Five year upgrade for Hoesch completed

Hoesch Hohenlimburg, a ThyssenKrupp Steel subsidiary and specialist supplier of hot-rolled strip based in Hagen, Germany, has completed one of the biggest modernisation projects in the firm’s history.

The medium-wide strip mill has now been successfully renovated over five years at a total investment of around €30M to improve strip quality and increase capacity by 25% to around 1.3Mt/y by 2015. Following the modernisation Hoesch Hohenlimburg is now better equipped to meet increased demand for higher-value grades, and to supply high-strength hot-rolled strip in thicknesses from 1.5mm to 16mm and widths up to 720mm.

To achieve this, the rolling mill, originally opened in 1955, was overhauled from the ground up during breaks in production over a period of five years. The process computer installed in 2009 now calculates roll settings, speeds and cooling strategies fully automatically, from roughing train to cooling zone. From the redesigned, noise-insulated, air-conditioned control pulpit the operator has a full overview of the process via a standard user interface, while below a steel strip speeds through the mill every 20 seconds at a temperature of 1250?C.