Zhangjiagang Pohang Stainless Steel Company Limited of Chinese has ordered a ladle furnace with a ladle turret from Siemens. The new secondary steelmaking equipment will increase the company's production capacity further improve product quality and help to expand its product portfolio. The project is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2012.

Siemens will engineer and supply 160 tonne ladle furnace with a ladle turret for the ZPSS steel works located in the town of Zhangjiagang in Jiangsu Province. Siemens VAI Metals Technologies GmbH, Germany, is responsible for key components, such as the current conducting electrode arms, the high current busbar system and the project coordination. Siemens Limited. China will handle the production and delivery of mechanical components and the basic automation.

The steel works was equipped by Siemens and brought into operation in 2006. It comprises a 140 ton electric arc furnace, 150 tonne AOD converter a double stirring stand and a single strand continuous slab caster. Originally designed for an annual production of 800,000 tonnes the works can now produce 1 million tonnes of steel per annum. The new ladle furnace will enable ZPSS to fine tune the metallurgical properties of the steel even more closely in future. This will improve the product quality and allow more grades of steel to be produced.

ZPSS is JV of the Jiangsu Shagang Group and Posco, a Korean steelmaker. The company specializes in the production of stainless steels, and has a production capacity of around 600,000 tonnes per annum for both hot and cold rolled flat products.