A large, heavy gauge decoiler will be commissioned by Tata Steel’s service centre in Maastrict in the Netherlands by the end of the year.

The decoiler will be installed at Tata’s Feijen facility will be capable of decoiling and cutting to length hot rolled coil of up to 25mm thick and 2,600mm wide.

The company’s Jens Lauber, managing director of Tata Steel’s mainland Europe distribution business said that there has been increasing demand for premium high strength sheet. “In practice, this means they want increased thicknesses, improved flatness quality and sheet that’s been processed from coils made of higher-strength steels,” he said.

Volumes at Feijen will remain roughly the same as older decoilers will be dismantled, but the overall decoiling service will be more efficient, claims Tata and will, according to Lauber, form part of a high-quality distribution service for the European heavy gauge market.

Tata Steel’s distribution and service centres make up the second largest distribution and service network in Europe, in terms of regional coverage.