www.EBNER.cc Issue 2, April 2013

EBNER Journal for Progress in Industrial Furnace Technology

Volume 21

„SEcoNdSPRINg“

page 4

Editorial100 years of dedication

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„Second Spring“10 years EBNER ChinaEBNER Industrial Furnaces (Taicang) Co.,Ltd./China

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Wired for successHICON/H2

® bell annealers for steel wire; Drahtwerk St. Ingbert GmbH/Germany

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The third dozenHICON/H2

® bell annealers for steel strip; Hankum Co. Ltd./Korea

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The new lightness of drivinghotPHASE® press-hardening; GEDIA Gebrüder Dingerkus GmbH/Poland

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We can get even betterSalesEBNER Industrieofenbau GmbH; Leonding/Austria

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The fourth dimensionHICON/H2

® bell annealers for steel wire; Dongbu Special Steel Co., Ltd./Korea

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Good things come in fivesPusher-type furnace for aluminum ingots; Shandong Nanshan Aluminium Co., Ltd./China

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rial

Straight from the sourceHICON/H2

® bell annealer for copper-base metals; Kao Hsing Smelting & Chemical Fiber Co., Ltd./Taiwan

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On the RoadCountry Report

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coNTENTS

Positive ExperiencesHICON/H2

® bell annealers for steel wire; POS-SeAH Steel Wire (Nantong)/China

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INTERNET www.EBNER.cc

The articles can also be found on our website. Download the latest issues under NEWS & PRESS / HICON® Journal.

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W hen my grandfather, Josef Udo Ebner, founded „Elektrowärmebau Ebner“ in 1948, he started with 12 employees in Linz. It was dedication that gave him drive 65 years ago, and it was his visionary

ability to think outside of the box. Just 5 years later, the young company had more export orders than domestic orders.

Now, in 2013, EBNER is a global company with subsidiaries in Europe, Asia and the US. And though our world today seems so very different from the world of 65 years ago, we have remained true to our convic-tions. Our motivated employees give their all every day. Then and now, we spend an above average 8% of turnover on research and development. A strategy with tradition, which gives our employees the time to develop numerous patents and technological breakthroughs such as HICON® technology.

This is only possible thanks to the independence of a 100% family-owned company and always designing and manufacturing key components in-house. We are proud of the role our technology has played in hel-ping many of our partners in the steel, aluminum and copper base metal industries develop into market and technology leaders themselves.

Speed, flexibility and innovation - key words for the global economy of today, which have already a tradi-tion at EBNER for 65 years. 25 years ago, we implemented these values in the US, 10 years ago we did the same in China. This expansion was spearheaded by my father, Peter Ebner. With the anniversaries of EBNER Furnaces in Ohio and EBNER Industrial Furnaces in Taicang, we are celebrating „EBNER 100“ this year. 65 years of EBNER, 25 years of EBNER USA and 10 years of EBNER China equal 100 years of success. Today, I have the privilege of continuing the family tradition. A family that has grown to more than 1000 employees, and which has always been a partner to our customers. It is our ambition to give our customers the lead with our passion for technology and it is the enthusiasm we have had since 1948.

Dear business partners,

Dear employees,

Robert EbnerCEO / Managing Director

Yours

100 years of DeDication

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our company

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Jiasheng Wang; Managing Directorwang@ebner.cn

EBNER China celebrates its 10th anniversary. 10 years ago, Jiasheng Wang began as a „one man show“. Today, EBNER‘s Chinese subsidiary is responsible for 30-40% of the company‘s turnover.

When EBNER supplied its first facilities to China in the 1980s, the contract was still a bit exotic. At that time, who could have anticipated the unprecedented growth the world‘s most popu-lous country would experience? But when a special group of people including Jiasheng Wang were tasked with finding a sui-table location for EBNER in 2002, it became clear that China was a new world power of metallurgy. „Today, China produces about half of the world‘s steel, owns more than 40% of the world‘s aluminum production and 40-50% of the copper pro-cessing industry,“ explains Jiasheng Wang, Managing Director of EBNER China.

