Newsletter 19

ROLLING MILLS | Russula Newsletter No. 19 | November 2019
Nucor Steel – Utah upgrades finishing
end of bar mill #1
Nucor Corporation contracted Russula to upgrade
the drives and automation of the finishing end of its
bar mill #1 in Plymouth, Utah. Russula successfully
completed a similar upgrade for bar mill #2 in September
2016.
The main objective of the upgrade was to replace
the obsolete automation and AC/DC drive equipment
with a new modern first line control and HMI
system. The new, modern drives, control and HMI
helped Nucor Utah improve operational performance,
failure troubleshooting, spare parts availability
as well as facilitate training.
The scope of this upgrade included all the equipment
from the aligning rollers at the cooling bed to
the removal rolls, including layer forming, straightening
and cold shear cutting, layer forming, bundle
forming, tying stations and bundle exit. The existing
AC and DC drives were part of the Reliance Electric
drive series, which had become antiquated and had
limited replacement parts and support. All of the
AC and DC drives were replaced with ABB ACS880
and ABB DCS880 drives respectively. The drives
were supplied pre-installed in a new lineup up of
cabinets to match the existing power distribution
and to reuse the existing power cables whenever
possible. The existing Automax automation system
and Reliance RIO hardware were replaced with new
hardware based on Allen Bradley ControlLogix and
Point IO series and Factory Talk HMI.
Russula was also responsible for the installation
advisement, commissioning and training. The electrical
and automation equipment was assembled in
the Russula workshop at the end of last year and
underwent a factory acceptance test in January
2019. Technical specialists from Nucor Steel – Utah
and Russula were present during the test to ensure
that the new automation and drives functioned
correctly and according to specification. Commissioning
occurred in March, 2019. The switchover
was implemented in a fast and sequenced manner
in order to least disturb production.
The cooperation between Russula and the Nucor
Steel – Utah mill began in 2014 with the upgrade
of mill #2 stacker. This is the fourth consecutive revamp
project that has occurred over that time.
Nucor Corporation is the largest steel producer in
the United States, and is North America’s largest recycler.
Nucor Steel – Utah is one of Nucor’s 13 bar
mills strategically located across the United States,
which produce a wide usage of bar product for
the agricultural, automotive, construction, energy,
furniture, machinery, metal building, railroad, recreational
equipment, shipbuilding, heavy truck and
trailer market segments. The capacity of Nucor’s
bar mills is approximately 8,830,000 tons per year.
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