TPi January 2013

copper tubes

Successful commissioning at Eastern Copper

Meer ensure smooth and reliable operation. The plant is completed by an automatic compacting, strapping and film packaging line for the wire rod coils. The Contirod plant achieves a casting capacity of 48t/h with a casting cross- section of 8,610mm² and a casting speed of approximately 10m/min. The standard finished size is 8mm in diameter.

The new plant consists of a shaft- type melting furnace followed by a 20t holding furnace. In order to achieve high wire rod qualities, the Contirod line is equipped with a Hazelett twin- belt caster and a continuous SMS rolling mill with 14 mill stands. The mill stands are equipped with individual drives and the main drives of the mill and the fans all feature variable-frequency 3-phase AC motors, thus reducing the energy consumption. The modern electrical systems and automatic process control from SMS

Chinese copper wire rod producer Eastern Copper has commissioned the second Contirod ® CR 3700 continuous copper wire rod plant. The complete plant was supplied by SMS Meer and has an annual capacity of 320,000t of rolled wire rod. “The new plant impressed Eastern Copper with its high energy efficiency, good productivity and product quality,” said SMS Meer’s Dr Michael Schwarze. With this increase in production capacity, Eastern Copper aims to expand its market share.

SMS Meer GmbH – Germany www.sms-meer.com

New facility for large copper tubes Wednesbury Tube operates an advanced and efficient copper tube factory. In recent years the company has implemented a substantial capital investment programme

in brand new ‘state-of- the-art’ manufacturing plant, updating this l o n g - e s t a b l i s h e d business with the most modern and innovative production processes. In addition, in 2012 it has opened a brand new facility for the production of large-size copper

Copper tubes from Wednesbury

tubes. As a result, Wednesbury offers a comprehensive range of high-grade copper tubes. Wednesbury Tube is a wholly owned subsidiary of Mueller Industries Inc, USA, and operates from a site in Bilston, UK. Wednesbury supplies copper tube marked with the ‘Wednesbury Streamline’ brand, for a variety of uses including hot and cold water services, gas, sanitation, air-conditioning, refrigeration and engineering applications, together with special finishes both decorative and protective. The company holds many national and international approvals for copper tube and is certified to ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management System and ISO 14001:2004 Environmental Management System.

Mueller Europe Ltd – UK sales@muellereurope.com www.muellereurope.com

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Tube Products International January 2013

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