From STEEL GRIPS online
New 4-Strand Caster for Steel Dynamics, USA
Oct 17, 2007
Siemens received a contract from Steel Dynamics, Inc. (SDI) to engineer and manufacture a new 4-strand billet/bloom casting machine for its structural and rail division in Columbia City, Ind. USA.
This project is part of the $75 million investment approved by SDI’s board of directors in July 2007 to increase the mill’s combined production capacity for structural steel and rail product to 2 million tons annually. With the addition of this second caster at the Columbia City facility, SDI will be able to provide steel to both of its rolling mills, each with a planned production capacity of one million tons per year. The design of the new casting machine will enable SDI to produce high-quality rails at its Columbia City facility.
The new Siemens supplied 4-strand billet/bloom caster will feature the first application of Dynagap soft reduction technology for bloom casting in North America.
For the caster Siemens will provide engineering and equipment, including plate molds, external MEMS (mold electromagnetic stirring), hydraulic oscillation, air-mist secondary cooling linked with the metallurgical cooling model, soft reduction stands for improved internal strand quality, complete level II systems and technological models as well as Siemens modular PLC architecture. SDI is responsible for construction and installation. The Siemens caster will be installed initially with four strands and designed for expansion to five strands as warranted by market conditions.
Start-up of the casting machine is slated to occur during the first quarter of 2009.
In March, Siemens announced the award of a contract by SDI to add a fourth strand to an existing three-strand bloom/beam-blank caster also at the Columbia City facility. This project is currently scheduled for commissioning in the fourth quarter of 2007.
Steel Dynamics, Inc. is the fifth largest producer of carbon steel products in USA with 2006 annual revenues of $3.4 billion and annual shipments of 4.7 million tons. SDI’s steel manufacturing operations consist of five electric-furnace mini-mills and these facilities employ approximately 2,500 people.
© Copyright 2007 by GRIPS media
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