the existing caster, and the engineering, supply and turnkey installation of a new single-strand slab caster. The project is valued at EUR 89 million, and will be implemented by the Brazilian Voest Alpine Indústria Ltda (VAI-MS).

Cosipa's existing Slab Caster No. 3 was commissioned in 1989. The company decided to replace this caster in its effort to improve caster productivity, operational flexibility and product quality. The new caster will be capable of producing a total of 1.2 million tonnes of high-quality carbon-steel slabs per year.

The project includes the engineering, supply and turnkey installation of a new single-strand slab caster equipped with technological systems, solutions and packages for the caster head and strand-guide system in addition to an integrated quality-control system. Dismantling of the existing caster and installation of the new caster is to be accomplished within a plant shutdown period of only two months, with the precondition that ongoing plant operations remain unaffected. Two-thirds of the contract order volume will be for manufactured equipment and services rendered within Brazil.

Start-up of the new caster is scheduled for December 2007.

This project is the latest of a series of contracts awarded to VAI by Usiminas/Cosipa. It follows the modernization of Cosipa's Steel Works No. 2 completed in 2001, which included installation of Continuous Slab Caster No. 4.

Cosipa, located on the Atlantic coast in the State of São Paulo, Brazil, is a company of the Usiminas Group, based in Belo Horizonte, State of Minas Gerais, Brazil. In addition to the Cosipa plant, Usiminas also produces steel at its iron and steel works in Ipatinga, Minas Gerais. With a total annual production capacity of approximately nine million tonnes of steel from both plants, Usiminas is the largest producer of flat-steel products in Brazil. Usiminas also has equity holdings in steelmaking companies in Argentina and Venezuela and is therefore one of the most significant steel producers in Latin America.

VAI, a division of Siemens’ Industrial Solutions and Services (I&S) Group, is one of the world's leading engineering and plant-building companies for the iron and steel industry as well as for the flat-product-rolling sector of the aluminum industry. VAI, derived from the company Voest-Alpine Industrieanlagenbau, Austria, provides a comprehensive range of supplies and services for all related technological processes and integrated automation solutions for the entire life-cycle of metallurgical plants.

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.