Saudi Arabia's Al-Tuwairqi Group of Companies (ATG) has announced the commissioning of the world's largest bar mill at its ISPC-Makkah facilities, with an annual production capacity of 1.35 million metric tons. With the start of production at the new plant, ISPC-Makkah's total capacity rises to 1.85 million mt. In addition, its parent company ISPC-Dammam has a production capacity of 1.5 million mt after having been upgraded.
The plant equipment in question was originally designed to produce 600,000 mt of alloy steels a year but was upgraded for annual production of 1.35 million by Al-Tuwairqi Group's EPC team. Reverse-engineering, erection and commissioning of the equipment were carried out in house by Al-Ittefaq Steel Products Co. World-renowned equipment suppliers like Italy's Danieli, MWE of Germany, SundBirsta of Sweden, NCO of Italy, Sicmemotori of Italy, Abus of Germany and MNS of Turkey participated in the equipment supply and in the upgrading of the plant capacity.
The new rolling mill is designed to produce 1.35 million mt a year of reinforced steel bars, round bars, flats, special and high quality steels. With a covered area of 42,000 m, the plant consists of two reheating furnaces, an endless welding rolling machine, 20 H/V stands, a 120-meter-long cooling bed and two bundling stations to handle finished bars of up to 18 meters in length. The total weight of the installed equipment is more than 10,000 mt.
Commenting on the purchase of the mill in question, Al-Tuwairqi Group technical director Mr. Sudarshan Singh stated, "During the first quarter of 2005, an intensive study was carried out to purchase the SKET-make rolling mill available in Kladno, Czech Republic. Based on the study, a recommendation to purchase the plant was put forward to the board of Al-Tuwairqi Group. The same was subsequently approved. In July 2006, construction activities started and within 20 months only, i.e. in March 2008, the commercial production started."