Comprehensive Production Line from Primetals Technologies Now Operational at Hoa Phat

• Enables Hoa Phat to enter high-quality market segments and meet rapidly growing demand for steel products in Vietnam
• Successful implementation of fully integrated casting and hot rolling plants, automation systems, and digitalization solutions
• Two slab casters and a hot rolling mill increase annual production by 5.5 million tons of steel

Primetals Technologies and Hoa Phat Dung Quat Steel JSC have started up a new production line at the steel plant in Dung Quat, Quang Ngai province, Central Vietnam. The project includes two slab casters, a hot-strip mill, advanced automation systems, and comprehensive digitalization solutions. Through-Process Quality Control (TPQC), a fully integrated quality control system, intelligent digital assistants, and a production management system ensure high quality, productivity, and flexibility.

Vietnam’s steel market is expanding rapidly. With an increased capacity of 5.5 million metric tons per year, Hoa Phat is now better positioned to meet the rising demand for steel products. Primetals Technologies has received the final acceptance certificate (FAC) for the hot-strip mill, and both casters have successfully started up. The entire production line achieved a remarkably swift ramp-up, reaching production of a 1.5-millimeter low-carbon steel coil just six weeks after the start of production.

State-of-the-Art Casting Technology

The 2-strand casters supplied by Primetals Technologies have a rated capacity of six million tons per year. They produce slabs with a thickness of 230 millimeters and widths ranging from 900 to 1,650 millimeters, at casting speeds up to 2 meters per minute. The integrated process control and process optimization systems are equipped with modern expert systems and innovative process models to improve product quality and performance. The advanced LevCon system enhances mold-level control, while the DynaWidth system enables fast and flexible slab-width changes. The DynaFlex hydraulic oscillator further improves strand-surface quality by optimizing mold-oscillation parameters.

Advanced Hot-Strip Mill

The hot-strip mill, with a rated capacity of 5.5 million metric tons per year, produces coils weighing up to 36 tons, with thicknesses from 1.2 to 25.4 millimeters and widths from 900 to 1,650 millimeters. The mill includes a slab-sizing press, two single-stand reversing roughing mill stands with attached edgers, a 7-stand finishing mill, three down coilers, laminar cooling, and auxiliary systems. Four stands in the finishing mill are equipped with pair cross technology, allowing optimal adjustment of the roll-gap contour and improved control over strip profile. Proven designs and advanced automation ensure the equipment works seamlessly to produce high-quality coils across the product mix.

Transforming Data into Quality and Performance

TPQC helps Hoa Phat maximize product and process quality throughout the entire production chain. The system enables long-term data evaluation for each production step, supporting ongoing quality control and improvement. Moreover, a production management system continually optimizes material logistics and inventory.

Operators and maintenance engineers benefit from the condition monitoring system “Asset Life Expert” (ALEX), which supports high availability of the slab casters and the hot-rolling mill. The centralized expert system for intelligent condition monitoring provides clear status information and recommends intelligent corrective and compensational actions. ALEX digitalizes know-how based on actual plant operation so that operators and maintenance engineers benefit from Primetals Technologies’ expertise in automation, production process, and metallurgy.
A suite of closed-loop expert systems, such as Contour and Flatness Optimizer and Hot Mill Steering Expert, helps operators enhance product quality while maximizing production.

About Hoa Phat

With a crude steel capacity of eight million tons per year, Hoa Phat is the largest steel producer in Southeast Asia and the leading industrial manufacturing group in Vietnam. The group operates in five sectors: iron and steel, steel products (including pipes, galvanized steel, drawn steel wire, and prestressed steel), agriculture, real estate, and home appliances. Steel production is the core of the business, accounting for 90 percent of total revenue.