The state-of-the-art centre of European rail production
The focus of our investment: customer benefit.
voestalpine Schienen GmbH possesses the most modern rail rolling plant in the world. Since February 2006 its new rail rolling line, which is leading in performance in comparison with all rail manufacturers, is in operation.
From 1990 to 2004, we systematically invested in a new finishing line section of our rail rolling mill in anticipation of and in preparation for the complete renewal of the rolling line that is currently underway.
The plants and equipment installed in this context laid the groundwork for the now virtuall proverbial qualit of our rails, offering numerous customer benefits that other suppliers have failed to achieve.
| INVESTMENT | RESULT | ||
| 125 m cooling bed (world`s first, investment in 1990) | Unwelded, ultra-long rails up to 120 m (still the world`s longest) | ||
| HSH® facility: the only installation for fine perlitic rail head hardening synchronized with the production flow in any profile up to 120 m or quantily required | Service lifetime of rails increased many-fold (thanks to high resistance against abrasive wear and damages from rolling contact fatigue) | ||
| Long rail stockyards I and II (both fully elekctronically controlled) | Just-in-time deliverability for 120m rails directly to each construction site in Europe (24 hours/ 7 days a week availablitity - logistics cost reduction) | ||
| Electronic visual surface inspection (a world premiere) by means of high-speed CCD cameras | Unigue additional mechanically objectified inspection process for ensuring flawless surface quality | ||
| Grooved rail centre (world`s leading range of profiles and grades, including fine perlitic head-hardened HSH® /HSH-M-grades with a wide range of services)and proprietary LCC tool for life cycle cost optimization for clients | Extensive range of stress and service-life optimized grooved rails, grades and profiles available (upon request also head-hardened and pre-bent ready to install) based on systematic LCC orientation | ||
Many other investments have additionally helped make voestalpine Schienen the number-one European rail manufacturer in the critical opinion of our customers.
The commissioning of the division`s own compact LD oxygen steelworks, the most modern of its kind on the international scale, right next to our voestalpine Schienen rail rolling mill must be mentioned.
The steelworks, which is closely bound - both technologically and logistically - with voestalpine Schienen, supplies pre-materials of top metallurgical quality, which is indispensable for the production of high-performance rails.
The new dimension of the rail manufacturing
A quantum leap toward greater flexibility. The new rolling mill of voestalpine Schienen GmbH.
- The world`s most modern rail rolling mill with unprecedented flexibility based on innovative UFR technology (Ultra-Flexible Rolling): the robotic SCC system (Stand Core Concept), in which the rollers are driven in and out by motors, reduces section replacement time to about 20 minutes. Time-savings as compared to conventional technology: several hours (!) per roller change.
- This substantial reduction of retooling times and costs significantly increases the productivity and utilisation rate of the entire plant. Naturally, finishing line and rolling mill line are phase-synchronised.
- This also gives us as the world`s first and only rail manufacturer the actual possibility of just-in-time production for our customers, even with smaller volume requirements. Optimizing the supply chain while minimizing cost-intensive storage opens up new potentials for customer benefits that go significantly even beyond our familiar just-in-time delivery solutions.
- By various design innovations in the rolling mill a maximum precision throughout the manufacturing process has been obtained which makes it possible to reduce rolling tolerances to half (!) the level stipulated by the CEN standard. In the area of high-speed rails, for instance, this is of great significance. Thus our quality edge over the competition is further enhanced.
