Japan’s domestic steel product orders up slightly in January over December

Friday, 11 March 2011 12:03:52 (GMT+2)

According to the data released by the Japan Iron and Steel Association, steel product orders, including specialty steels, booked by domestic steel consuming sectors in Japan in January this year amounted to 8.06 million metric tons, increasing slightly by 0.49 percent compared to December 2010 and up 8.7 percent year on year.

In January this year, ordinary steel product orders in Japan booked by the domestic construction sector decreased by five percent month on month to 587,559 metric tons - up 8.99 percent year on year, while steel product orders booked by the Japanese automotive sector, including specialty steel, reached 1.13 million metric tons, rising by 4.93 percent as compared to December last year and down 5.72 percent year on year. Japan's shipbuilding industry booked 427,559 metric tons of ordinary steel products in January, declining by 8.77 percent month on month and up 1.4 percent as compared to the same month of 2010.

Siemens to modernize plate mill of Handan Steel

Wednesday, 23 Feb 2011
Siemens VAI Metals Technologies has received an order from Handan Iron & Steel Co Ltd Ltd a Chinese steel producer to fit its three meter plate mill in Handan with a new basic and process automation system. After modernization, the mill will produce high quality heavy plate for shipbuilding and pipeline construction.
It is scheduled to be commissioned at the beginning of 2012.

The 3 meter plate mill has been running at Handan Iron & Steel since the 1990s.
Within the scope of the modernization project, Siemens will design and supply core components for a new basic and process automation system to replace the existing heterogeneous automation equipment. The scope of supply also includes the integration of new process models. These include, for example, a multipoint roll gap setup, a temperature and mass flow model and a profile and flatness control. Plan view pattern control will ensure that the plates are orthogonal.

Models for taper and thermo mechanical rolling fulfill the requirements for multi-piece rolling, so that modern types of steel can be produced. A mill pacing function will ensure a high throughput and optimum utilization of the rolling stand. The automation to be implemented at Handan Iron & Steel is based on the Siroll PM Solution concept specially developed for plate rolling mills. Siemens will also be responsible for supervising the installation and commissioning.
A major reason behind winning this order was the good experience Handan had gained from previous projects with Siemens, which include the construction of the two coupled tandem pickling lines and a hot rolling mill.
Handan Iron & Steel Co is a subsidiary of Hebei Iron & Steel Group Co Ltd. It is one of China's leading steelmakers, and produces around 40 million tons per annum. In Handan, in the province of Hebei, the company runs a production complex with a capacity of some twelve million tons of crude steel per annum. Handan has two production lines for producing heavy plate. The three meter plate rolling mill was originally constructed by a German machine manufacturer in the Hattinger steel plant of Ruhrstahl AG, where it ran until 1987, before it was dismantled and transferred to Handan.