On the eve of Metallurgist's Day, Pavel Shilyaev, CEO of Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK), and Alexey Teksler, Governor of the Chelyabinsk Region, visited MMK’s sheet rolling shop No. 5 and carried out a symbolic launch of the twin-stand reversing cold rolling mill 1700, which was launched after reconstruction work.

The reversing mill, built in 2002, was the first cold rolling unit put into operation at MMK in the post-Soviet era. The equipment of the mill, which has a capacity of 800 thousand tonnes of cold-rolled steel sheets, was supplied by the German engineering company SMS Demag. The modern automated unit has significantly expanded MMK's capabilities in the production of high-quality cold-rolled products, including for the needs of the automotive industry. For the first time at MMK, CVC was used on the reversing mill – a new system for adjusting the flatness of the rolled sheet, which eliminates phenomena common in rolling practice such as varying sheet thickness at the edges or in the centre. A special type of rolls is used on the mill which is bottle-shaped with a complex profile. The rolls’ maneuverability, when moving up and down and relative to each other, allows for a more flexible response to changes that occur during operation. Since its commissioning, over 9.35 million tonnes of cold-rolled steel have been produced at mill 1700.

In February 2020, the operation of mill 1700 was stopped and MMK began reconstruction work. The main mechanical equipment of the twin-stand reversing mill was supplied by SMS group, and PRIMETALS TECHNOLOGIES and IMS were the subcontractors for the mill’s electronics. Construction and installation work was carried out by Prokatmontazh and United Service Company under the supervision of MMK’s Capital Construction Department.

Currently, commissioning and hot testing have been completed at mill 1700, the assortment is being developed and work is underway to achieve guaranteed contractual indicators and the mill’s technological parameters. 

Victor Rashnikov, Chairman of MMK’s Board of Directors, noted that thanks to the capabilities of the reconstructed cold rolling mill 1700, the plant will be able to additionally strengthen its position in the market of high-quality rolled products for the automotive industry. "In the near future, we will reach the projected capacity of the mill, which is about 60 thousand tonnes per month, and this year we will be able to produce 350 thousand tonnes of cold-rolled steel on the unit," Victor Rashnikov said.