REPUBLIC ENGINEERED PRODUCTS, USA

REPUBLIC ENGINEERED PRODUCTS, Inc. with corporate headquarters in Akron / Ohio and several production, rolling and finishing facilities in Canada and the US is one of the top suppliers of Special Bar Quality (SBQ) in North America. The company is going to modernize the Lackawanna bar mill in Blasdell, a small town 10 – 15 km south of Buffalo / NY with some 2700 residents. In the course of this modernization FRIEDRICH KOCKS, Hilden / Germany received the order for the supply, the commissioning and the start-up of a 370 mm 3-roll Reducing & Sizing Block in „Heavy Duty“-Design [RSB++].

REPUBLIC ENGINEERED PRODUCTS was established in 2003 with the purchase of operating assets from Republic Engineered Products, LLC. Roughly 20 months later the company was acquired by INDUSTRIAS CH, S.A. de C.V. (ICH), a rapidly growing steel producer and processor based in Mexico City. REPUBLIC is now a subsidiary of Guadalajara based GRUPO SIMEC, of which ICH is the majority owner.

This 5-stand KOCKS RSB++ of the latest generation will be implemented in the originally in 1976 constructed 680.000 t/y Bethlehem Steel bar mill after stand no. 18. The 3-roll block replacing the last four 2-high stands No. 19 to 22 produces finished dimensions in the range from 19.05 – 82.60 mm Ø and hexagons from 20.65 – 46.05 mm in coils as well as in straight lengths onto the cooling bed.

The “Heavy Duty” Reducing & Sizing Block significantly reduces the required number of pre-sections in the upstream mill and thus enables the operation of the complete mill in a simple way with only one pass family in both normalizing and thermo-mechanical temperature ranges.

An extended “free-size” range of up to ± 1.5 mm from the nominal size allows rolling of a variety of sizes with tightest tolerances only by adjusting stands and guides via remote control. The optimum adjusting values for motor speed, rolls and guides as well as gear steps depending on the final product are calculated by the Bar Mill Configuration System (BAMICON). The adjustment is done automatically during a billet gap within max. 1 minute. Whenever the finished dimensions exceed the “free-size” range the quick stand changing system enables to change stands in less than 5 minutes. Therefore, any size can be rolled without any restrictions with regard to availability of the complete mill by using a minimum number of roll sets and stand changes.

The KOCKS 3-roll technology was again selected due to the extremely positive results and experiences of worldwide renowned operators. This well proven, mature technology meets the objectives of “free-size” rolling for the production of highly toleranced finished diameters while reducing changing times, thus improving at the same time product quality, mill efficiency and market flexibility as particularly required by the automotive industry.

Start-up of the modernized Lackawanna bar mill with the new KOCKS 3-roll Reducing & Sizing Block in “Heavy Duty” design is scheduled for the end of 2009.