On May 18, Germany-based plantmaker Siemens VAI Metals Technologies (Siemens VAI) announced that at the end of April this year it successfully started up the 4.3 m plate mill of Jinan Iron & Steel (Group) Co., Ltd. The plant will enable the Chinese steelmaker to produce up to 1.8 million metric tons of plate every year at its Jigang Works, and thus increase its total annual capacity to over five million metric tons. Siemens handled the engineering work and supplied the mechanical equipment and automation solutions for the new mill.
The plate mill in Jigang comprises three heating furnaces, a two-stand rolling line, cooling beds, a shearing line, and a finishing shop. The new line can roll products ranging from 6 mm to 120 mm in thickness and from 1,500 mm to 4,100 mm in width. The maximum plate weight is approximately 22 mt. The plates in question are used in shipbuilding and in the oil and gas industries.
By increasing its production capacity, Jinan Iron & Steel will become one of the largest heavy plate producers in China. The company awarded Siemens the order for the new rolling mill, in the medium double-digit million euro range, at the beginning of 2008.