ElvalHalcor grants final acceptance for new high-performance aluminium hot strip mill from SMS group
Mature plant technology and close cooperation as a basis for success
Greece-based aluminium producer ElvalHalcor S.A. has granted SMS group the final acceptance for the new four-stand high-performance hot strip mill installed at the Oinofyta facilities near Athens.
During the commissioning, aluminium strips were successfully rolled in thicknesses between 1.8 and 12 millimeters and widths of over 2.6 meters on the advanced technology mill. As early as a few weeks from the commissioning, ElvalHalcor S.A. rolled some 70 coils of excellent quality and suitable for a wide range of industrial applications on the new, highly flexible mill in one production shift.
Given the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the specialists from ElvalHalcor and SMS group did an excellent job in accomplishing the commissioning activities without interruption. With travel restrictions in place, increased use was made of digital communication channels, also involving to a great extent experts based in Germany.
Accordingly, the “Final Acceptance Certificate” was signed by the two contract partners during a virtual ceremony. Michael Schäfer, responsible for aluminium rolling mills at SMS group, and Lampros Varouchas, Managing Director of ElvalHalcor S.A., agreed that “the key to the successful completion of the project were the excellent specialists on both sides, who stood up to the special challenges with close cooperation and great commitment. This has further strengthened our longstanding trustful relationship.”
SMS group is a group of companies internationally active in plant construction and mechanical engineering for the steel and nonferrous metals industry. It has some 14,000 employees who generate worldwide sales of more than EUR 2.9 billion. The sole owner of the holding company SMS GmbH is the Familie Weiss Foundation.
