Challenge
The project was undertaken on behalf of an independent Indian steel producer and comprised the design, build, testing and commissioning of the electrical systems for a long stainless-steel product (bar and wire rod) hot-rollingmill, which would sit alongside existing facilities, including another mill.
According to Marco Capitanio, managing director at AIC: “The Indian customer awarded the order for mechanical element of the project to a Swedish company; while we handled the electrical side – working to the Swedish company's specification and with the input of an Indian consultant.”
Interaction between all parties continued at all phases of the project, which was broken down into multiple discrete segments – commercial, kick off, engineering (design), engineering (software), manufacturing of the electrical equipment in our Italian workshop, internal testing (including s/w), shipment to India, erection, cold and hot commissioning and finally support and training.
The mill, developed for stainless and special steel bars, rods and sections, comprised multiple stations, including stands, shears, blocks, finishing lines and cooling beds, all of which required different types of electrical infrastructure, and all ultimately controlled from a number of local command desks and a main command desk.
“To compound the scale and complexity of the installation,” Capitanio elaborates, “was the short timescales in which we had to complete the project.
This was further complicated by the different working methodologies used by ourselves, the Swedish OEM, the project consultant and the Indian customer.
However, as a global company, we are used to dealing with different practices and procedures and took this all in our stride.”
