ArcelorMittal makes major investment in German service centre

ArcelorMittal is investing a total of €16.5 million ($20.1m) in its steel service centre in Neuwied on the Rhine, Kallanish learns from the company.

It has already spent €6.5m, and will spend another €10m up to the end of the year, some of which will be invested in setting up a new slitting line.

In January, the Neuwied site began operating a new slitter shaft robot, with a second one following in March. The robots will automatically equip the steel shafts with blades weighing 20 kg, and then forward the shafts into the coil cutting machinery. The automation of this process increases operator safety the company says. Two new crane units will also be ready to start operation in March

The new slitting line intended to commence operations at the end of the year will be able to handle coils of 30 tonnes weight and a strip thickness of up to 4mm. Neuwied will then be able to raise its production capacity by another 100,000 tonnes/year, in addition to its current capacity of 400,000 tonnes. The new line will also be equipped with slitter shaft robots and automatic separation shafts. In addition, there will be a new packaging line that automatically prepares cut sheet and coil for transport.

Managing director Friedrich Raffauf says that the modernisation will mean that employees are spared from the dangerous handling of heavy machinery. The Neuwied plant employs 100 people and processes strip from the group’s mills in Ghent, Bremen and Eisenhüttenstadt.