UrBC, Magnitogorsk (Chelyabinsk area), 17.06.2008. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK)’s mechanics’ team started assembling the Chinese DHI-DCW Group’s cranes for plate mill 5000 currently under construction.

Prior to assembling the cranes, the enterprise sent two mechanics to China in order for them to learn about the particularities of these cranes’ design. Their job is now supervised by the representatives of the producer factory.

DHI is to supply twenty-six cranes to MMK, four of which are to deliver slabs to the baking furnace, one of which is to service the water descaling system, two of which will be located at the mill itself in order to service its machinery. One crane is going to be located above the chiller, four cranes will operate in the thermal processing and cutting departments and six hoisting cranes are to deliver the hot rolled sheets onto to the railway carriages.

The construction of this plate mill is MMK’s largest investment project. In 2006, the enterprise signed a contract with the German SMS-DEMAG regarding the delivery of machinery needed to put up the mill and a CC machine. The introduction of such a complex on MMK’s premises means the company will be able to produce some highly profitable plate iron (with the width of up to 4850 mm) for O&G industry, ship-building, bridge-building, and machine-building industries. This kind of plate iron also enjoys great demand among large-diameter pipes manufacturers. Plate mill 5000 is expected to produce some 1.5 million tons of goods a year, including .3 million tons of thermally processed sheets. The complex will probably be launched in the middle of 2009.