Bosch Rexroth, one of the leading specialists in drive and control technologies, has successfully completed a design, fabrication, installation and commissioning project at Gulf Aluminium Rolling Mills Company (Garmco), the Bahrain-based aluminium rolling mill.

The project, involved a complete retrofit of an aluminum Cold Rolling Mill No 2 at Garmco’s existing manufacturing complex in the kingdom’s North Sitra Industrial Area.

Garmco is one of the largest downstream facilities in the Middle East for rolling, cutting, and fabrication of aluminum sheet and foil. The company specialises in producing flat rolled aluminium products in various sizes and alloys including sheets, coils and foil stock which are exported around the world to over 2,000 customers in more than 45 countries.

To maintain the highest standards of quality and meet stringent environmental requirements in addition to increase efficiency of its machines, Garmco approached Bosch Rexroth to present the best solution to retrofit its old hydraulic system of one of its rolling mills.

Ready for the challenge, Bosch Rexroth first prepared an optimum solution with a state-of-the-art design which was approved by Garmco and given a go-ahead for fabrication. Installation and piping job of the project was sub-contracted to Saudi Gulf Hydraulics (SGH), Bosch Rexroth’s partner in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

“The project was completed successfully within a tight schedule of about two to three weeks involving demounting and mounting during the downtime of the machine” said Amin Abu Seif, business development manager at Bosch Rexroth Middle East.

“The major factors behind the success of the installation were the dedication, commitment and cooperation of Garmco’s engineering team. Their support in the logistics and in easing the process inside the plant as well as its engineering team’s continuous collaboration with Rexroth team helped finish the project successfully” he added.

The high-end technology solution provided by Bosch Rexroth enhanced the performance of the machine, it said. More specifically, the solution involved:

• New hydraulic power unit (HPU) with Axial Piston Pumps suitable for the low viscosity special fluid;

• Modern valve, cylinders and accumulators suitable for the specific fluid – resulting in no leakage problems;

• Complete replacement of the existing piping;

• Cold and hot start of the machine with its supervision and commissioning; and

• Fixing the commercial conditions.

Thus, Bosch Rexroth along with Garmco’s efforts and SGH’s support was able to achieve the highest results for this project with a state-of the-art design, successful commissioning and start-up, complete retrofit in two weeks, improvement in the component availability, no leakage and oil filling anymore and increased productivity.

“At the current stage, Garmco is negotiating with Bosch Rexroth to retrofit Cold Rolling Mill No 1 with the same HP unit, modern valves and hydraulic cylinders in order to enhance the operation and have common spares for both cold rolling mills,” said Ebrahim Jassim, mechanical engineering manager, Garmco.