For utilising Australian skills, German engineering, and European steel, Leussink Engineering has won the Global Integration award.
Small Australian engineering and manufacturing firm Leussink Engineering have won the Global Integration Award for its work in Kazakhstan.
The group managed to bring together Australian skill, with German expertise and experience to machine an Indian mining and steel manufacturing giant's mills through Eastern Europe and Central Asian Republics in conjunction with its partner Corts.
Corts is a German precision flat bearings supplier while Leussink Engineering is a diversified engineering designer and workshop that handles OEM and prototyping, large engineering and manufacture, on-site and off-site refurbishment and maintenance of machinery and equipment, re-engineering and high precision work especially for mining, public works, general engineering and heavy construction.
Leussink Engineering, in association with the German bearings specialist Corts, sent six of its specialists from Unanderra, NSW, to various locations in Kazakhstan to machine six rolling mill stands for ArcelorMittal.
The mills were run down and not operating near full capacity nor capability.
The process combined the expertise of Corts-Leussink, surveyors, on-site machine operators and mechanical engineers to collect the relevant data and modify the current status back to OEM specification.
Leussink's technical staff took a holistic approach that included a thorough laser-based survey of all components, including their current structural integrity.
What followed was an extensive level of planning necessary to bring the facilities back to the level they were when brand new, as per the Original Equipment Manufacturer design specification.
The Corts-Leussink partnership has quickly developed its capabilities and can make a complete refurbishment to even the oldest rolling mills (ferrous and non-ferrous) in the world to original specification and extend their lifespan to remain productive and work almost as if new.
ArcelorMittal is among the five largest producers of iron ore and metallurgical coal (or coking coal) in the world and has a geographically diversified portfolio of iron ore and coal assets.
ArcerlorMittal als has a network of steel plants worldwide. The company's goal is to produce 100 million tonnes of iron ore by 2015, and it is pursuing this aim through expansion of existing assets and acquisition of new, high-quality resources.
The association with Corts was set up with full expectation of international potential, and it has been immediately returning on the investment.
The appointment of Corts-Leussink to refurbish six iron ore mills in Kazakhstan is a major success and shows that an Australian company based in the city of Wollongong has trained its technical staff to a level where they are being sought internationally.
Corts already has a strong recognition in Europe; but through its involvement in the partnership, Leussink's reputation has grown immensely and is being viewed as an integral part of the supply arrangement.
ArcerlorMittal is arguably the largest in the world in its field and it would not make an appointment of this magnitude, with so much at stake, lightly, so Corts-Leussink is there on international merit.
Both partners of Corts-Leussink knew early on that this association carries something special and operates at world's best practice levels.
So in quick succession, this Kazakhstan appointment is the third steel mill that Corts has done in Europe and its second with Leussink (the first was recently in Romania).
Since these early refurbishment the partnership has been approached to carry out more operations as well.