Investments - Herkules-group.com

Investments
Expansion of Herkules Roll Shop in Siegen
Last year Herkules invested in the roll shop of the Siegen facilities, and these
investments resulted in a real state-of-the-art roll shop. With the new machines –
two fully automatic roll grinders of ultra-modern Monolith design, equipped
with fully integrated HCC/KPM roll measuring and inspection systems – the
machinery in operation now consists of five roll grinders of different sizes and
one texturing machine.
The Herkules roll shop is closely connected to the R&D department, and one of
its major tasks is hot testing of new developments, i.e. under actual working conditions.
Complex test runs are carried out before a product is finally released into
the market. Also, the roll shop is an important interface between developer and
operator: here is where theory meets practical experience “on-the-fly”.
Together with our customers – and the individual rolls they are using – we can
clearly define the applicable grinding requirements as well as possible application
problems; all these facts can then be considered and implemented in the
machine design.
If a customer’s machine needs to be retrofitted, we offer them to use our roll shop
instead, thus guaranteeing an unobstructed flow of their production. In addition,
those customers who do not have an own roll shop, often choose the option of
subcontracting with us. We can machine all kinds of rolls customary in the market,
from Sendzimir rolls with a diameter of 28 mm to paper rolls with a diameter
of 1.400 mm. In our training center, customers can have their employees
trained under daily working conditions, using their own rolls. We also train our
own employees to ensure and update their profound expert knowledge; at the same
time they gain sound practical experience with state-of-the-art machine designs.
Christoph Thoma, Chairman & CEO: “With our roll shop expansion, we live up
to our philosophy – to serve the needs of our customers better and better every
day.”
HOT NEWS
Marita Thoma
WS 600 at International Steel
HCC/KPM Eddy Current System
Herkules at Pulp & Paper
Architecture in Meuselwitz

HERKULES WS 600
INTERNATIONAL STEEL
ISG orders Herkules
International Steel’s Indiana Harbor facility has placed an order for a
new Herkules WS 600 x 5500 combination roll grinder for installation
in their hot mill roll shop. The new machine will grind both work rolls
and back-up rolls.
The new grinder will be state-of-the-art, equipped with Herkules
exclusive KP10 control, the HCC/KPM measuring caliper and the
Herkules eddy current and ultrasonic roll inspection systems. ISG is
thinking ahead to eventually grind their back-up rolls in chocks, so the
grinder is being manufactured in a configuration that will accommodate
this future upgrade. This is the first of three machines planned for
the hot mill roll shop. It will be a showcase for Herkules technology in
the Northern Indiana area, which is heavily populated by major steel
producing companies.
ISG decided to purchase their new grinder from Herkules based on
the technical advantages of the Herkules design, the extensive support
available through Herkules USA and after inspecting a similarly
equipped machine in operation at Algoma Steel. This machine will be
manufactured in the Herkules USA facility in Pennsylvania, as was the
Algoma grinder. Dennis McElfresh
New building Herkules USA during construction phase
BADISCHE STAHLWERKE
Second notch milling machine
End of 2004, the company Badische Stahlwerke GmbH (BSW), located
in Kehl, placed an order with Herkules for a notch milling machine,
type NNF 2500 CNC, equipped with our HCC/KPM control and an
integrated marking machine. Being convinced of this machine’s outstanding
technical standard, BSW ordered a second one.
There has been very close cooperation between BSW and Herkules
for many years, which is proven by the fact that BSW operates a number
of Herkules lathes, groove grinders and notch milling machines.
This means we have an impressive customer reference “just around
the corner”.
Badische Stahlwerke GmbH (BSW) is one of the most efficient electric
steel works in the world; they manufacture reinforced steel and
wire rod for the European market. With an annual output of 1.9 million
tons of rolled steel products, BSW is one of the world’s leaders
in this field.
Herkules and BSW share the opinion that quality along with productivity,
cost optimization and punctual delivery are the main factors
for success. Jan Ebener
Renishaw measuring system
HERKULES USA
Open House in Ford City
Herkules North America have invited their American and Canadian
customers to join them in their 7th annual open house and golf outing,
scheduled for the last weekend in July. In 2004, the guests were
demonstrated the expansion of the production facilities and newest
technological developments.
The highlights were the Herkules Monolith, the Roll Shop
Management System (RSMS) and various types of measuring calipers.
HCC/KPM and Herkules North America are extremely proud to
officially open their new, highly modern administrative building made
of glass. The Scottish architect Ian Shaw created a marvelous work of
art. Marita Thoma Consulting is responsible for the interior design and
furnishing.

