WCA May/July 2020

Industry news

Major rolling mill automation upgrade project at Gerdau ❍ AIC has assisted Gerdau with its production automation

both operating expenses and the loss of time, thanks to the replacement of obsolete control systems and the installation of new drives. The commissioning was completed within the previously agreed time frame, and took only two weeks. Production started at full capacity from day one. AIC is a global system integrator providing advanced and tailored automation and robotic solutions for the steel industry, with the aim to improve efficiency, competitiveness and safety of production processes. Gerdau is a major supplier of long steel in the Americas. Its North American business divisions manufacture steel products for the agricultural, automotive, civil construction, energy, industrial and mining markets. It operates ten mills in the USA and three in Canada. The mills utilise efficient and clean production practices, including the use of electric arc furnace (EAF) technology, and the company’s recycling practices transform millions of tons of scrap metal into steel products each year. Automazioni Industriali Capitanio Srl www.aicnet.it Gerdau SA www2.gerdau.com

AIC (Automazioni Industriali Capitanio) has successfully commissioned a major rolling mill automation upgrade project at a plant in Selkirk, in Manitoba, Canada. The project confirms the cooperation between AIC and Gerdau group, sealed after the main rolling mill upgrade project was carried out at a plant in Jackson, Tennessee, USA, as well as several other projects at Gerdau facilities. The scope of the project included the complete rolling mill automation, from the reheating furnace exit to the cooling bed, including the rougher area, pendulum shear, continuous mill composed of 14 stands and two start/stop shears, intermediate and dividing shears, a complete cooling bed entry conveyor, braking slide and cooling bed. Strategic motor drives were also replaced at the site, together with the automation upgrade, to increase the production capacity of the mill. The first part of the upgrade has been commissioned and the second part is scheduled for the summer 2020 outage. As part of the solution, the obsolete Automax PLC system at the site (including rolling mill control, descaler, water system and auxiliaries based on Automax, SLC500 and PLC5 from AB) was replaced with a new AB CLX PLC and auxiliary DC drives of ABB brand, and AC drives from AB. The main upgrade has improved performance and reduced

Graphics bigstockphoto.com Artist Eky Studio

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Wire & Cable ASIA – May/July 2020