Given demand for increasingly higher-strength steels for a range of earthmoving equipment involved in quarrying and construction, Tata Steel’s new multimillion euro heavy-gauge hot-rolled steel decoiler line – Europe’s largest and most powerful – in Llanwern, near Newport, South Wales, could not have been better timed. Guy Woodford visited the impressive cutting-edge facility.
As soon as you set foot in the giant hanger that houses Europe’s biggest heavy-gauge hot-rolled steel decoiler line, you realise why it’s compulsory to wear ear defenders and ear plugs on-site. Up close during working hours, it’s one hell of a noisy beast! It’s also one hell of an impressive piece of engineering, running for over 100m in length, more than twice the length of the lines it replaced, and over 5m tall - with a further 2m below floor level.
Weighing in at some 900tonnes, the €15.4 million (£11 million) decoiler line came to Llanwern in 51 individual deliveries. The levellers were the most substantial elements, weighing over 150tonnes each, transported in five sections weighing up to 33tonnes each. Such large units are necessary to transmit the great loads to very thick, strong and wide steel without deflecting, thereby creating reproducibly flat steel whatever the specification.
The state-of-the art decoiling line opened by
Tata Steel has been commercially shrewd in investing in its new decoiler line after picking up on OEM customers’ need to supply their own quarrying and construction sector customers with earthmoving equipment featuring higher-strength steel booms and bodies. This, in turn, helps equipment buyers optimise their production efficiency, more important than ever in what remains a tough global financial climate.
The list of globally renowned construction, quarrying and mining equipment manufactures supplied with Tata Steel’ s Llanwern-produced steel includes
Currently operating 24 hours five-days-a-week, the groundbreaking decoiler line will allow Tata Steel to process products right up to 1600N/mm2 (newtons per mm) – making it the first in Europe with this capacity and allowing Tata Steel Llanwern to handle prospective steel product developments in the future.
The new Llanwern decoiler line project has also amalgamated Tata Steel’s existing decoiling facilities, which were spread over a number of sites in the UK.
Furthermore, a dedicated rail spur into the 600acre Llanwern site allows coils from Tata Steel’s nearby Port Talbot hot-strip mill and IJmuiden hot-strip mill in the Netherlands to be supplied via rail, complementing the local production.
Utilising a railhead near Middlesbrough, in north-east England, the rail link gives Tata Steel the reach necessary to efficiently serve customers in different parts of the UK.
Llanwern’s new decoiling line uses a range of technologies to provide the best product quality. Three stages of levelling technology are used to ensure the sheet steel is as flat as possible and any residual stress is removed. This is followed by surface brushing and extraction tools which ensure the steel is as clean as possible. These processes, combined with a supply of coil that has been transported and stored undercover, provide a superior and more consistent surface appearance, resulting in a reduction of post-fabrication surface preparation before final painting to simplify the processing and save costs.
The new decoiling line has 2 x 8.5m stacker beds which can be used independently or together to give a total length capability of 17m, providing customers the opportunity to buy longer length product to minimise pack changeover downtime. The ability to handle sheets of up to 17m long helps equipment makers and processers to improve their efficiency, optimising the number of parts that can be cut from just one sheet of steel. In addition it gives Tata Steel the ability to support customers looking to produce much larger items, such as trailers, lamp posts and towers. Since larger parts can be produced in one piece, the need for plate joining and fabrication is reduced, increasing the strength of the products and making them easier to manufacture.
“Our previous decoiler lines would allow us to handle coils up to 15mm thick. This new line allows us to take coils up to 25mm. It means we can handle material almost twice as thick and three times stronger, while also offering steel products two to three times the level of flatness and precision,” explains Rodney Rice, Tata Steel marketing manager distribution UK & Ireland. “When you add in the brushing of the surface and the trimming of the sides, you’ve got a pretty complete package. It’s also rare in the UK for steel processing lines or service centres to be fed by rail, and the fact that we’re distributing by rail is unique.”
The new decoiler line was designed by the Italian firm FIMI, a global leader. FIMI’s commissioning & service manager, Antonio Scuderi, said: “This is the first line we have installed in the UK which can deal with thicknesses of up to 25mm and it is the biggest and most powerful line we have ever installed. The power of the machine and the exceptional stiffness of the levellers ensure an industry-leading quality level.”
Luc Brantjes, sector head of lifting & excavating at Tata Steel, said that as well as being market-leading now, the investment in the new decoiling line will allow Tata Steel to process the products its customers need for years to come.
“While this new facility also offers an increase in capacity, our focus is on operating more efficiently – not simply supplying more,” said Brantjes. “Having our decoiling facility located right next to the hot-strip mill and exploiting our direct rail connection to service customers further from our hub means we can guarantee timely supply, and at the same time reduce the environmental impact of handling the steel.”
Aggregates Business Europe has reported on last year’s successful launch of Tata Steel’s Abrazo quenched and tempered plate product range, with their claimed guaranteed impact toughness properties for hard-wearing applications. The products are designed for the aggregates, quarrying and mining industries with thicknesses of up to 130mm.
A Tata Steel spokesperson has told ABE that the company will soon be launching a number of new products developed in response to quarrying, material handling and other customer demand, including steel grades with higher strengths and toughness, and new offerings in wear resistant steels.
