Jan. 2006 — The Inner Mongolia Baotou Steel Union Co., Ltd. recently rolled the first rail on its newly erected 900,000 tonnes per year rail and section mill. Startup was accomplished less than 24 months after the Inner Mongolia Baotou Steel Union Co., Ltd. had placed the order with SMS Meer GmbH, Germany, in December 2003.

The SMS Meer scope of supplies and services included planning of the entire rolling line, supervision of the manufacturing in China for selected mill components, and production and supply of the reversing tandem stand group as the key component of the plant.

SMS Meer also supplied and commissioned the automation system for the mill, which included control engineering, mill operating system with host system, and the hydraulic roll adjustment system.

The Inner Mongolia Baotou Steel Union plans to focus its future production on the manufacture of high-speed rails for expansion of the railway network in China.

SMS Meer GmbH forms part of the Tube, Long Product and Forging Technology Business Area of the SMS group. SMS GmbH is the holding for a group of companies internationally active in plant construction and mechanical engineering relating to the processing of steel, non-ferrous metals and plastics. The group is divided into the Business Areas of Metallurgical Plant and Rolling Mill Technology, Tube, Long Product and Forging Technology and Plastics Technology. In the year 2004 some 9,500 employees worldwide generated a turnover of about EUR 2.20 billion.