MMK’s hot-rolled products Mill 2000 sets all-time record for monthly output
by David Fleschen
PJSC Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works’ ("MMK") hot-rolled products Mill 2000, produced 534,174 tonnes of metal in May 2020, setting an all-time record for monthly output.
The previous monthly record of 527,955 ths tonnes was set in July 2018. The record-breaking performance of MMK’s most powerful unit was in part due to the current reconstruction of another of MMK's key units – hot-rolling Mill 2500 at the sheet-rolling shop No. 4. Currently, assembly of the new finishing train equipment at hot-rolling Mill 2500 is underway, and as a result, hot-rolling Mill 2000 has been more actively engaged in fulfilling the customer orders.
The unit, commissioned in 1994, is one of the most powerful in Russia. The mill’s equipment makes it possible to produce the full range of MMK steel grades. Sheet width varies from 760 mm to 1,830 mm. The mill produces thousands of different products for various industries including pipes, construction, and machinery manufacturing and represents the widest product mix at MMK. It produces marine and structural steel grades, as well as rolled products, which are subsequently made of automotive sheets.
In the middle of the 2000s, the mill was reconstructed. As part of the modernisation programme, a fourth heating furnace was built and the mechanical equipment of the mill was renewed, allowing the production of a thicker range and the improvement of the mechanical properties of the products. The productivity of the unit has also increased, reaching 6 million tonnes per year. In recent years, the mill has been working at maximum capacity. Since its commissioning, the unit crossed the production threshold of 130 million tonnes of hot-rolled products.
Source: MMK, Photo: Fotolia