SAIL’s Durgapur Steel Plant has awarded SMS Group a modernisation contract to upgrade its existing six metre billet casters in Durgapur, India.
The project will upgrade the plant’s continuous casting capabilities to increase annual production capacity by more than 60% and add a new 150mm x 150mm billet section to the bar mill.
Bernhard Steenken, CSO, APAC & MEA at SMS group, said: “We are honoured to continue our long-standing partnership with SAIL.
“This project demonstrates how targeted modernisation with the latest SMS technologies can deliver substantial capacity and efficiency gains with limited additional civil investments and compressed execution timelines.”
The modernisation will continue to utilise the existing civil foundations and keep capital expenditure to a minimum.
The casting machines that are now being updated were originally supplied by SMS in the early 1990s.
The project is expected to be completed in two phases, with billet caster no. 1 scheduled to go onstream in Q4 2027 and billet caster no. 2 in Q3 2028.