LOyaL PERSONNEL aNd CONCENTRaTEd kNOW-hOWWhen permission was granted to build a manufacturing facili-ty in August of 2002, Mr. Wang, as our first employee, began searching for personnel. The team grew continuously in a ren-ted workshop and office building. The majority of these original employees is actually still with the company. „Our personnel is very loyal,“ Mr. Wang says of the subsidiary‘s success. At the same time, we began construction of our own workshop buil-ding, which was opened with much fanfare in March 2004 on Chaoyang Road in Taicang near Shanghai. But we were not able to enjoy our „own home“ for long. „In 2008, we learned that the government planned to build a Public Park, necessitating the relocation of our buildings.“

UNSTOPPaBLE gROWTh aT EBNER ChINaWang became responsible yet again for finding a suitable loca-tion. „The government gave a lot of support and helped us find the new location at Beijing East Road 82 in Taicang, about 50 km from Shanghai.“ The second grand opening at EBNER China took place in September 2012. „We built twice and tore down once in a short time. Not many people can say the same,“ Wang says with a smile. But the company is flourishing. „EBNER China is now responsible for about 30-40% of company-wide turnover and employs about a quarter of EBNER‘s global personnel in Taicang,“ Wang says of the subsidiary‘s rapid growth. Personnel which is often trained in Austria has grasped EBNER‘s „Quality first“ principles. This is re-flected in the low (for China) employee turnover.

“SEcoNd SPRINg“

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EBNER Industrial Furnaces (Taicang) Co.,Ltd./China

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China II. The subsidiary had to be relocated in 2008. The „boom“ at EBNER China continues unbroken.

We built twice and tore

down once in a short

time. Not many people

can say the same.

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Wired for success

The reorganization of wire processing at Saarstahl ag brought with it wide-reaching investments and a major order for EBNER. drahtwerk St. Ingbert wire works, a subsidiary of Saarstahl ag, has installed a total of 6 of the largest workbases with heating and cooling bells. EBNER won the contract thanks to excellent references and the ideal price/performance ratio of hICON/h2

® technology.

More than 4500 workbases of all sizes operated by medium-sized companies and the world‘s largest steel producers alike result in a reference list that also convinced Drahtwerk St. Ingbert, a subsi-diary of the Saarstahl Group. Not far from the capital of the Saar-land province, Saarbrücken, the company has concentrated wire processing (previously carried out at several different workshops) and supplies the European automotive industry as well as manu-facturers of high quality items such as shopping carts, binder rings and furniture fittings with galvanized and bright wire, both tempered and soft.

The new HICON/H2® bell annealer facility is meant not so much to

increase capacity but as a replacement for the previously split-up wire works. „We are especially proud because of this situation,“ says Karl Wohlfart, who is responsible for the German market and worked on this HICON/H2

® project together with project manager Erwin Umgeher. „Because this was not a case of expanding a facility supplied by a competitor, installing a brand new annealing facility gave us the opportunity to showcase all the advantages of our HICON/H2

® bell annealers. Our excellent references and the value-for-money of our technology were convincing and got us the order.“

ONE Of ThE LaRgEST WIRE ORdERSThis became one of EBNER‘s largest single orders for bell annealer facilities for steel wire. It includes 6 HICON/H2

® workbases with asso-ciated heating and cooling bells as well as the peripheral equipment, a process control system and a visualization system. The recently han-ded-over facility now treats unalloyed and alloyed steels with spheroi-dization anneals and recrystallization anneals.Both by number of workbases and by the effective volume of the entire facility, this was one of our largest single orders from a wire manufac-turer.

Erwin Umgeher; Senior Sales Managerue@ebner.ccKarl Wohlfart; Senior Sales Managerwo@ebner.cc

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Drahtwerk St. Ingbert GmbH/Germany

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THETHIRddozEN

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Hankum Co. Ltd./Korea

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THETHIRddozEN

12 more hICON/h2® workbases are joining the 24 already in place at hankum. Six are intended for hot-rolled stainless steel, six for

cold-rolled high-carbon steel.

South Korea‘s reputation for quality manufacturing is well-estab- lished. Both the electronics and automotive industries are able to give their customers especially long and generous warranty periods. This is made possible by the materials industry, whose quality standards have a major influence. Hankum processes steel strip and falls into this group. Hankum‘s abundant experience and excellent production technology are enhanced by EBNER HICON/H2

® furnaces, resulting in satisfied customers and continuing demand.

