On September 13, a commissioning ceremony was held for the new roughing mill of the wide thick plate plant of Wuhan Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. of China Baowu Group, a project contracted by CERI. Han Bing, a Party Committee member and Deputy General Manager of CERI, Wang Huxiang, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Senior Vice President of Wuhan Iron & Steel Group, two senior vice presidents Xie Chengfu and Liu Wenzhuang, two vice presidents Xu Dongming and Li Yongshan, as well as leaders of other involved companies (e.g., MCC Tiangong Group, China National Erzhong Group, and Shanghai Shangdian Electric Machinery) attended the ceremony.

At 8:26, a heated steel billet was slowly taken out from the heating furnace. Having passed through the mill descaler, it was sent to the entrance of the roughing mill, where there was the the manipulator for steel turning. After multi-pass rolling, it was successfully sent to the finishing mill. This marked the success of the thermal load test of the new roughing mill, a project which took 18 months to build.

The new roughing mill is the fifth general contracting project about medium-thick plate rolling mills that CERI is responsible for, and it is the core equipment of Wuhan Iron & Steel Group's plant which manufactures 4.3 m thick plates.

In the first phase of Wuhan Iron & Steel Group's wide thick plate project completed in 2009, CERI considered the installation and operation requirements of the roughing mill in the second phase in terms of layout, plant structure and equipment basis. With ongoing improvement of Wuhan Iron & Steel Group's production technology for wide thick plates, there are higher requirements for equipment performance, structure and maintenance. This project has built equipmenet performace up beyond original requirements. The maximum rolling force and the maximum torque of the roughing mill are 9,000 t and 4,775 kN/m respectively. Some equipment of the supporting transmission system of the new roughing mill has been discontinued. Therefore, it is difficult to purchase spare parts, thus affecting equipment maintenance and production. In this project, some equipment of the electronic control system has been replaced. The rectification system adopts SLM, improving production efficiency and saving energy. It also can receive and execute the emergent and quick stop commands in the automated main line, thus consolidating protective measures for safe production.

CERI selects the forklift for stable production again after the 5 m thick plate project (phase 2), and ensures the construction, installation and debugging of the roughing mill while the finishing mill continues to produce. This aims to guarantee construction progress with the minimum downtime and production losses. In addition to that, in order to cater to performance, maintenance and product requirements of users, CERI is equipped with a strong project team of professionals, and selects the most powerful Chinese companies in machinery, fluids, and electricity as technical partners, and outstanding constructors in MCC Group for high-precision installation. With superb technology, efficient management, and high-quality products and services, it will a boutique and demonstration project with massive competitiveness and profitability.

The contract was signed on April 6, 2021, construction commenced on November 12, 2021, and the first archway was successfully hoisted on June 18, 2022.