Eddy Current Crack Detection System
RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
HCC/KPM presents eddy current and
ultrasonic crack detection system
With the development of the crack detection technology the HCC/KPM
measuring system technology is now complete.
At all times, cracks and flakings of the roll shell have been the main
problems in a mill. Defective rolls cause damages to the rolled material
and to the rolling mill itself. This results in production losses and
premature destruction of back-up and work rolls.
The aim of our development was:
To detect defective rolls at an early stage, thus minimizing
downtimes of the mill
To fully integrate the systems into the roll grinder control in
order to achieve complete automation
To reduce the mechanic components by integrating these
systems in the existing measuring devices
To integrate the operation and maintenance into the wellknown
grinder control HCC/KPM 10 in order to provide
maximum availability and superior world-wide service.
Now that several eddy current and ultrasonic crack detection systems
have been delivered and are used at our customers’ in their production,
these customers confirm their excellent performance and highlight the
very simple operation, the storage of the data in the grinder history and
the presentation of the measuring results on the grinder TFT screen or
as hardcopy in 2D- or 3D-version. Harald Kraft
RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
R&D Team have good news for
the Paper Industry
Team effort paid off to develop successfully the unique Herkules
Dynamic Correction Grinding (3D), based on the well known
HCC/KPM 10 Control interlinked with the new Multi-Probe (3D/
4-point) Measuring Caliper, to provide 3-dimensional measuring
and “on-the-fly” correction grinding.
Already for a long time, the paper industry has been looking for
ways to reduce material cost and at the same time increase precision of
their rolls, particularly with regard to supercalender and polymer rolls.
Ever increasing calender speeds and the necessity to guarantee for
vibration-free operation of the rolls, regardless of the respective bearing
conditions, require most precise regrinding processes. The lifetime
extension of the rolls, which are ground to previously unknown
precision, is almost only a side effect, but a most welcome one.
In close cooperation with the Finnish professor Timo Nyberg – well
known for developing 3D measuring procedures – this latest version of
sophisticated measuring systems was launched.
During the Pulp & Paper Exhibition 2004 in Helsinki, the system
was introduced to the paper industry; the public was impressed – last
but not least also by the convincing film we prepared especially for the
paper industry; apart from this film, also a flyer on correction grinding
(3D) will be released soon. Harald Hebig
Herkules at the Pulp & Paper 2004 in Helsinki
BAOSTEEL YICHANG
Baosteel: First Monolith -type roll
installation in a Chinese Roll Shop
Convinced by an internal Baosteel comparison of conventional grinding
technology and the Monolith grinding technology, Mr. Li Hai
Ping – the leading decision maker of the Baosteel Group – placed the
order for the first Monolith-type work roll grinding machine for the
Cold Rolling Mill at Baosteel Yichang. Jörg Naumann

MASCHINENFABRIK HERKULES MEUSELWITZ
Minimalism in terms of dimension
One of Herkules’ recipes for success and their head start in the field of
technology is to always keep a sound balance between tradition and
innovation.
This clear and elementary concept is reflected in the outward appearance
of the individual production facilities as well as in the employees’
working environments. Also the main entrance of Maschinenfabrik
Meuselwitz was rebuilt in accordance with this philosophy. A high
degree of transparency, purity of lines, unostentatious high-tech design
in clear Herkules blue color, visible from afar and floodlit, conjoin with
the solidity of the buildings, dating from the so-called “Gründerzeit”
(design style of the 1870’s).
Two huge rooflight domes together with reduced, minimalistic
design and furnishing give the same lightflooded spirit of form to the
most important place for communication and events, the cafeteria.
In a team effort, the Scottish architect Ian Shaw and Marita Thoma,
who is in charge of the Herkules group design, successfully carried out
the rebuildings. The project was nominated for this year’s competition
of the Commission of Architecture of Thuringia and the buildings was
open for the public on 25 and 26 June 2005. It was with a lot of pride
that the employees at Meuselwitz inaugurated their new surroundings.