Fives, a global industrial engineering group, and Steel Dynamics Columbus LLC (SDI) successfully produced the first coil with a new continuous galvanizing line (CGL #3) at SDI’s mini-mill in Columbus, Miss. The first prime coil was produced on schedule July 9 in the midst of a challenging COVID-19 environment. The project involved equipment delivery from several countries experiencing different forms of lockdown, including France, Spain, Italy, the Czech Republic, Mexico and the United States.

Fives was awarded a supply contract in December 2018 for a continuous galvanizing line at the existing SDI Columbus plant. The CGL, which has a production capacity of 400,000 tons per year, was designed to diversify SDI’s product portfolio. The scope of supply included – among other equipment – a horizontal annealing furnace, automation and metallurgical assistance for various steel grades.

According to Fives, the annealing furnace was programmed remotely from Europe with local support.