Pesmel has signed a contract to provide Baosteel Zhanjiang Iron & Steel Industry with two coil packing lines and logistics systems. The automated lines will be delivered to Baosteel’s mill in Zhanjiang City in China’s Guangdong Province. Start-up of the lines is scheduled for Summer 2017.
Baosteel is building a new cold rolling mill in Zhanjiang City. The mill will produce 1.65 million tons of medium and high-end sheets, including high-grade products like auto and home appliance sheets.
“Baosteel is widely-known as a high grade steel producer emphasizing efficiency, energy savings, and environmental friendliness in their production.” says Pesmel’s China Area Manager Ms. Liu.
Following these values, Pesmel and Baosteel have been researching coil packing materials and technologies together since 2008, aiming to develop future packing concepts.
“Our research has included tests in the laboratory and also in practice. For example, packed coils have been shipped from Finland to China, where they were opened in good condition.” Ms. Liu explains.
“When Baosteel approached us with this development idea, we found it very suitable to our philosophy.” says Pesmel’s Vice President Mr. Suksi. “From the beginning, the plan has been to create a concept that can be expanded to other mills.” he continues.
While Pesmel has been focusing on technology, Baosteel developed the packing materials and operations. Pesmel concentrated on two things when it came to packing technology: moisture protection and packing cost savings without compromising on packing quality.
“We use TEW (through-eye wrapping) technology for moisture protection. In this method, crepe paper and PE film are wrapped to the coil simultaneously. The crepe paper absorbs the moisture inside the coil, as stretched PE film forms an airtight package that protects the coil from outside moisture.” explains Mr. Sami Koivuluoma, Product Manager at Pesmel.
TEW technology has proven to be the most effective moisture protection available on the market. Packing materials are all 100% recyclable and there is no need for any chemicals.
Packing material savings were achieved by automating packing operations, which enabled optimal usage of packing materials.
“The coils arriving to the packing line are measured and all packing materials are individually cut according to coil size. This kind of optimization can easily reduce packing material costs by 20-30%. That brings big annual savings to steel mills, and on top of all it also improves the packing quality,” Mr. Koivuluoma remarks.
System description
The delivery includes two automated coil packing lines and logistics systems integrating lines to production and storages. One packing line is able to pack 20 coils in an hour.
Packing lines pack heavy-duty export packages with complete moisture and mechanical protection. The line includes:
- inspection
- TEW (through eye wrapping)
- body wrapping
- an automatic edge protection forming machine
- circumferential strapping and trough eye strapping
- automatic labeling
Baosteel
Baosteel is one of the biggest steel producers in the world with crude steel production of 43 million tons in 2014. The company has a workforce of 130,000 worldwide.
Baosteel, with iron and steel as its main business, manufactures premium steel products with high technologies, high added value, and fosters three major product categories: carbon steel, stainless steel, and special steel. The company’s products are made for the domestic market as well as exported to more than forty countries and regions in Asia, Africa, Europe, and America. They are extensively used in industries such as automobile, household appliances, petrochemical, machinery, energy, transportation, metalwork, aeronautics and astronautics, nuclear power, and electronic instruments.
Pesmel
Pesmel Oy is an international expert in material handling. The company’s highly automated handling, packing and storage systems improve mills’ internal logistics and maintains their product quality during transportation. Pesmel’s two main customer groups are the metal and paper industries.
For nearly four decades, Pesmel has delivered over 400 handling and packing projects and approximately 120 storage systems. The company employs over 150 professionals, of which 100 are situated in Finland.