March 5 (SeeNews) - Romania's largest steel mill, ArcelorMittal Galati, said on Tuesday it has invested 10 million euro ($12.2 million) to upgrade one of its casting machines.
The project aimed to modernise the casting head of ArcelorMittal's Machine no. 4 by replacing key computations and installing new automation systems, the company said in a press release.
The improvements will help increase production by reducing technical and accidental stoppages, obtaining a higher casting speed and eliminating quality defects, it added.
"This project is part of our short and medium-term efforts to modernize our steelwork and to implement as much as possible new automation and digitszation technologies in our production processes," ArcelorMittal Galati general manager Bruno Ribo said.
Located in southeastern Romania, ArcelorMittal Galati employs about 6,200 people and is the largest integrated steel plant in the country.
Formerly known as Sidex Galati, it was bought by LNM Holdings NV in 2001 from the Romanian state, for 70 million euro. In 2004, it became part of Mittal Steel, a company created by the merger between LNM Holdings NV and Ispat International. Two years later, following the merger between Mittal Steel and Arcelor, Sidex became ArcelorMittal Galați.
ArcelorMittal is a Luxembourg-based multinational steel manufacturing corporation which was formed in 2006 from the takeover and merger of Arcelor by Mittal Steel. It is the world‘s leading integrated steel and mining company, with a presence in more than 60 countries.
Besides the steel mill in Galati, ArcelorMittal has 5 more operating facilities in Romania - another steel mill in Hunedoara, western Romania, a lime quarry in the eastern city of Tulcea, two plants for tubular products in Iasi and Roman, both in eastern Romania, and Romportmet , a captive port on the river Danube.
($=0.8118 euro)