Baosteel Group Shanghai Meishan Co. Ltd., P.R. China, recently placed an order with SMS Demag AG, Germany, for the modernization of their hot strip mill.

By Spring 2006, the 1960s-vintage continuously operating five-strand roughing mill will be rebuilt as a roughing mill with a single non-reversing stand and a new reversing stand with attached vertical edger. Part of this work will be carried out with rolling operations still taking place.

The new roughing stand will be equipped with mechanical and hydraulic roll-gap adjustment, while the vertical edger will receive a fully hydraulic adjustment system. The mill will be provided with a mandrel-less coilbox, new cropping shear and a new descaler for the roughing mill. The finishing mill will be supplemented by an extra new stand at the entry side.

The revamp will result in a production increase to more than three million tonnes per year at a maximum strip width of 1,320 mm, as well as improved finished strip quality.

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 9,500 employees worldwide generated a turnover of around EUR 2.20 billion.