Abstract
This paper describes the enhancement project undertaken at British Steel's Teesside Works which enabled the Universal Beam Mill to become the first such mill in the Western World to introduce the use of continuously cast slabs as the feedstock for rolling heavy beams and columns.
The change necessitated construction of a new slab reheating furnace, a complete modification of mill rolling practice and involved several engineering developments needed to enable the new process to be successfully integrated within the existing plant. The new process has resulted in significant benefits for the mill's customers and has greatly improved mill performance through a reduction in material yield losses, higher output speeds and improved plant availability.