Sep. 7, 2006 — Steel Dynamics’ Structural and Rail Division has placed an order with SMS Meer, Germany, for the supply of a new 600,000 ton/year medium section mill for the Columbia City, Ind., facility.

The new mill will comprise 15 continuously arranged roll stands with flying shears, rake-type cooling bed, an 8-roller straightener, and cold saws for cutting the sections to finished lengths. SMS Meer will also supply automatic stacking, tying and loading facilities.

The new mill will feature a new generation of stands characterized by an extremely rigid closed housing design that utilizes modular construction. The stands can be employed alternatively as horizontal, vertical and universal stands, as required. The stands will operate in two-high mode with groove shifting, the maximum possible barrel length of the rolls being 1500 mm. Optimized bearing spacing will help to ensure maximum stand rigidity and low roll costs for universal operation.

Quick product changing is made possible by stand changing without the use of a crane. SMS Meer will also supply a profile measuring device and an automatic roll gap control system to ensure close rolling tolerances and to improve yield.

The new mill will allow SDI to significantly expand its product range for beams, channels and angles. The main product size range lies between 3 and 14 inches (76 to 356 mm), although beams of up to 18 inches (457 mm) can also be produced. By extending the existing casting equipment, the new plant can be expanded to a capacity of one million tons per year. Provision has been made for future production of flats.

The mill will be operated in parallel with an existing heavy beam and rail mill that was previously supplied by SMS Meer. Commissioning of the new medium section mill is scheduled for the end of 2007.

SMS Meer GmbH forms part of the Tube, Long Product and Forging Technology Business Area of the SMS group. SMS GmbH is the holding for a group of companies 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 2004 some 9,500 employees worldwide generated a turnover of about EUR 2.20 billion.