June 28, 2022

AICHELIN Service and NOXMAT successfully manage large-scale project

In only two weeks’ time and during active operation, the service experts of AICHELIN SERVICE and NOXMAT have switched over 1,600 gas burner systems from Lower-Calorific to High-Calorific natural gas for their customer thyssenkrupp Rasselstein GmbH in Andernach/Rhineland-Palatinate. This cooperative partnership with project leaders provided on the customer side and a perfectly planned and implemented service assignment by the AICHELIN and NOXMAT Service Teams contributed considerably to the success of the project as well as its completion ahead of schedule. 

thyssenkrupp Rasselstein GmbH is a subsidiary of thyssenkrupp Steel Europe AG and as the only German supplier, they provide the largest production site worldwide for packaging steels. There are several continuous-type and batch-annealing plants in use for production in Andernach/Rhineland-Palatinate, and two of each were modified during this project. They are heated with more than 1,600 burner systems of different type and by different manufacturers, over 500 being NOXMAT burners. 

The changing market in terms of natural gas supply required thyssenkrupp Rasselstein to make comprehensive changes to all gas burner systems in production. thyssenkrupp Rasselstein commissioned AICHELIN Service GmbH and their affiliate company NOXMAT GmbH with this complex and time-sensitive task, thanks to their extensive expertise in this area. The two companies had already proven their high service availability as well as their cooperative partnership during a previous project regarding a security update for the batch annealing plants.

Photo: The AICHELIN Service and NOXMAT teams with thyssenkrupp Rasselstein employees, together at work in Andernach. In the back: Continuous-type furnaces on several levels

The schedule was challenging: The conversion of the burner systems had to be completed within only two weeks, and during active operation of the plants. After that, another week was scheduled for production support and optimization. A constant working temperature had to be guaranteed during the conversion and adjustment of the burners during running operation, in order to provide constant and high product quality. Up to five mixed teams with a total of 10 employees from AICHELIN Service and NOXMAT were on site for this project, supported by several thyssenkrupp Rasselstein employees to constantly monitor the temperature of the control station. To coordinate amongst each other across several levels of plants, and to guarantee smooth communication across the teams, the AICHELIN Service and NOXMAT service managers provided for a radio connection to the thyssenkrupp Rasselstein control station.

During this perfectly orchestrated service assignment, all burner systems at thyssenkrupp Rasselstein were updated even before the end of the scheduled 2-week period. After the conversion, the service team provided production support for another week and monitored and fine-tuned several load ranges. 

Photo: Conversion of the burner systems at the batch annealing furnaces by the AICHELIN Service and NOXMAT service team

Torsten Schmitt, expert and engineer in charge of electrics for the maintenance of conveyor plants at thyssenkrupp Rasselstein, is very satisfied with the project and says, “For such an ambitious and time-sensitive project, it’s essential to have a dependable service partner. The cooperation with AICHELIN Service and NOXMAT was characterized by extremely focused communication, and as partners we saw eye to eye. We are very happy that the burner conversion went so smoothly and quickly.”

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