Baoshan Special Steel Branch, China

Baoshan Special Steel Branch (BSSB) specializes in the production of high-performance materials. Producing small batches for profitable niche markets is the success formula of the Chinese company. Its production plants are designed specifically for this purpose.

"Our customer placed an order for two lines - one for annealing and the other for pickling," says Karlheinz Vockerodt, SMS Project Manager in China. "We usually combine the two processes in one line, but BSSB wants to be more flexible - so we designed individual lines for each process. They can both handle hot and cold strip."

There are good reasons why BSSB opted for SMS. It was important for our customer to team up with a partner who knows how to process sophisticated materials and engineer plants for maximum flexibility. Here is how the process works: first, the stainless-steel hot strip goes into the annealing line, then it runs through the pickling line. BSSB sells some of it as annealed and pickled hot strip. The rest of the processed hot strip continues into a 20-roll cold mill. Finally, the cold mill anneals and pickles the stainless-steel cold strip once more.