Slide gates, located at the bottom of the ladles in a steel plant, discharge steel into the continuous casting machine tundish. Once the new slide gate design is selected, Hatch will implement it to all existing ladles in the steel plant.
The present slide gates need to be overhauled after every second tapping. With the new design, the life expectancy will be extended to four tappings. This will reduce the maintenance cost and idle time for each ladle.
The Sorel-Tracy office is working on the project. It will be completed during the annual shutdown in August 2011.