115 TONS Of maTERIaL PER WORkBaSEHankum is booming - and this boom means a boom in demand for EBNER workbases. The 24 existing HICON/H2

® workbases are joined by 12 more, which are of course integrated into the EBNER control system. „All facilities are controlled by one central system,“ explains Franz Wiesinger, Senior Sales Manager. The charging dia-meter of the 12 new workbases has grown. This is a result of the Korean manufacturer of quality cold-rolled steel strip coils responding

to increased demand. „The new workbases can now anneal 115 tons (127 USt) each“.

„WaRm CUSTOmER RELaTIONShIP“Hankum pickles, rolls and anneals steel coils from Posco, including hot-rolled stainless steel. Six of the new workbases are designed for this material, the other six are used for cold-rolled high-carbon steels. „All 36 hydrogen workbases at Hankum are EBNER facilities“. Hankum‘s positive experiences with its existing experiences led to the follow-up order. The „warm“ customer relationship started with six HICON/H2

® workbases in 1998, and production has expanded ever since.

„All 36 hydrogen workbases at Hankum are

EBNER facilities“

Franz Wiesinger; Senior Sales Managerwif@ebner.cc

Installation

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The new lighTness of driving

Lightweight construction - the trend in the automotive industry. Press-hardened steel sheet blanks are the ecological and economical answer. an EBNER hotPhaSE® press-hardening furnace at the automotive supplier gedia is producing steel components that are both stronger and lighter.

Everything started at Gedia in 1910 with the manufacture of jewelery. Jewelery and decorative items were manufactured before the compa-ny eventually switched to making enameled products. By 1955, the company had realized that its future lay in the automotive industry. The company was one of the pioneers in the area of pressed, punched and deep drawn components. The company from Attendorn in northwes-tern Germany was able to capitalize on its decades of experience and immediately began setting trends in the automotive industry. Trends such as press hardening. „Blanks of the correct size made of harde-nable steel sheet with thicknesses around 1.5 mm (0.06") are heated in the hotPHASE® roller-hearth furnace to about 930 °C (1706 °F), moved out of the furnace and centered extremely quickly before being taken from the decharging roller table by a robot, placed in the press hardening die and pressed,“ says Siegfried Hehenberger, Senior Sales Manager of the press hardening furnaces sales team.

LIghT aNd STRONg The parts remain in the cooled pressing tool for several seconds after being deformed in order to conclude the hardening and cooling pro-cess. Shape and hardness are imparted in a single step. „Press har-dened components are largely found in the passenger compartment of a vehicle; the high high degree of hardness provides a high degree of safety.“ The technological challenge for the furnace facility experts was building a furnace facility focused on fast cycle times and high

efficiency as well as „best availability of the facility to ensure trouble-free production“. Robust, reliable technology and precision with regard to production parameters are essential.

VW gOLf 7 haS 28% PRESS haRdENEd COmPONENTS The market for press hardened components is booming, reflecting the trend for lighter, more fuel-efficient cars. This technology may have been exclusive to the luxury car segment at first, but it has since spread to all classes of car. 28% of the steel components of the new VW Golf VII, for example, are press hardened. This helps make the car 100 kg (260 lbs) lighter than a VW Golf IV from 1997, despite added accesso-ries, resulting in better gas mileage. EBNER‘s global presence makes ease of servicing a selling point. „The hotPHASE® furnace is the heart of the facility. Our worldwide service and support centers certainly give us an edge over the competition.“ The roller-hearth furnace facility was delivered to Gedia‘s Polish subsidiary in Nowa Sol.

Siegfried Hehenberger; Senior Sales Managerhes@ebner.cc Erwin Umgeher; Senior Sales Managerue@ebner.cc

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GEDIA Gebrüder Dingerkus GmbH/Poland

„The blanks move out of the

furnace extremely quickly“

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EBNER is putting itself in an even better market position. The new sales structure emphasizes working as an R&d partner with our customers in order to be closer to arising demands. hICON Jour-nal sat down with dieter Brandstätter, Executive Vice President of Sales at EBNER to talk about the reorganization.

