SMS Meer to Supply Largest-Ever Welded Tube Plant for Jiangbei Steel Processing
09/25/2007 - Jiangbei Steel Processing and Logistics, part of the WISCO steel group, places an order with SMS Meer to supply a 26-inch high-frequency welded tube plant capable of producing up to 350,000 tonnes of pipes per year, the largest of its kind in the world.
Jiangbei Steel Processing and Logistics Co. Ltd., part of the Chinese WISCO steel group, has placed an order with SMS Meer to supply a 26-inch high-frequency welded tube plant. The continuous welding line will produce up to 350,000 tonnes of pipes per year, making it the largest of its kind in the world.
Jiangbei Steel Processing will use the new line to produce pipes ranging in diameter from 244 to 660 mm, with wall thicknesses up to 24 mm and a maximum length of 18.5 meters. WISCO will supply the starting material from its own steelworks in Wuhan. The delivered coils will measure up to 2.13 meters in width and 45 tonnes in weight.
The new plant will produce pipes for the oil and gas industry and for the building sector. Linepipes for pipelines will be produced to API standard in steel grades up to X80. Casings for oil exploration will also be manufactured to API standard in steel grades up to N80.
The plant is also designed to produce structurals and square/ rectangular hollow sections for the construction industry in dimensions up to 500 x 500 mm and 600 x 400 mm, respectively.
WISCO is building the new welded tube plant as part of its “North River Project”. A new steelworks complex is being established on the outskirts of Wuhan on the north shore of the Yangtze River that will cover the whole added-value chain from hot metal through to finished steel products.
Jiangbei Steel Processing’s new welding line is scheduled to go into operation at the end of 2008.
SMS group is, under the holding SMS GmbH, a group of companies internationally active in plant construction and mechanical engineering for the steel and nonferrous metals industry. It consists of the two Business Areas SMS Demag and SMS Meer, which jointly form SMS metallurgy. In 2006, some 9000 employees worldwide generated a turnover of about EUR 2.8 billion.
