MINO S.p.A. of Italy are proud to announce the first coil rolled on the MINO Four Stand Hot Tandem Mill installed in TEXARKANA ALUMINUM (TKA) production facility, located in 300 Alumax Drive, Texarkana, Texas.
We extend our congratulations and gratitude to the TKA team, H&M team and MINO team and to all the workers, technicians and engineers involved in the project, for the passion, dedication, teamwork, and hard work that led to the achievement of this important milestone in such a remarkable installation.
The project started for MINO in 2023, when MINO was awarded the contract by TEXARKANA ALUMINUM to design, supply and commission a state-of-the-art Four Stand Hot Tandem Mill to be installed at the extension of the left roller table of the existing Single-stand Reversing Hot Mill supplied by Davy 30 years ago.
With such an addition, the Hot Mill is transformed into a so called “1+4 Hot Rolling Line”, where the pre-existing Single-stand Reversing Hot Mill works as a roughing stand and the newly supplied Four Stand Hot Tandem Mill work as hot finishing stands. The transfer bar from the roughing stand is transferred via the left roller table to the Four Stand Hot Tandem Mill at a thickness ranging from 0.8 inch (20 mm) to 1.57 inch (40 mm), to be rolled in the Four Stand Hot Tandem Mill to achieve in one pass the final gauge ranging from 0.079 inch (2 mm) to 0.394 inch (10 mm).
Such a 1+4 configuration is worldwide considered the best available one, matching unparalleled output rates with superior quality in terms of thickness tolerance, strip crown, flatness and final temperature achieved in the outgoing hot rolled coils.
Moreover, thanks to the short interpass time occurring between a thickness reduction and the next one, such a configuration prevents material recrystallisation between the reductions and allows to achieve ideal crystallographic texture in the outgoing coils, making them suitable for the most demanding final applications.
Before delivery to the USA, the Hot Tandem Mill was completely pre-assembled at MINO’s workshop in Alessandria, Italy, in its heavy pre-assembly bay that is served by a 150-ton overhead crane. Full pre-assembly complete with all on-board piping, sensors, and cabling, reflects MINO’s commitment to quality manufacturing and to smooth and fast site installation
Technical Highlights of the MINO Hot Tandem Mill
The Four-stand Hot Tandem Mill for Aluminium coils is engineered for exceptional performance, featuring:
- Work rolls barrel length: 79 inches (2000 mm)
- Minimum gauge: 0.079 inch (2 mm) for soft alloys, 0.138 inch (3.5 mm) for hard alloys
- Rolling force per stand: 3,500 tons
- Installed power per stand: 5,000 kW
- Total installed power: 43,000 kW
- Cooling system: fully independent, optimized for hot finishing rolling with a flow rate of 36,000 l/min
- Edge trimming: Side trimmer and scrap chopper included
- Advanced process control: AGC system and profile measurement and control
- State-of-the-art AC drives: medium voltage, synchronous motors
The Hot Tandem Mill displays engineering on a grand scale:
- Each of the eight cast steel housings weighs 115 tons.
- The gearboxes for stands 1 and 2 weigh 130 tons and 100 tons, respectively.
- The mechanical assembly alone reaches nearly 2,000 tons.
- The total weight of the supply, including hydraulics, cooling, electrics, and instrumentation, exceeds 3,000 tons.
Transporting this massive equipment required 200 containers and 80 cases, making the logistics from Italy to Texas a project in itself. The gearboxes were designed by MINO’s technical specialists, and its components were fabricated by specialized suppliers in northern Italy. All the parts were assembled, completed with lubrication systems, and rotation-tested in MINO’s gear-boxes testing station, located in the same MINO’s Alessandria workshop. (Read more about it here).
To control the Hot Tandem Mill at the high production rates demanded for this process, MINO has supplied process controls incorporating the latest generation of MINO Process Control’s AVANTItm TCS system for AGC control, interstand tension control, including model based predictive controls. This is accompanied by powerful AC main drives and controls, also engineered by MINO Automation for continuous and reliable operation.
