Italy’s Danieli Group reports that production has begun for the new high-speed wire rod mill it supplied to Acciaierie di Verona (the Pittini Group) that represents the 500th rolling mill the company has now supplied.

A press release at the Danieli website reports that the first coil was recently produced, some 19 months after the contract signature. “The timely start-up and the following hot-test period of seven weeks, during which 25.000 tons of finished wire rod in quality have been produced, reflects the long-term cooperation between the Pittini Group and Danieli,” it said.

Regarding the rolling mill, it was designed to hold strict end-product size tolerances, employing the most advanced wire-rod technology and in full compliance with Industry 4.0 requirements, the release said. It noted that the plant is capable of annually producing 750,000 metric tons (mt) of plain wire rod from 5.5 to 25 mm and rebar from 6 to 18 mm at rolling speed of 100 m/sec, and further outlined the capabilities as follows.

The mill has a high-speed rougher feeding two independent rolling lines that consist of cantilever roll stands, featuring quick roll changes and temperature control along the mill and downstream. High-speed shears, installed downstream the multi-drive, high-speed, twin-module sizing blocks, perform wire-rod head and tail cropping. The fourth-generation loop layers guarantee extended pipe life, quick rotor changes, and no vibration during rolling, resulting perfect loops from heads to tails.  The variable-pitch cooling conveyor features modular slow-to-ultrafast cooling.

 The Danieli Automation Q3 Intelligence system is used for integrated data collection of the whole plant, analysis, and web reporting with Key Performance Indicators and powerful statistical tools to support decision making. The new plant automation ensures consistent product quality consistency, high utilization factor and yield, and workshop coordination, and establishes a link to “Big Data” and plant digitalization practices.