Wuppermann orders economical pickling and hot-dip galvanizing line from SMS Siemag

At the end of June, Wuppermann Group, Germany, a family business with 140 years of experience in steel processing, awarded SMS Siemag, Germany, the contract to deliver a hot-wide-strip pickling and hot-dip galvanizing line for its new plant in the Hungarian town of Győr-Gönyű. SMS Siemag is delivering the entire line, including the mechanical equipment, process engineering, and electrical and automation systems. “We have been working together with SMS Siemag for decades and are delighted to continue this cooperation,” said Dr. Carl Ludwig Theodor Wuppermann, Chief Financial Officer and Spokesman of the Board of Management at Wuppermann, at the signing of the contract in Leverkusen, Germany. “We have already successfully developed and commissioned Wuppermann's first hot-wide-strip pickling and hot-dip galvanizing line, which is in Moerdijk, the Netherlands. We are delighted with this continued cooperation and the opportunity to establish a plant of the highest technical level,” added Michael Cottin, Executive Vice President of the Strip Processing Lines Division at SMS Siemag.

The new strip processing line will go into operation in 2016 and process some 500,000 tons of steel annually. The strip widths will vary between 400 and 1,650 millimeters, and the strip gages between 1.0 and 6.0 millimeters. Process speeds of up to 150 meters per minute can be reached when galvanizing strips, with speeds of up to 220 meters per minute possible at the entry and exit sections.

“The fact that this line, which comprises numerous high-performance plant components, is being supplied by a single source, and that Wuppermann was able to pour its longstanding technological know-how as an internationally experienced plant operator into project planning, speaks volumes for SMS Siemag. The production plant will be state-of-the-art, both technologically and environmentally,” explains Wuppermann. Thus, no interface problems arise and the plant can reach full capacity after a short commissioning phase. "We were also won over by their vast experience as an integrated supplier of pickling and hot-dip galvanizing lines," continued Wuppermann. In addition to the design and manufacturing of the plant equipment, both installation and commissioning support are included in SMS Siemag's scope of supply.

Scaled hot strip will be pickled, heated to galvanizing temperature, galvanized, skin-passed and post-treated in the new line, giving it a long-life anti-corrosion protection and with an appealing visual ap-pearance as well as with enhanced mechanical robustness. The so-called “heat-to-coat” process is characterized by its high profitability, as all processes take place in a single facility. Wuppermann supplies hot-dip-galvanized wide and slit strip by ship, rail or truck to custom-ers all over Europe, and even as far as in the USA. The purchasers of the galvanized hot strip include companies active in the automotive and construction industries, as well as in the fields of metal-fitting technology, pipe production and component construction. It is also possible to bypass the galvanizing section in order to produce pickled and oiled material.

The line is equipped with numerous high-performance plant compo-nents, which win people over with their environmental compatibility, economic efficiency, operational reliability, flexibility and product quality, and which are being delivered in full by the SMS group. Among other things, an X-Pro^® laser welding machine is being integrated, which automatically adapts the welding parameters for new steel grades. The turbulence pickling technology is characterized by its efficient descaling and optimal acid-utilization. Use of the induction furnace from SMS Elotherm is economical, even at partial load. With its two zinc pots from IAS, which are equipped with a special refractory lining for zinc-magnesium coatings, the line offers a high degree of flexibility when it comes to coatings. The zinc layer thickness is precisely adjusted by a FOEN air-knife system. The aerodynamically optimized nozzle-module design minimizes strip vibration while maintaining high cooling capacity in the Drever cooling section. An outstanding thickness reduction is achieved with the four-high skin-pass mill. An electrostatic oiler from DUMA-BANDZINK precisely coats the surface. EMG is supplying the high-grade strip flow control system.

During a Plug & Work integration test, the complete automation system will be constructed in a test field and a realistic simulation of the plant will be carried out prior to commissioning. In this way, the original automation system is tested and optimized under realistic conditions. The operating personnel are also trained here, so that they are already familiar with the controls and achieve a rapid run-up curve upon actual commissioning.

Furthermore, an innovative automation and operating concept makes efficient monitoring and planning of production possible. Among other things, the TOM (Technical Operation Management) and DAVID (Data Analysis and Vision Desk) systems are integrated, which enable paperless plant control and production-data monitoring at a central location in the control room. "Due to the high level of automation and the ergonomic workplaces, our employees will also benefit from the new production plant", said Wuppermann afterwards.

Graphic representation of the line

Signing the contract: Michael Cottin (Executive Vice President of the Strip Processing Lines Division, SMS Siemag AG) and Mario Dorfer (Board of Management, Wuppermann Hungary Kft.) (seated, from left to right) together with Frank Reinschmidt (Management of the Commercial Sales Division, SMS Siemag AG), Markus Jaenecke (Project Director in the Strip Processing Lines Division, SMS Siemag AG), Dr. Carl Ludwig Theodor Wuppermann (Chief Financial Officer and Spokesman of the Board of Management, Wuppermann AG) and Omar Tissoudali (Assistant to the Board of Management, Wuppermann AG) (standing, from left to right)

About the Wuppermann Group
The Wuppermann Group is a small to medium-sized family business with headquarters in Leverkusen, Germany, which has been operating success-fully in the steel processing industry for over 140 years. Their product portfolio includes surface-finished flat-rolled products, piping, pipe compo-nents and sheet parts made from steel, stainless steel and aluminum for electronic products, shop fixtures and mechanical engineering, medical technology, and the furniture, food, packaging, vehicle, construction and solar industries as well as water and waste water engineering. The Wuppermann Group currently has nine production locations and employees around 1,300 employees in Europe. In 2013, the Wuppermann Group achieved an operating result of around EUR 544 million.

Based on SMS group infomation