Challenges

With a steadily increasing demand for higher quality and lower production costs, rolling mills look to technological improvements to gain a competitive advantage. As they evaluate opportunities to improve existing production, rolling mills face several operational and financial challenges:

• Developing future products with a wider range of intermediate and finished product sizes.
• Ensuring minimal disruption to existing production with limited shut-down schedules.
• Maintaining computer rolling models to promote the highest, most reliable operation and best-quality finished products.
• Driving higher equipment reliability by designing components to handle harsh environments and various intermediate product-mill conditions.
• Building in enough flexibility to allow manual intervention to take place if needed without disrupting the automatic process.
• Minimizing capital expenditures on new or upgraded equipment.
• Training new workers and upgrading engineers and technicians’ knowledge and understanding.
• Having a positive impact on the environment.
• Ensuring a quick return on investment.

Solutions

Coilbox™

With the highest operating performance level in the industry, the Hatch Coilbox™ design has been installed in many steel mills. The Hatch Coilbox™ design for retrofits provides minimal foundation changes to convert existing coil boxes to mandrelless coil transfer. The retrofits improve coiling pocket performance and maintenance.

The control system for new and upgraded Hatch Coilboxes™ provides improved reliability, higher operational performance, and operator flexibility.

Our auditing and troubleshooting services for existing coil boxes can identify improvement opportunities that can optimize your processes and operations, too.

Force Feed Forward (FFF) mill stability system

You get class-leading mill stability with simple installation that requires no mill interruption. FFF provides head-end gauge improvement without changing the set-up system, and reduces tail-end tears. You get superior gauge-tolerance performance and improved finishing mill width performance, with a measurable reduction in the number of width rejects.

Achieva Rolling Mill Automation (formerly IAS Industrial Automation)

With Achieva Automation software on the Allen-Bradley ControlLogix platform, sophisticated model-based algorithms are used for: control of strip shape in cold mills and flatness in hot mills; more accurate predictions of roll bending and work-roll side-shift references; and tighter control of the elongation needed to create material properties or strip-surface finishes.

Benefits

• As well as designing and supplying new Coilboxes™, we provide operational support services and equipment upgrades.
• We can help troubleshoot your existing operations and provide root cause analyses of older coil box problems.
• Simpler coiling pocket upgrades can be done to improve reliability and performance, while upgrades to mandrelless transfer design improves quality, maintenance, and operations.
• The unique FFF mill stability system ensures hot strip mill-stability, gauge-control, and finishing mill width-maintenance while offering quick implementation and non-disruptive installation at a low capital cost.
• The Achieva Rolling Mill Automation system has a number of components that deliver world-class results, such as; mill setup models for actuator references; integrating mill activities reporting; controlling strip shape and flatness; control of elongation or roll force; monitoring tilt control and mill level; and more.
• Three different types of training are provided, including International Rolling Technology Course (IRTC) seminars, custom training seminars relating to rolling mills, and advanced self-paced training.