Mr. Brandstätter, what are the main objectives of the new Sales team structure?

„The new structure will augment our greatest strength -- reacti-ve sales -- with active sales. We will be able to recognize trends even earlier and maintain and expand our role as the technolo-gy leader in an ever-changing environment. We have a good reputation in the market, we have good products, but we want to be even better. The heart of the matter is being able to recognize our customers‘ needs early on, i.e. being closer to the customer than ever befo-re. This increases effectiveness. Also, our sa-les experts used to be project managers and product managers in one. The new organiza-tion is built around specialists. This will make us more efficient.“

can you tell us more about this specialization?„We will now have a person who exclusively focuses on the market. Someone who knows the idiosyncrasies of the market, the needs and the cultural differences. Business is done diffe-rently in Brazil than in China, even if the products are meant to be practically identical. Then we also have specialists for products, who know everything about a product family and are absolute experts. And finally, we have Project Manage-ment specialists, who take care of the the development of the project, specifically, monitoring deadlines, services and costs. And even more importantly, recognizing imminent deviations, calling attention to them immediately and taking measures.

„We can get even

better“

Sales

We have knowledge and expertise in such a variety of are-as, but this know-how was not interconnected enough. The new structure should allow us to generate solutions even more quickly, which is another advantage for our customer.“

What can the customers look forward to with regards to this concept?„We are closer to our customers than before, are aware of the challenges and issues within each market and can use our technological ex-pertise more effectively. The customers them-selves have a top expert for every issue. We are also more active and present in the market. The specialists have been relieved of much ad-

ministrative work, giving them more time for the customer and the customer‘s strategic focus. This is a classic win-win situation.“

How does the new organization reflect this strategy?„Firstly, by splitting up the geographic markets. There are now two regions, the West Region including Europe, the Americas, Africa, Russia and Turkey, and the East Region encompas-sing Asia and the Pacific area. For our employees, this has resulted in an upgrade in their tasks with more empowerment and responsibility. Next, Sales and Project Management have been separated. We make sure each project is handed off to the Project Management team flawlessly. Decades of compa-ny culture and communication are responsible for our current

„The new organization is built around

specialists. This will make us more efficient.“

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EBNER Industrieofenbau GmbH/Austria

Dieter Brandstätter; Executive Vice President Sales brd@ebner.cc

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excellent standard of customer service. But now we will be even better.“

Have the employees been involved in this process? „We have had several presentations of the subject, sent out employee questionnaires and informed our specialists of the subject matter. The employees have been critically and actively involved with the process. It‘s like a team sport. For a team to succeed, it needs a coach who provides a strategy and counts on the strengths of each individual player. When everyone knows his or her own strengths, the team as a whole grows stronger. Everyone pulls together to make our organization more effective and more efficient.“

SalesD. Brandstätter

Sales Europe,Africa, Americas

Sales Asia, Pacific

ProductManagement Marketing

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On the ROad

Recently, numerous projects for customers in North and Central america have been completed. Join us on a 4,000 km road trip from Ohio to mexico City.

Jack Kerouac‘s 1957 book „On the Road“ is a landmark of American literature and recounts the story of two young people traveling through the US and Mexico. HICON Journal took a similar trip with Herbert Gabriel, Vice President of Sales at EBNER Furnaces.

km: 0 CITy: WadSWORTh, OhIOCOUNTRy: USaEBNER‘s subsidiary in the US has been manufacturing facilities and taking care of our North and Central American customers for 25 years. „We develop and manufacture key components and entire facilities, sometimes exporting to Europe and Asia,“ Herbert Gabriel explains. Recently, a series of very different projects has been realized. Our first destination is just one hour‘s drive from the EBNER offices.

country Report

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km: 90 CUSTOmER: gREER STEEL COmPaNy CITy: dOVER, OhIOCOUNTRy: USaThe subsidiary of Greer Industries has made a name for itself as a high-quality producer of steel strip. Greer produces everything from low carbon steel strip up to C95, as well as high-strength alloys and chromium steel, all with the tightest tolerances. „Greer Steel‘s customers include major automotive companies and legen-dary motorcycle maker Harley-Davidson.“ Greer is also the only north American manufacturer of „#3 best bright“ surface quality, a quality grade that can only be achieved with the best production facilities. „That‘s why EBNER HICON/H2

