ThyssenKrupp MillServices & Systems has expanded its portfolio of finishing services and concluded a five-year service contract with Hoesch Hohenlimburg. The company has now taken a new slab slitting and grinding line into production on the site of Hüttenwerke Krupp Mannesmann (HKM) in south Duisburg.

The new equipment allows the slabs, which are supplied to narrow strip specialist Hoesch Hohenlimburg, to be cut to size exactly as required and ground. This results in a further overall improvement to the quality of the strip steel products.

“We are delighted to have won this contract. Our cooperation with Hoesch Hohenlimburg is a good example of synergies at work in the ThyssenKrupp Group,” says Timm Jesberg, head of Finishing Services. Previously the slabs for Hoesch Hohenlimburg, a subsidiary of ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe, were processed by an external service provider. After discussions on how to retain resources within the Group, the two companies jointly planned and implemented the new slitting line.

The cooperation delivers advantages on both sides. Short transportation distances and a warehouse management system tailored to the needs of Hoesch Hohenlimburg save the hot-rolled strip producer time and money. “This cross-company cooperation is a win-win situation for us and our customers, who benefit from our specific services and the further improvement in the quality of our material,” said Dr. Jens Overrath, CEO of Hoesch Hohenlimburg, during the start-up of the line. One of the biggest improvements is in logistics. The existing storage areas and the processing equipment on the HKM site are now close together and linked among other things by rail sidings and transport cranes. For example, the slit slabs from the line are loaded using a special 80 ton cross transporter. It can carry up to six slabs, stacked pyramid-like in three layers.