Shougang Jingtang United Iron & Steel, China, has awarded a contract to SMS Demag, Germany, to design and construct a hot strip mill.

The plant is rated for an annual capacity of 5.5 million tonnes of hot strip, with thicknesses ranging from 1.2 to 25.4 mm and widths from 830 to 2130 mm. The product range extends from soft deep-drawing grades through high-strength structural steels to pipe grades and multiphase steels.

In its capacity as consortium leader, SMS Demag will supply the entire mechanical equipment and part of the automation system. The group’s mechanical equipment scope includes a slab sizing press, a two-high and a four-high roughing stand, each with attached edgers, seven CVC^® four-high finishing stands, the laminar strip cooling system and three hydraulic coilers. In terms of automation, SMS Demag is responsible for providing the Profile, Contour and Flatness Control
(PCFC).

The finishing mill is equipped with numerous technology packages and components for the profitable production of high-quality hot strip. Technology features include the CVC plus^® system with integrated work-roll bending, newly developed roll-gap lubrication system, and hydraulic differential tension loopers.

Commissioning of the hot strip mill is scheduled for the end of 2008.

Shougang Jingtang is a joint venture between Shougang Iron & Steel and Tangshan Iron & Steel, both of which rank among China’s largest steelmakers. The companies are jointly setting up a new iron and steel plant on Caofeidian Island off the coast of the province of Hebei in north-eastern China.

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 on the one hand into the Business Areas SMS Demag and SMS Meer under SMS metallurgy and, on the other hand, into the Business Area SMS Plastics Technology. In the year 2005 some 9,250 employees worldwide generated a turnover of about EUR 2.33 billion.