Timken bearings equip Arcelor Mittal steel mill in Poland

The Timken Company announced August 9 that it is the exclusive supplier of tapered, spherical and cylindrical roller bearings for Arcelor Mittal's new high-capacity hot-strip steel rolling mill in Krakow, Poland. Timken received the $2 million contract from Siemens Metals Technologies, which is building the mill.

Timken bearings have been installed in various locations throughout the mill including the roll stands that shape the steel, cutting sheers and the power coilers that wind the finished steel sheets onto a roll and other equipment. The mill is scheduled to be commissioned later this quarter.

"Steel mill builders turn to us because we not only deliver product that improves a mill's performance," said Michael J. Connors, Timken's vice president of industrial equipment, "but also because we work closely with builders to bring our first-hand knowledge of rolling-mill manufacturing to the design and selection of the bearing products for such a mill."

With a steel strip width of up to 2,100 millimeters, or 84 inches, the mill produces some of the widest finished products in Europe for carbon, stainless and special-steel grades to meet the higher quality needs of the automotive, petroleum and fuel industries. The new mill will also significantly reduce operating costs for Arcelor Mittal, while producing 2.4 million tons of steel annually, which is approximately 20 percent of total steel production in Poland.

London-based Arcelor Mittal, the world's largest steelmaker, invested around 300 million euros, or about $400 million USD, in construction of the Krakow mill. Constructed as part of a comprehensive modernization program, the mill is the first hot-rolled facility to be built in Europe in 10 years.