Usiminas has just completed the process of supplying steel for the manufacturing of power poles to be used at “Parati Kellogg's” food company industrial Plant in “São Lourenço do Oeste” (SC). All in all, Usiminas has supplied “SteelMast”, a certified company for this type of work in “Santa Catarina” with steel for the manufacturing of 29 power poles with heights ranging between 29 and 36 meters.
The experience with metal poles is a pioneer in the national scene, but already common in some of the most developed markets in the world. “SteelMast has brought to the Brazilian market a new concept of pole production, but steel transmission lines in weathered steel* (corten) are extremely common in countries such as in Europe, the United States, China and Canada”, explains Adeilson Roberto Mendes, Usiminas commercial analyst. The supply of steel by Usiminas for the manufacturing of poles started at the end of 2018 and SteelMast expects that the transmission line will be energized by the end of May.
Besides the pioneering spirit, the adopted construction model presents important gains. The steel pole has an exclusive manufacturing and assembly system and the modular assembly offers advantages such as ease of assembly, the lowest cost of transportation, agility in the project, safety in handling and reduction of assembly costs. The structures are lighter than the concrete ones and there is also an optimization of the number of poles to be used along the line.
Mr. Mendes emphasizes that the performance in this project reinforces Usiminas' search for new markets in the midst of a still very challenging scenario. “The infrastructure market has suffered greatly in recent years with a lack of investment and is still not heated. Therefore, it is extremely important to work in new segments, seeking innovative applications in products that were already consolidated in other types of materials and opening new promising fields of action. The use of hot rolled coils using weathered steel in the helical pipes conformation process widens the possibilities of volume increase by Usiminas in this market of transmission power poles where we didn´t take part”, he concludes.
source: Usiminas |
