23. June 2020

VEM supplies drives for „Learning Steel Mill“ in the USA Drives from the VEM locations in Wernigerode and Dresden are also earmarked for the second expansion stage

Stahl- und Walzwerke

In 2007, the US steel company Big River Steel opened the most modern and most environment-friendly steel mill in North America at its site in Osceola, Arkansas. The incorporation of digital applications for all process steps formed the basis for the world's first "learning steel mill". Electric drives from VEM were at the core of the project from the very beginning: Main drives, roller table motors in versions with ring ribbed housings, special motors for converter-fed operation and energy-saving motors of efficiency class IE3 help to ensure uninterrupted production. VEM has now also been chosen to supply drives from the VEMoSTEEL product family in sizes from 132 to 710 for the latest expansion of the mill. Deliveries for this second expansion stage are scheduled for completion during 2020. Big River Steel produces a broad spectrum of high-quality steels, for example pipe steels, silicon electrical steels and AHSS grades for the US automobile industry.

Further VEM service partner locally and for Big River Steel

To safeguard long-term process reliability in the future, VEM already signed an official service contract with the American company Evans Enterprises, Inc. in spring 2019. Evans operates more than 10 service workshops in Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas. Only recently, the workshops in Arkansas and Oklahoma were successfully audited by VEM and the cooperation between the two companies was raised to the next level. The American specialist for electromechanical machines, motors and generators is now an official VEM service partner with authorisation to perform maintenance and repairs and to supply spare parts for VEM's high- and low-voltage drives.


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