Taiyuan Iron & Steel (Group) Co. Ltd. (Tisco), P.R. China, has awarded consortium leader SMS Demag AG a contract for the engineering and supply of a complete hot strip mill.

Capable of producing some of the widest strip in the world, the mill will mainly consist of a reversing stand with a flanged-up edging stand, coilbox without mandrel, crank shear, seven finishing stands and two coilers. Provision has been made for a third coiler. The mill is designed to produce four million tonnes of coils per year, of which half will be made of stainless steel.

To attain excellent product tolerances, the hot strip mill will feature all necessary servo-systems, including hydraulic adjustment in the edging stand, roughing stand and finishing mill, hydraulic loopers and CVCPLUS systems in the finishing mill as well as step control in the coiler unit. The intended operating modes are hot charging and mixed rolling.

The new rolling mill, which will be set up in Taiyuan in the province of Shanxi, will produce carbon steel strip ranging in thickness from 1.2 to 25.4 mm and in width from 1000 to 2100 mm, as well as stainless steel strip ranging in thickness from 2.0 to 20 mm and in width from 1000 to 2100 mm.

Toshiba Mitsubishi Electric Industrial Systems Corp. of Japan is the consortium partner in charge of electrical equipment and automation systems.

The total contract is valued at more than US$ 100 million, and the first coil is scheduled to be manufactured in two years.

SMS Demag AG forms part of the Metallurgical Plant and Rolling Mill Technology Business Area of the SMS group. The SMS group is 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 2003 around 9500 employees worldwide generated a turnover of around EUR 2.20 billion.