Steel Dynamics, Inc. (SDI) has contracted Siemens to engineer and manufacture a new 4-strand billet/bloom casting machine for its Structural and Rail Division in Columbia City, Ind. The contract amount was not disclosed.
Featuring the first application of DynaGap SoftReduction technology for bloom casting in North America, the new billet/bloom caster’s design will enable SDI to produce high-quality rails at its Columbia City facility. Start-up is slated to occur during the first quarter of 2009.
Siemens will provide engineering and equipment for the new caster, including plate molds, external MEMS (mold electromagnetic stirring), hydraulic oscillation, air-mist secondary cooling linked with the DynaSpeed Metallurgical Cooling Model, and DynaGap SoftReduction stands for improved internal strand quality. Siemens will also provide the complete Level II systems and technological models as well as Siemens’ modular PLC architecture.
SDI will be responsible for construction and installation. The Siemens caster will be installed initially with four strands and designed for future expansion to five strands as warranted by market conditions.
Installation of the new billet/bloom caster is part of SDI’s $75-million investment to increase the mill’s combined production capacity for structural steel and rail product to 2 million tons annually. With the addition of this second caster at the Columbia City facility, SDI will be able to provide steel to both of its rolling mills, each with a planned production capacity of one million tons per year.
“SDI currently has several projects underway with Siemens,” said Kevin Perala, Manager Melting & Casting at SDI Columbia City. “We chose Siemens based on its proven technology for casting high-quality blooms.”
In March, Siemens announced the award of a contract by SDI to add a fourth strand to an existing three-strand bloom/beam-blank caster at the Columbia City facility. This project is currently scheduled for commissioning in the fourth quarter of 2007.
Steel Dynamics is the nation’s fifth-largest producer of carbon steel products with 2006 annual revenues of $3.4 billion and annual shipments of 4.7 million tons. SDI’s steel manufacturing operations consist of five electric-furnace minimills, and these facilities employ approximately 2500 people.
Siemens Metals Technologies, a division of the Siemens Industrial Solutions and Services (I&S) Group, is one of the world's leading engineering and plant-building companies for the iron and steel industry as well as for the flat-rolling sector of the aluminum industry and for open-cast mining. In the U.S., Siemens Energy & Automation, Inc. represents the I&S Group within Siemens AG. (I&S) is the integrator of systems and solutions for industrial and infrastructure facilities and global service provider for the plant and projects business covering planning, installation, operation and the entire life cycle. I&S uses its own products and systems and process technologies in order to enhance productivity and improve competitiveness of companies in the sectors of metallurgy, water treatment, pulp and paper, oil and gas, marine engineering, open-cast mining, airport logistics, postal automation, intelligent traffic systems and industrial services. In fiscal 2006 (to September 30) I&S employed a total of 36,200 people worldwide and achieved total sales of EUR 8.819 billion.