Gerdau Cosigua has contracted Russula for an electrical and controls upgrade of its rolling mill #2, which will take place in two phases.

A press release said that the scope of the first phase is from the reheat furnace to the laying head. Obsolete drive and control equipment will be upgraded with new drives, PLCs for optimal mill control and an HMI supplied by Russula along with new remote IOs.

Based in A Coruña, Spain, Russula provides electrical and automation solutions for bar, rod and section mills and reheating furnaces, steel making and strip processing lines. The project will use Russula’s artificial vision cameras that optimize shear cutting in the wire rod mill. The AV system measures the shear cuts automatically and adjusts the cut length to minimize metallic losses thus improving mill efficiency.

In June 2024, the kickoff meeting for phase 1 took place on site at the Gerdau Cosigua plant in Santa Cruz, Brazil. The second phase covers the furnace combustion and all the equipment in the coil cooling and handling area is scheduled for 2025.