Fives Stein, A Reference Supplier In Brazil

Date: 1 February 2010

Usiminas ordered from Fives Stein a new Digit@l Furnace® and the implementation of Level 2 system. Usiminas is one of the largest steel producers in the Americas, with major steel mills in Brazil for a total capacity of 9.5 million metric tons of steel per year.

The company accounts for about 30 % of total steel output in Brazil.

In order to increase the capacity of the Plate Mill located in Ipatinga, USIMINAS ordered from Fives Stein in October 2009 a package consisted of:

One new Digit@l Furnace® supplied by a consortium involving Fives Stein as the leader, Combustol Industria e Comércio in Brazil, partner with Fives Stein for many years and Fives Stein Shanghai Industrial Furnace Co.

Implementation of Level 2 system by Fives Stein on 2 existing furnaces, the main advantages being synchronization of the furnaces for an optimum production, higher energy efficiency and operator friendliness while improving the heating quality of the product to enable Usiminas to process high quality of various steel grade plate.

Fives Stein scope includes the walking beam furnace with the associated charging and discharging machines, the water plant and gas mixing station as well as the supervision for the overall project. This furnace N°3 will reheat slabs at a nominal rate of 130t/hr for the existing plate mill.

Besides its unrevealed heating uniformity and low Nox emissions, the Digit@l Furnace® is designed to work with various mixed gases and adapt to many different calorific values thanks to the Digit@l technology.

This contract confirms and reinforces Fives Stein leading supplier for the largest steel producers in Brazil.