Železiarne Podbrezová has placed an order with SMS group covering the upgrade of its existing pushbench plant in Podbrezová, Slovakia. On this push bench, Železiarne Podbrezová produces seamless tubes in the diameter range from 0.5 inch to 5.5 inches. The modernization order covers two new racks with drive pinions and a new rack guide bed for the push bench as well as 14 new stands for the stretch reducing mill.

The new racks, which have a special gearing, will be supplied in merely three partial lengths (instead of the existing five ones) and with the connecting elements in an even better and stronger version. The rack guide bed will be of robust and single-part design in its cross-section. All individual rack guiding elements are to be supplied in maximum possible lengths so that four elements only will be needed to cover the overall length. As a consequence, the forces and torques in the rack guide bed can be perfectly absorbed and hence significantly reduce the effort for maintenance and repair. The new stands for the stretch reducing mill will be designed for the use of hard metal rolls that can absorb higher rolling forces and permit greater pass diameters to be cut.

"Since we had good experience with SMS group in the past, we again decided to have the modernization made by SMS," says Milan Srnka, Technical Director at Železiarne Podbrezová.