® hydrogen bell annealers were selected for the fourth expansion phase too.“ Higher quality and improved efficiency tipped the scales in EBNER‘s favor. A total of 14 EBNER workbases are currently in operation. „The facility we recently handed over is even more efficient due to developments in the recirculation fan.“ The latest base has a charging diameter of 1,600 mm (63"), a charging height of 2,750 mm (108") and a maxi-mum annealing temperature of 850 °C (1560 °F). The charge weight is 34 t (37 USt). „The relatively small furnace size allows Greer to be more flexible and efficient regarding customer requests.“

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km: 1,300 CUSTOmER: SEVERSTaL COLUmBUS LLC CITy: COLUmBUS, mISSISSIPPICOUNTRy: USaFrom Ohio we drive through Kentucky, the Bluegrass State, named for the expanses of grassy fields that bloom bluegreen in March and April. Next, through Tennessee, the birthplace of Blues and Rock ‚n Roll. The native sons and daughters of this state underline the im-portance of music in Tennessee: from Elvis Presley to Johnny Cash, Tina Turner and the stars of today such as Usher and Miley Cyrus. Soon, we arrive in Columbus, Mississippi, the home of Severstal Columbus. „The plant was built in 2007 and is equipped with state-of-the-art mini-mill technology,“ says Herbert Gabriel. High quality steel sheets of a variety grades are produced with a width of up to 1829 mm (72"). Just four years after being founded, flat bar pro-duction capacity was doubled. The company‘s high quality require-ments are guaranteed by 21 HICON/H2

® workbases from EBNER. 9 additional workbases with a charging height of 6,600 mm have been installed. The charging height of the existing facilities was also increased from 5,700 mm (224") to 6,600 mm (260"). „This allows an impressive charge weight of 158 t (174 USt),“ says Gabriel. The-se facilities are among the largest of their kind in the Americas.

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km: 3,050 CUSTOmER: mETaLSa S.a. dE C.V. CITy: aPOdaCa BEI mONTERREyCOUNTRy: mExICOOur trip takes us through Louisiana and Texas into Mexico. The pe-lican, Louisiana‘s state bird, can be seen all along Mississippi delta, where the Mississippi flows into the Gulf of Mexico. Past the Texas oil fields and the fertile sugar cane and cotton fields, we cross the border to Mexico. Mexico‘s most important industrial city, Monterrey, is not far away. Its geographic location near the US has made the city an economic power and home to several steel mills, including Metal-sa, which is based in the suburb Apodaca. Metalsa mainly produces auto body components for major OEMs and is interested in the po-tential of press hardened components. This is in reaction to the ever tougher environmental legislation the automotive industry is subject to. The reduction in weight thanks to press hardened components im-proves fuel efficiency and CO2 ouput. Metalsa has set up an EBNER HOTPHASE® furnace for experimental purposes. Sheet blanks are heated to 930 °C (1706 °F) and then moved out the furnace extremely quickly on the EBNER-developed charging car. A robot immediately takes the red hot blank from the charging car and places it in the pres-sing tool. „The facility was manufactured and tested in Ohio. It only took a few days to train the personnel.“ Metalsa has already delivered preliminary workpieces to OEMs and is counting on follow-up orders. „The experience gained with the HOTPHASE® facility greatly reduces the time to series production.“

km 3,970CUSTOmER: NaCIONaL dE COBRE S.a. dE C.V.CITy: mExIkO CITyCOUNTRy: mExICOMexico City is situated at an altitude of 2,310 m (7579 ft) above sea level. The capital of Mexico remains one of the world‘s largest cities and a thriving economic center. The combination of tradition and mo-dernity permeates the city. Our last stop, Industrias Nacobre, is no different. The historic company manufactures and sells a variety of copper, brass and plastic components. Plumbing products, gas and water line fittings and valves are just some of the items in the product range. The Nacional de Cobre plant specializes in brass and copper sheet and has trusted EBNER‘s HICON/H2

® technology for 20 years. „In 2011, the plant was renovated and a fourth expansion phase was ordered from EBNER, meaning all Nacobre copper is annealed in HICON/H2

® furnaces.“ Thanks to improved throughput, 12 old anne-alers were replaced by just 4 EBNER furnaces. „This both improves quality and lowers operating costs,“ explains Herbert Gabriel.