The Hot Tandem Mill was 100% designed and manufactured by MINO within its own facilities:
- in MINO S.p.A. (the MINO Group’s leading company located in Alessandria, north-west Italy), the Hot Tandem Mill was conceived, designed, manufactured and fully pre-assembled except for the simpler mechanical parts that were manufactured and pre-assembled at the MINO Tianjin’s plant;
- in MINO Tianjin (MINO’s Chinese workshop located in Tianjin, south of Beijing) the simpler mechanical parts (such as the roller tables, the shears and the coil handling equipment) were manufactured and pre-assembled;
- in MINO Automation (located in Vicenza, north-east Italy), the electrical equipment was designed, manufactured, pre-assembled and tested;
- in MINO Process Control (located in Winborne, UK), the core of the process control software was developed and tested.
Through this new expansion, TEXARKANA ALUMINIUM can boast of having one of the most productive and advanced Hot Mills installed in North American, fully capable of meeting the growing demand for 1xxx, 3xxx and 5xxx coils of its customers, covering the more diverse industrial sectors and applications, such as Common Alloys, Automotive, Can-stock, Foil-stock, Transportation, Aerospace.
MINO is not new in supplying rolling equipment to TKA. In April 2024, the Final Acceptance Certificate of the new MINO Cold Rolling Mill installed at the same facility was signed by TKA, marking the end of the commissioning of the new CRM.
MINO is proud of the continued trust extended by TKA to MINO and of the excellent cooperation among the respective technical teams that was established and refined during these two valuable rolling projects.
About TEXARKANA ALUMINUM
TEXARKANA ALUMINUM (TKA) is the aluminum rolling division of Ta Chen International Inc. (TCI), a leading master distributor of stainless and aluminum coils, sheets, plates, long products, tubes and PVFs. TCI is an industry leader in inventory depth, breadth and availability.
In 2001, TCI launched what has become the metals industry’s most popular and powerful Internet web order platform, found at www.TaChen.com. Customers have capitalized on this system to increase their own capital and operating efficiencies. Today, over 75% of the company’s daily transactions are completed efficiently through this technology platform. In 2018, the company purchased TEXARKANA ALUMINUM. This site, which had been idled for 10 years, has the capacity to cover all aspects of aluminium coil manufacturing: casting, hot rolling, cold rolling and finishing.
Following its acquisition, TCI decided to invest massively in the Texarkana Aluminium site, including the installation of a brand new Four-high Cold Rolling Mill (supplied and commissioned by MINO in 2024) and the latest Four-stand Hot Tandem Mill.
For more information about TKA, please visit the website www.texarkanaaluminum.com
About MINO
Founded back in 1840,MINO is a long-established Rolling Mill manufacturer, recognized for its long and successful track record in supplying rolling equipment to both the ferrous and non-ferrous industry sectors.
The MINO Group covers five inter-related locations:
- MINO S.p.A. located in Italy, the group’s leading company, which specializes in the design and manufacturing of Rolling Mills;
- MINO AUTOMATION located in Italy, which specializes in the design and manufacturing of electrical equipment and automation systems for Rolling Mills;
- MINO PROCESS CONTROL Ltd. based in the UK, which specializes in the development and execution of process controls. This includes software, hardware design, service and support of MINO’s equipment;
- MINO Tianjin Rolling Technology, MINO’s Chinese workshop, specialized in the supply of Chinese manufactured equipment covered by a full MINO’s guarantee;
- MINO USA Corp., established in Pittsburgh to support and provide services to the USA customers.
MINO offer, “under one roof”, the widest range of services in the field of Rolling Mills, ranging from the supply of a brand new Rolling Mill designed to meet highest market demands, to the revamping job of an existing Mill.
MINO is worldwide recognized being the only rolling mill builder that can successfully cover the complete spectrum of Aluminium rolling: Hot Rolling Mills (both single-stand reversing or tandem type), Cold Rolling Mills (four-high or six-high, single stand or tandem type), Foil Mills down to 6 µm gauge, ranging from packaging foil to battery foil.
For more information, please visit www.mino.it
