Sumitomo Metals Restarts Plate Mill Rolling Operation
On April 5, the Plate Mill at our Kashima Steelworks restarted rolling operation. The steelworks utilizes by-product gas of upstream processes such as blast furnaces and coke ovens as fuel for re-heating furnace of hot rolling mills. The restart of upstream processes in late March enabled us to restart the hot rolling operation. Kashima, as integrated steelworks, have restarted production of pig iron at blast furnace, crude steel at steel making plant, and finishing products through the hot rolling operation. Other hot rolling mills at Kashima Steelworks, namely Hot Strip Mill and Large Shape Mill, are also planning to restart hot rolling operations in the near future.
Sumikin Recycling Co., Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Sumitomo Metal Industries, restarted operations on March 23 following the earthquake. Sumikin Recycling processes the shredder dust that is generated after the scrap steel from shredded cars is recovered. The company recycles the copper and other useful materials that are contained in the dust, and also supplies the byproduct gas generated in the recycling process to the steelworks. As a result of the earthquake, while dust processing capacity nationwide has fallen, the company will recycle the non-combustible materials that will be generated from the processing of the large amounts of debris left in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami.
At Chuo Denki Kogyo Co., Ltd., a member of the SMI Group and is adjacent to Kashima Steelworks, they are processing the ash from incinerated waste by heating it to a high temperature to melt it. This ash melting operation is also a way for us to recycle waste, and thus Sumitomo Metals Group will contribute to Japan's recovery from the earthquake disaster.
Reference: Kashima Steelworks recovery and resumption of operation timeline
| Month/Day | Events |
| 3/19 | Production of large-diameter welded pipes resumed |
| 3/20 | Operation of the No.3 Blast Furnace restarted |
| 3/22 | Operation of all four skin-pass lines of the Hot Strip Mill restarted |
| 3/24 | Operation of all the secondary and finishing lines of the Plate Mill restarted |
| 3/25 | Operation of Sumitomo Metals Kashima Thermal Power Station (Independent Power Producer) restarted |
| 3/26 | Operation of the No.1 Blast Furnace restarted |
| 3/29 | Operation of the No. 2 Coke Oven restarted. RORO (roll-on/roll-off ) ships for steel plate export leave port |
| 4/3 | No.1 Steel Making Plant restarted steel-making and continuous casting |
| 4/5 | Plate Mill rolling operations restarted |
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