TPT May 2007

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24 May/June 2007
Industry News
Roll-Kraft has made a series of promotions
at its facilities in Mentor, Ohio, USA. Mr
Dave Rostocil has been promoted to the
position of director of product applications,
with responsibility for design of custom
solutions for various applications.
Mr George Salopek is now the director of
technical services, and will organise and
coordinate machinery and tooling tryout,
project management, and the equipment
assembly departments. In addition, Mr Mike
Lewis has been appointed as the tooling
development supervisor, and will oversee
the testing of tooling at Roll-Kraft and onsite
at customer locations.
Mr Matt Hozjan has been promoted to the
position of equipment assembly supervisor.
He will oversee the assembly operations
of the equipment department, as well
as training and supervising assembly
personnel.
Mr Gary Summerhill has been appointed
as the engineering manager of form roll
tooling, with management of the department
operations and staff. Finally, Mr Adam Kirby
has been promoted to the position of NC
Soft Foreman.
Each member of staff has shown specific
expertise in their various areas, and Roll-
Kraft customers will continue to benefit from
their experience. Roll-Kraft is a leading
manufacturer of tooling and equipment
for the tube and pipe and roll forming
industries.
Roll-Kraft – USA
Fax: +1 440 205 3110
Website:
Pervouralsky order electric
steelworks from SMS Demag
Pervouralsky New Pipe Works (PNTZ),
Russia, has placed an order with SMS
Demag, Germany, for the supply of a
turnkey electric steelworks with two
continuous casting plants. The steelworks
will produce the starting material for the
existing tube rolling mills of the ChTPZ
group, leading to an annual production of
1.1 million tons of steel.
The new steelworks include a 120t
electric arc furnace with modern Arccess ®
technology, a 120t ladle furnace and a
VD vacuum tank degasser. The deal also
includes a dust extraction plant, laboratory
equipment, steam generating system and a
supply system for alloying agents.
Two continuous casting machines will cast
the steel into round billets and blooms. For
this purpose, Concast AG, Switzerland,
will supply a five-strand caster designed to
cast 660,000t of rounds with diameters of
150-220mm. The second caster will come
with three strands to produce 440,000t of
rounds.
SMS Demag – Germany
Fax: +49 211 881 4386
Website:
Roll-Kraft announces promotions
La Barge and Socotherm establish joint venture
Socotherm Americas, a leader in pipe coating and insulation for energy transportation,
has finalized a new joint venture with the La Barge Pipe & Steel Co Group, one of the
main steel pipes and fittings suppliers in the United States.
The joint venture will be split between Socotherm USA, with a share of 51 per cent, and
La Barge with the remaining 49 per cent share. The new company, called Socotherm-La
Barge, will comprise a pipe coating and insulation plant to serve the deepwater market
in the Gulf of Mexico.
The new plant will be installed in Channel View (Houston) and will be completed this
year. It will supply the Gulf of Mexico deepwater market with Socotherm’s five layers
syntactic polypropylene thermal insulation systems, a modified polypropylene matrix
filled with hollow glass micro-spheres (Wetiskote). The plant will also apply 3-layer
polyolefin external anticorrosion coatings (Plastykote) on pipes up to Ø 48" for the USA
coating market.
Mr Zeno Soave, chairman and CEO of Socotherm, says, “This is the first important
action finalized by Socotherm Americas thanks to the funds collected during its IPO of
last November. The operation was possible due to the synergies between our subsidiary
Socotherm Americas and the American La Barge & Steel Co (led by Pierre Labarge).
They have understood the oil companies request for an alternative technology to the
Canadian competitor one.”
Socotherm USA – USA
Fax: +1 713 785 3878
Email: • Website:
fi Mr George Salopek, Roll-kraft’s new director of technical
services