AIC Upgrades Automation at Acciaierie Venete’s Odolo Plant

Italian steel maker Acciaierie Venete Group has renewed its confidence in Italian steel technology supplier AIC to modernize the automation system on the cooling bed outlet, including the cold shear area, stacking bars, bars exit and binding at Odolo plant in Italy. Activities have taken place during the summer halt, involving the replacement and refurbishment of the obsolete Siemens S5 PLC with a new Rockwell L82 Safety PLC.The plant was able to resume at full capacity the first day after shutdown and its performance has since improved because of the continual control work that has increased operational flexibility and sped up the operating line.AIC also provided installation supervision and commissioning, as well as start-up support and remote assistance.The work is a continuation of a previous intervention on the same site in 2019, which involved works from the furnace exit to the cooling bed and the auxiliary parts.Acciaierie Venete first began producing steel in 1957 operating in the field of commodities ingots, billets and rebars. At the beginning of the 1980s, the company began to move towards the production of high quality long products. Acciaierie Venete has a production capacity of 2 million tonnes per year of steel. This steel is produced in Padua, Sarezzo and Borgo Valsugana and transformed into finished products in Padua, Sarezzo, Mura, Dolcè, Odolo and Buja. For some applications, the steel is additionally processed in Modena and Idro.AIC Capitanio Tailored Automation is a global system integrator that designs, manufactures and commissions’ turn-key plants worldwide, providing advanced and tailored automation and mechatronics solutions for the steel industry, with the aim to continuously improve efficiencies, competitiveness and safety of the production processes.