Server: Netscape-Commerce/1.12 Date: Thursday, 20-Nov-97 22:18:10 GMT Last-modified: Monday, 17-Nov-97 13:32:46 GMT Content-length: 6891 Content-type: text/html
![]() | ![]() |
![]() |
£4.3 MILLION INVESTMENT IN COLD ROLLING EXPANSION
29th October 1997British Steel Narrow Strip is investing £4.3 million in new plant and extended premises at its Firsteel Cold Rolled Products and Brinsworth Strip Mills businesses to improve quality and efficiency to world class levels and strengthen its competitive position in Europe.
The majority of the investment will be at Firsteel's British Rolling Mills site in the West Midlands, which specialises in supplying mild and medium carbon steels to the automotive component and engineering industries. 20 new jobs will be created in specialist teams.
The £4.3 million expenditure will include a rolling mill, a new hydrogen annealing furnace, refurbishment of the existing mills and furnaces, plus building an additional 1800 sq.m. of floorspace.
The new equipment will enable coils up to a maximum of 7 tonnes and up to 20 kg/mm width to be processed. The thickness range will be up to 8mm, with widths up to 525mm, capabilities which will be amongst the best in Europe.
The project will also include relocating a traverse winder, a skinpass mill and two annealing furnaces, and transferring contracts from Firsteel's Bromford Cold Mill site, which is to close next summer as part of a rationalisation programme.
The hydrogen annealing furnace at Bromford will be relocated to Brinsworth Strip Mills in Rotherham to improve its product quality and plant efficiency. Bromford's orders for high carbon steels will be transferred to Brinsworth as part of British Steel Narrow Strip's strategy to concentrate specialised high added value cold rolling at that site.
Alan Vurlan, Managing Director of Firsteel Cold Rolled Products, said: "This investment is designed to align our business more closely with the needs of our key markets. Customers will benefit from better service and quality, especially in terms of thickness tolerances. The ability to handle larger coil sizes will substantially improve our yield and productivity, which will help increase customers' own efficiency and competitiveness."
The reversing mill being installed will be fully computer controlled and fitted with hydraulic controls. Automatic gauge control from VAI using massflow principles will enable British Rolling Mills to produce strip to thickness tolerances better than the new European standard precision tolerances. Non-contract thickness gauges will also be installed and surface finishes will be improved.
The new Ebner sub-critical hydrogen annealing furnace will be amongst the largest in the European narrow strip sector, capable of processing up to 1800mm in diameter for 20 kg/mm coils. The furnace will have a 60 tonne charge load and processing times will be half those of a conventional nitrogen atmosphere, bringing substantial energy savings.
The state-of-the-art high convection hydrogen annealing technology produces strip which is exceptionally clean with no surface decarburisation and has the optimum microstructure and metallurgical properties. The consistency within individual coils and from coil to coil will enable customers to achieve precision tolerances in subsequent processing and further improve productivity.
Work has already started on the extension to the British Rolling Mills facility, which will increase available space by around a third and allow an improved layout. Front line operators will be involved in planning the final design of the new equipment and the workflow.
Dr Mark Carr, Managing Director of British Steel Narrow Strip said: "This substantial investment in advanced technology and the resulting increases in quality, service and efficiency will give us the capability to improve the way we supply the most demanding of market sectors. Our facilities will be in line with the best in Europe and will create a platform for further progress towards becoming a truly world class business."
Issued on behalf of:
British Steel Narrow Strip, Mendalgief Road, Newport, Gwent NP9 2WXEditorial enquiries to
Brian Simms, British Steel Tel: 01633 290022
e-mail: Tim Rutter tim.r@bssp.britishsteel.co.uk
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |