New tube mill takes shape at Tata Steel in Corby as part of £30m investment

A new steel tube-making machine is taking shape at Tata Steel’s Corby works as part of its site-wide £30m development programme.

The tube mill, which has been designed and built by leading Italian engineering company Mair Research, has started to arrive in sections at the Northamptonshire site and will be installed by British company, Rapid Response Solutions (RRS).

The new ‘combination’ tube mill, which will replace two older machines, is due to be commissioned in October.

Tata Steel’s works manager at Corby, Gary Blackman said: “This is a hugely exciting time for the site. The new tube mill will replace our old cold formed tube mill and our 6” tube mill and has been years in the planning. It’s the latest piece in the puzzle to transform Corby into a truly world-class and net-zero steel tube making facility.”

Claire Mellows, RRS group business development director commented: “We are delighted to have been chosen as the installation contractor for this project – one of the first new mills to be built for Tata Steel in the UK in decades.  This project represents another chapter in RRS’s growth strategy, and we are thrilled to be working alongside the Tata Steel project team. We look forward to delivering the new tube mill on time, on budget and with safety as our absolute priority.”

Project manager, Nigel Chudley, added: “I’d like to pay credit to local Corby company, MPB, whose work in completing the civil engineering work on site, has been superb.

“With parts of the new tube mill arriving daily, we’re now looking forward to collaborating in a similar fashion with Rapid Response Solutions, with the original equipment manufacturer, Mair, also onsite to oversee the construction and commissioning.”

Already the Tata Steel Corby site is benefitting from a new integrated warehouse facility and replaced old inefficient gas-fired furnaces with electric induction furnaces in its stretch-reduction tube mill on the site’s journey to net zero.

Tata Steel also recently announced the sale of a redundant part of the site. The £12m generated from the sale will be used for further developing its stores, workshops and offices.

Tata Steel
www.tatasteeleurope.com