MMK Introduces Strip Edge Trimming Optimisation System

PJSC Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) has launched a strip edge trimming optimisation system at the hot-rolling machine at rolling mill No. 10 as part of the Company’s digitisation strategy. This move will decrease per-unit metal consumption and reduce emergency shutdowns at MMK’s hot-rolling machine 2000. The system is expected to deliver savings of at least RUB 35 million per year.

Rolled strips that exit a hot-rolling machine tend to have irregularities in the head and tail parts. A strip edge trimming system is used to eliminate these defects, including curves, bends and a range of other problems that can lead to serious production losses, including accidents, at the finishing mills.

The system recognises the different shapes of the strip ends with a stereoscopic width gauge and uses appropriate trimming criteria. Feedback from a laser speed meter placed in front of the finishing mills ensures that the virtual cut line is followed precisely as the strip moves along. A scanning hot metal detector identifies the point of the strip head that protrudes the most, regardless of its lateral movement along the roller conveyor. All this allows the shears to cut the rolled strip ends as precisely as possible and with minimal loss of metal.

The system ensures accurate cutting and reliable operation even during periods of high mill load, in cases of frequent acceleration and deceleration, and when strips are loaded closely together.

The equipment for MMK’s trimming optimisation system was manufactured by KELK. Specialists from R&D MGTU (an advanced technology development company co-founded by MMK and the Nosov Magnitogorsk State Technical University), in close cooperation with service company OSK LLC and MMK-Informservice, were responsible for system design, construction and pre-commissioning work, including debugging the system software.