Nippon Steel to Expand Kimitsu’s Raw Steel Output Capacity by 10%

Nippon Steel’s Kimitsu works will increase the raw steel output capacity by 10% to 11 million tonnes after the commission of new no.6 continuous caster in December. The works is working to set the caster to clear the bottleneck at the steel making shop. The works produced record 10 million tonnes in fiscal 2005 ended March 2006.The works, which has 6 converters and 5 continuous casters at the steel making shop, has bottleneck at the shop with higher converters’ output capacity than casters. The neck prevents the works to make more raw steel due to the idle time at converters. With the new no.6 caster to make high-valued products including plate, the works can allocate each caster depending on the mold to improve productivity. The works starts new no.5 continuous galvanizing line for automotive steel in June. The works tries to increase the shipment capacity by improving operations including longer mobile cranes and wider shipment exit of the warehouses.