New hot rolling mill approaches last phase of construction
At Ternium’s Hot Rolling Mill in the Industrial Center located in Pesquería in Mexico, work is approaching the last phase of construction, as 85% of the work has been completed. So far, Techint E&C has installed some 18,500 tonnes of equipment, 12,400 tonnes of structures, 3,450 tonnes of pipes and laid over 1,500 kilometers of cabling, with 2,391 people deployed onsite at the peak of work prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The state-of-the-art Rolling Mill means that Ternium will be able to manufacture special grade steels for its customers, mostly from the automotive and white goods sectors. The main piece of mechanical equipment is the Finishing Mill, installed last November 2020, the heart of the rolling mill, containing 7 cages and powered by Primetals, in an area requiring work of extreme precision to perform mounting and alignments with minimal tolerances.
Techint E&C and its customer defined the strategy to assemble the pipes at the outset, with an emphasis on the installation of hydraulic equipment and pipes to be run in parallel with the installation of the air, water, ice water, fire protection system, nitrogen and gas services, necessary for the operation of the rolling mill.
At the peak of the Pipe installation phase, a 660-strong crew were laying some 90 tonnes per week. At this point, the key obstacle was to assemble 1,200 tonnes of pipe in the basement of the rolling mill, since logistics challenges and the impossibility of being able to use lifting equipment endowed what would have been a conventional assembly with an extra degree of complexity.
Regarding the remaining tasks, in January 2021, work began on the tasks to dry and commission Furnace 1, where the slabs are received and heated to the optimum point for processing. Currently, the company has 1,200 people working on the different work fronts to meet the new operations schedule defined by the customer. One of the key challenges over the last few months has been managing the incorporation of the staff during the pandemic since activities were resumed.