4,000 km Of EBNER qUaLITy At the end of our journey through valleys, deserts and forests, we are left with an impression of the wide expanses of a continent spanned by EBNER quality.

Herbert Gabriel; Vice President Sales EBNER Furnacesga@ebnerfurnaces.com

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THE FouRTH

dIMENSIoN

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Dongbu Special Steel Co., Ltd./Korea

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EBNER has supplied three further workbases for the fourth expansion phase at Dongbu. The technology leader‘s specific process know-how was the deciding factor in this order.

EBNER began supplying Dongbu, one of South Korea‘s largest manu-facturers of cold heading grades, with workbases in 2008. EBNER has been involved in every expansion phase since then. Currently, three additional workbases are being manufactured for the fourth expansion phase. EBNER‘s high-convection hydrogen technology paired with ex-tensive processing experience convinced the customer of this partner-ship. The hydrogen reduces the drawing compound and ensures best wire grades. „Dongbu is a quality manufacturer, not a mass-producer: they don‘t leave anything to chance,“ says Franz Wiesinger, Senior Sales Manager, of the customer.

NEW WORkShOP fOR NEW WORkBaSES One of the most interesting aspects of the project is the dimensions of the workbases. „The inner cover is 4.5 meters (15') in diameter. With the heating bell in place on the workbase, the facility is over eight me-ters (26') tall. These dimensions are huge for this type of facility.“ The size of the facility also influenced delivery, which is done in sections. „The inner covers are welded together by our own experts on site.“ Commissioning is scheduled for September 2013. Dongbu went so far as to invest in new workshop buildings to make room for the out-sized facilities.

UNIfORmITy Of ThE mEChaNICaL PROPERTIES gUaRaNTEEdEBNER‘s relationship with Dongbu is characterized by mutual respect

and trust. „Dongbu values the quality of the anneals,“ Wiesinger says proudly, adding, „Dongbu‘s top priority is uniformity of mechanical properties.“ Properties that EBNER technology achieves perfectly, the HICON/H2

® hydrogen technology leaving the material with best sur-face cleanliness. Without this uniformity, problems would arise during further processing. „The service life of the tools would be compro-mised.“ Extremely clean, bright wire from Dongbu does not suffer from this problem.

Franz Wiesinger; Senior Sales Managerwif@ebner.cc

„The inner cover is 4,5 m in diameter, the whole facility is more than 8m tall.“

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Good thinGs come in fivesThe last of the five EBNER HICON® pusher-type furnaces concludes the expansion of the existing rolling mill at the aluminum producer Shandong Nanshan aluminium Co., Ltd. With a maximum of 125 aluminum ingots of up to 30 tons each, this is EBNER‘s customer with the highest charging capacity worldwide.

Picturesque cliffs and beautiful Chinese gardens - Longkou is a truly idyllic town - small for Chinese size standards - with a population of 620,000. On the other hand, the Nanshan Group based in this town is large for Chinese standards, ranking among the top 500 Chinese companies. The largest subsidiary, Nanshan Aluminium, is a long-time customer of EBNER‘s and has recently completed the third expansion phase of pusher-type furnaces at its works. „The first expansion phase was implemented in 2004, when we supplied the first two pusher-type furnaces,“ says Senior Product Manager Günter Mascher. Phase two comprised two further identical units. „The third and final expansion phase was successfully commissioned in November 2012. Nanshan now has 5 pusher-type furnaces with a capacity of 25 ingots each, making them our customer with the largest charge capacity.“

750 TONS CaPaCITy PER fURNaCEAfter casting, the aluminum ingots are allowed to cool so that the rolling surface can be scalped. „Otherwise the required surface quality would not be achievable.“ Next, the ingots go into the pusher-type furnaces, where they are heated to process temperature in five individually cont-rollable furnace furnace zones The ingots may go through several tem-perature levels and cooling phases during processing. Each furnace can process a maximum of 750 tons (827 USt) of material when fully loaded. „After passing through the furnace, the ingots are placed di-rectly on the rolling mill and are hot-rolled.“ One of the most important

aspects of processing in the furnace is achieving a uniform tempe-rature distribution in the ingots. „This is guaranteed by our specially-developed HICON® high-capacity recirculation fans in conjunction with our optimized combustion system and atmosphere baffle sys-tem“. Our special air nozzles in the entire furnace floor ensure highest heating coefficients while preventing ingot edge over-heating.

