Italian plantmaker Automazioni Industriali Capitanio (AIC) has announced its participation in projects in Germany, the US and Canada.
ATS Mechatronics, a subsidiary of AIC, has successfully completed the internal test and delivery of four tying machines and a roller table conveyor that are part of the revamping of the final tying area of round bundles at the bar rolling mill of Feralpi ESF Germany. Besides mechanical equipment, ATS will also supply the electrical and automation system, the hydraulic circuit, and auxiliary equipment. In accordance with the contract between Feralpi ESF Germany and AIC, the internal test and delivery were completed by the end of 2019 as scheduled. The commissioning will be carried out within the first half of 2020.
AIC was also contracted to perform the revamping of the reheating furnace Level 1 combustion control system for a mill in Jacksonville, Florida, US. The scope of the supply includes the design, manufacturing, internal testing, supply, installation assistance, commissioning and startup activities of the electrical and automation (E&A) part to control and command the gas combustion within the reheating furnace at the rolling mill. The factory acceptance test (FAT) was carried out successfully at AIC's workshop. Commissioning of the complete system is scheduled for February 2020. This is the first part of an upgrade that will allow the plant to improve its performance efficiency and the flexibility of the automation system. One of the targets of this project is to reduce gas consumption and scale at the reheating furnace area.
Finally, AIC has successfully commissioned the major rolling mill automation upgrade project at Gerdau's plant in Selkirk, Manitoba, Canada. The scope of the project included the complete rolling mill automation starting from the reheating furnace exit until the cooling bed, including the rougher area, pendulum shear, continuous mill composed of 14 stands and two start/stop shears, intermediate and dividing shears, a full complete cooling bed entry conveyor, braking slide and cooling bed. Strategical motor drives were also replaced at the site together with the automation upgrade to increase the production capacity of the mill. The first part of the upgrade has been commissioned and the second part of the upgrade is foreseen for the summer 2020 outage. The main upgrade has improved performances and reduced both operating expenses and loss of time, thanks to the replacement of all obsolete control systems and the installation of new drives.