Steel & Mining · Metinvest Group
A fully assembled 640-tonne Roughing Mill lifted, travelled and precisely positioned inside an operating steel plant where conventional cranes could not operate.
As part of the Hot Strip Mill 1700 modernisation programme at Ilyich Iron & Steel Works, Metinvest entrusted our team with one of the project’s most demanding installation milestones—the placement of a fully assembled 640-tonne Roughing Mill, the heart of the rolling line.
To reduce shutdown time and accelerate commissioning, the Roughing Mill arrived on site as a completely equipped production module. While this approach significantly shortened the construction schedule, it transformed the installation into a highly complex heavy-lift engineering challenge. Every movement had to be executed with absolute precision inside a confined industrial environment, where conventional crane solutions were neither practical nor efficient.
Using an SBL1100 hydraulic gantry system, our engineers developed and executed a bespoke lifting methodology. The 640-tonne module was synchronously lifted three metres, carefully transferred eight metres across the mill building, and then lowered with millimetre accuracy onto its permanent foundations. Throughout the operation, hydraulic load balancing and continuous monitoring ensured complete control of the structure, protecting both the equipment and the surrounding infrastructure.
Successfully installing one of the heaviest and most critical components of the Hot Strip Mill 1700 marked a key milestone in the reconstruction programme. The project demonstrated our ability to engineer and deliver complex heavy lifting solutions for the steel industry, where precision, safety, and meticulous planning are essential to keeping major industrial investments on schedule.
Successfully engineered and installed a fully assembled 640-tonne Roughing Mill using a hydraulic gantry system, enabling a critical milestone in the modernisation of Metinvest's Hot Strip Mill 1700.
Project result
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