NaNShaN ENTERS a NEW dImENSION WITh fIVE PUShER-TyPE fURNaCESThe five pusher-type furnaces are connected with each other and en-sure that the hot rolling mill is continually supplied with hot ingots. The facility group gives Nanshan Aluminium the highest possible flexibility. „The ingot handling equipment on both ends of the furnace is one of EBNER‘s specialties. With our design, the rolling surface is never touched or damaged during handling.“ Following the trend, this third expansion phase was also a turnkey order. The facility was manufactu-red at EBNER Industrial Furnaces Co., Ltd in Taicang, China, while the key components came from Leonding, Austria.

Günter Mascher; Senior Product Managergm@ebner.cc

Aluminum

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Shandong Nanshan Aluminium Co., Ltd./China

„This makes Nanshan our customer with the largest charge capacity worldwide.“

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copper-base metals

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Straight from the Source

Ever since the invention of bright annealing technology for brass by Peter Ebner and his team, the success of these facilities has swept the globe. The newest facility is located at kao hsing Smelting in Taiwan.

Brass products are ubiquitous, from zippers to brass screws and fasteners all the way to highly complex electronics components. Many items that make life easier are made of this copper-based metal. The name Peter Ebner is synonymous with the impro-ved quality in this material. In the early 1970s, he and his team developed HICON/H2

® bright annealing technology, eliminating expensive, environmentally unsafe pickling. A boom in facilities for processing brass wire followed. Many projects were also im-plemented in Taiwan, a winning streak which continues today. „We just handed over a new facility to production for Kao Hsing Smelting in Kaohsiung in the south of Taiwan,“ says Peter Die-pold, Vice President Sales Asia/Pacific.

TIghTEST TOLERaNCESKao Hsing Smelting produces copper alloy semi-finished materi-als, mainly brass wire. Each coil weighs 2.4 tons (2.6 USt). Four such coils are annealed simultaneously. „A charge of 9.6 t (10.5 USt) is annealed for about ten hours. The resulting throughput is almost 1t/h.Temperature uniformity is of utmost importance: only 10 °C (18 °F) deviation is permitted at an annealing temperature of 500 °C (932 °F). The facility comprises a gas-fired heating bell, two workbases and a cooling bell. The cooling bell cools the wire to a temperature of 80 °C (176 °F). „Cooling this material typically takes one hour less than the anneal, so nine hours in this case“.

STRaIghT fROm ThE INVENTORCommissioning was carried out in mid March, overseen by our EBNER Service Specialist Michael Schmidt, who has lived in the island nation since 1997. Both workbases are used for recrystallizing the copper-base material. „After this step, the wire can be drawn even thinner to achieve the final dimensions“. Included in this investment were the foundations for two additional workbases. The latest HICON/H2

® faci-lity, which have been sold „by the inventor“ since the 1970s, is one of 250 such facilities worldwide. Since the HICON/H2

® technology was invented, about 750 workbases for copper alloy strip and wire have been sold around the world, processing material for products to make our daily lives easier.

Peter Diepold; Vice President Sales Asia/Pacificdi@ebner.cc

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Kao Hsing Smelting & Chemical Fiber Co., Ltd./Taiwan

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„Temperature uniformity is of utmost importance:

only 10 °c deviation is permitted at an annealing

temperature of 500 °c.“

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Positive exPeriencesThe long-lasting customer relationship between EBNER and Seah Special Steel of korea has led to success for both companies with several sequels. The most recent project, the second expansion phase of an existing hICON/h2

® bell annealer facility for the joint ven-ture company POS-Seah Steel Wire in Nantong, China, has recently been concluded.

Not many customer/supplier relationships in the industrial furnaces sector have lasted as long as the relationship between EBNER and SeAH Special Steel of Korea, which continues to be a win-win situa-tion. When SeAH placed the first order for a HICON/H2

® bell annealer facility in 2001, it was just one of many wire producers in Korea. By the time the last of the now 21 workbases producing for SeAH in Ko-rea were handed over, the company had long since advanced to first place.

