About us

Clabecq description

Located in Ittre, Belgium, NLMK Clabecq produces steel plates of various thicknesses ranging from 3 to 64 mm for construction, shipbuilding, energy industries, transport and yellow goods, quarrying and mining equipment manufacturers. Its current production capacity is 750,000 tonnes a year.

Production layout

NLMK Clabecq is the only producer of heavy plates in the world with a roughing mill (also called a Quarto mill, due to its four cylinders) and a finishing mill with four independent stands on the same line.

The industrial advantages:

  • Improved Efficiency:
    • better process control
    • greater flexibility in the plate sizes
    • reduced production time
    • higher production capacity
    • no plate handling between the 2 mills
  • Enhanced Quality:
    • tighter thickness tolerances
    • increased flatness
    • superior surface characteristics
    • better consistency
  • Energy Efficiency:
    • limitation of temperature drop
    • reduced energy consumption (no need to reheat the plate)
  1. Reheating furnace

    1
  2. Quarto (roughing mill)

    2
  3. Finishing mill

    3
  4. Hot leveler

    4
  5. Hydraulic shears and making

    5
  6. UST

    6
  7. Cold leveler

    7
  8. stock black plates

    8
  9. Shot-blasting machine

    9
  10. Austenitizing furnace

    10
  11. Quenching

    11
  12. Cold leveler

    12
  13. Online hardness testing

    13
  14. Plasma cutting

    14
  15. Shot-blasting machine

    15
  16. Painting line

    16
  17. Marking

    17

A strong and constant investment

  • 2023 Rolling Mill – Phase 2

    Modernization of 4 stand finishing mill

    Advantages of the full rolling mill investments (phase I and II) for thin plates:

    • High strength ranges with best-in-class surface quality
    • Tight flatness and dimensional tolerances
    • Reducing gas consumption and CO2 output
  • 2022 140kT Q&T sold

    Since commissioning, Q&T sales have been growing at an average pace of 24% per annum

    Profitability reestablished
    Company’s consistent strategy, industrial transformation and operational excellence resulted in a step improvement in financials over the last 3 years.

  • 2021 Rolling Mill – Phase 1

    New Descaling system with 2 new descalers

  • 2019 New Strategy

    Implementation of a new strategy of product mix and production lines, that resulted in

    • Leaner operational set up
    • Better competitiveness due to improved productivity
    • Concentration on high value-added niche products
  • 2011 Q&T line

    Quenching and tempering line with annual capacity of 170 kT and introducing accelerated cooling system