Impol further extends semis capacity and installs continuous homogenizing and sawing plant from Hertwich Engineering

Hertwich Engineering has successfully commissioned a continuous homogenizing and sawing plant for extrusion billets at Impol d.o.o., located in Slovenska Bistrica, Slovenia, in spring 2016. The new plant supplements an existing Hertwich plant commissioned in the early 1990s. It has a capacity of 43,500 tons per year and is designed for billets of up to 305 millimeters in diameter.

The equipment supplied includes:

– a continuous homogenizing furnace with an associated cooling station,

– a downstream helical ultrasonic inspection station,

– the saw for cutting off the head and butt ends and, if necessary, for cutting out defective sections, and

– the packing system, consisting of a billet stacker and automatic strapping machine.

The new homogenizing unit has been installed directly adjacent to the existing plant. In principle the two plants operate independently of one another, but they are linked to each other by a conveyor.

Impol is a major European supplier of extruded and rolled products and forgings. Today, with 1,850 employees, the Group achieves a yearly turnover of almost 500 million euros. Its annual production volume amounts to some 180,000 tons.

The expansion of the works is in line with a long-term project aimed at achieving sustainable growth of the business volume.

The contract for the new continuous homogenizing plant is part of an investment project with which the Group aims to boost its casthouse capacity by 15 percent.

Helical ultrasonic testing station at Impol d.o.o., Slovenia

Based on SMS group information