News
New ring furnace commissioned at INTERPIPE NIKO TUBE
A new ring heating furnace has been commissioned at INTERPIPE NIKO TUBE. The equipment, manufactured by German Loi Thermprocess Company, serves to heat steel billets before rolling. The signifcant advantages of the new furnace include high production capacity, energy efficiency, and reduction in metal consumption. With an investment into this project in the amount of US$20 million, the ring furnace is unique in Ukraine.
Through its investment programme, INTERPIPE continues to modernize its production facilities and enhance energy efficiency and labour productivity at its enterprises. This is despite the current economic climate.
Production capacity of the new furnace will be 325 thousand tons of billets a year, exceeding the rates of the old furnace by an additional 50%. Additionally, the new equipment reduced electric power consumption by one third, and specifically reduces consumption of natural gas for the heating of 1 ton of billets by 20%.
Further, the new furnace reduces scale formation during the billet heating process by 1.5%, ensuring a cutback in the metal discharge coefficient.
All pipe products, made at the No 2 tube-rolling shop within the diameter range of 159-325 mm, will go through the new ring furnace. Casing and line pipes produced at the No 2 tube-rolling shop are marketed in 20 countries around the world, including Austria, Italy, Spain, Saudi Arabia, and the USA.
“Over the last several years INTERPIPE NIKO TUBE has been the centre of large-scale transformations. We have invested US$60 million into the modernization of our production facilities, and we have also invested money into our people – in new working clothes, personal service rooms, catering, and the training centre, – said Vladimir Gornstein, INTERPIPE NIKO TUBE Supervisory Board Chairman. – The most important thing we have managed to achieve is the change in attitude of people towards their work. Our priority now is to offer a top quality competitive product to the market”.
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INTERPIPE NIKO TUBE is one of the largest producers of seamless pipes for the oil and gas industry, special application pipes for mechanical engineering and the power industry, and general application pipes used in other commercial and technical areas. The mill hasapproximately 4,000 employees.
Over the last few years INTERPIPE NIKO TUBE has been has been one of the centres of transformations at INTERPIPE Company. The main achievements include:
· Investments into production: A number of large investment projects, amounting to USD 60 million, have been implemented.
· Investments into people: The company has built a state-of-the-art training center IQ 267, reconstructed the mill’s canteens,administrative and personal service buildings, and launched a new catering system. All employees have been provided with new working clothes.
· There is an order in the shop.