The development of POS-SeAH Special Steel in Nantong, China (near Shanghai), a joint venture between SeAH and POSCO, the Korean steel giant, also included HICON/H2

® annealing technology. After the first expansion phase was complete, an order was placed almost im-mediately for a second expansion phase, which was completed in 2011.

hIghER qUaLITy, LOWER COSTSBut what is the basis for this success? „HICON/H2

® annealing technology offers many advantages,“ says Franz Wiesinger, who managed the latest expansion phase project in Nantong for EBNER. „Firstly, the energy required to bright anneal steel wire can be drastically reduced. Also, the as-annealed quality of the material is significantly improved. The difference in quality is apparent even to the naked eye!“

When a manufacturer such as SeAH Special Steel of Korea is the first of their country to install a HICON/H2

® bell annealer, they can give themselves a decisive competitive advantage thanks to the quality of the products. This gives the manufacturer a better market position, which in turn bolsters EBNER‘s position. How? The other manufac-turers then usually also switch to superior HICON/H2

® technology so as not to fall too far behind.

SUCCESS IN ChINa„The fact that a joint venture like POS-SeAH Steel Wire based in China (where cheap production tends to be the norm) decided on HICON/H2

® bell annealers and thus quality is yet another confirmati-on of our technology,“ says Wiesinger. The results prove us right: the first facility of two workbases, commissioned in 2008, was followed in 2009 by an additional workbase and then by two further workba-ses which were commissioned in 2011.

Franz Wiesinger; Senior Sales Managerwif@ebner.cc

Steel

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POS-SeAH Steel Wire (Nantong)/China

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EBNEREBNER Industrieofenbau GmbH

Ebner-Platz 14060 leonding / auSTrIaTel.: (+43) 732 68 68Fax: (+43) 732 68 68 1000e-mail: sales@ebner.cc

EBNEREBNER Furnaces, Inc.

224 Quadral DriveWadsworth, ohio 44281 / uSaTel.: (+1) 330 335 1600Fax: (+1) 330 335 1605e-mail: sales@ebnerfurnaces.com

EBNEREBNER Industrial Furnaces (Taicang) Co.,Ltd.

Beijing East road 82215400 Taicang, Jiangsu / CHInaTel.: (+86) 512 5357 6868Fax: (+86) 512 5357 6867e-mail: sales@ebner.cn

EBNEREBNER India Private Limited

a /310 – 311 / Dynasty Business ParkJ B nagar / andheri-Kurla roadandheri East / Mumbai– 400059 / InDIaTel: (+91) 98 20010218e-mail: bti@ebner.cc

EBNER Trade fair schedule 2013

23.04. - 25.04. Aluminium Middle East 2013 Dubai / UAE

23.04. - 25.04. Interwire Atlanta / US

06.05. - 09.05. AIS Tech Pittsburgh / US

14.05. - 16.05. Blech China Suzhou / CN

14.05. - 16.05. SNEC PV Shanghai / CN

25.06. - 28.06. Wire Russia Moscow / RU

02.07. - 04.07. Aluminium China Shanghai / CN

03.07. - 05.07. Thermotec Tokyo / JP

09.07. - 10.07. ITPS Düsseldorf / DE

09.07. - 11.07. Intersolar San Francisco / US

IMPRINT HICON®: The EBNER Customer Journal / Volume 21, Issue 1, April 2013. Copyright© EBNER Industrieofenbau GmbH, Ebner-Platz 1 / 4060 Leonding, Austria / Tel.: (+43) 732 / 68 68 - 0 / Fax: (+43) 732 / 68 68 - 1000 / E-Mail: sales@ebner.cc. Reproduction, in full or in part, is authorized only with the express written permission of EBNER Industrieofenbau GmbH. / text: Jürgen Philipp / translation: Sabine Schuster, Chen Lin, Irina Lomovtseva / photography: EBNER Industrieofenbau, Klaus Malik / graphic design: Christian Hauser / editing: Sabine Schuster / published twice yearly

www.EBNER.cc165083