Miory Steel produced first cold strip coil

by Hans Diederichs

Tinplate production in Belarus reached important milestone

On August 6, 2020, the first coil was successfully rolled on the new reversing cold rolling mill (RCM), supplied by SMS group (www.sms-group.com), at Miory Steel (MMPZ - MiorskijMetalloprokatnyi Zavod). The RCM is part of the completely new, integrated and expandable production complex for the manufacture of tinplate, which was built in Miory in the north of Belarus. SMS group supplied the essential production equipment for the new facility, including the complete rolling and strip processing lines and the X-Pact® electrical and automation systems. In the first stage of expansion, equipment for an annual capacity of 150,000 tons was implemented. It serves Miory Steel to produce tinplate grades T1, T2, T3, DR7 and DR8 as well as thin sheet grades CQ and DQ. In the course of further expansion, capacity is planned to be increased to 240,000 tons. With its rolled products, Miory Steel meets the needs of the packaging industry as well as the demand for cold rolled thin sheet. The majority of the production is intended for export, especially to Russia and other CIS countries (Commonwealth of Independent States) and to the European Union. The RCM was built in six-high design, provided with the proven CVC®plus technology (Continuously Variable Crown) from SMS group. It was also configured in the new high-performance design. This means that the rolling mill can be operated with particularly slim work rolls with a minimum diameter of 260 millimeters. This enables high pass reductions to be achieved with comparatively low rolling forces. CVC®plus in combination with work and intermediate roll bending, multi-zone cooling and the dry-strip system (DS system) ensure all requirements for strip quality in terms of thickness, flatness and surface are fulfilled. In order to enable later capacity increase, the flexible mill design allows conversion into a Compact Cold Mill (CCM®). Besides the RCM, SMS group supplied an electrolytic cleaning section, a batch annealing furnace, a two-stand combined reduction/skin pass mill (DCR mill), an electrolytic tinning line, as well as one coil and one sheet packaging line. SMS group also supports Miory Steel in the implementation of the necessary operator expertise. This is of particular importance, as the new plant produces tinplate for the first time in Belarus.

The ultra-modern plant is provided with the integrated X-Pact® MES 4.0 production planning system from SMS digital. As an integral solution, X-Pact® MES 4.0 includes planning, support, optimization, delivery and shipping, quality control, and reporting functions. The system fits seamlessly into the X-Pact® automation, being also part of the supply scope for all plants of the production facility. This enables optimized utilization of the plant production capacities, while simultaneously reducing stocks, as well as complete material tracking. Furthermore, production scenarios can be simulated in advance and secured delivery dates be determined accordingly. Coil Yard Management takes care of coil tracking from the incoming warehouse through the various intermediate storage facilities ahead of the production lines to the finished coils or sheets to be delivered to the end customer.

Now that the first coil has been rolled on the RCM, the other plants will be put into operation step by step according to the production flow.

Source and photo: SMS group

Go back