New cold rolling mill for the aluminium industry
Boosted performance
Compañía Valenciana de Aluminio Baux aimed to increase its cold-rolled production capacity to secure the supply of raw materials for its Bancolor plant in Elche de la Sierra, Spain. The Baux Group specializes in painting aluminium coils, which are primarily used in the window shutter and sun protection industries.
The company entrusted Fives to design, manufacture, and commission a new, innovative 4Hi cold rolling mill at its plant in Segorbe, Spain. The first aluminium coil was successfully delivered on October 1, 2025.
“We relied on Fives to provide a second cold rolling mill for our facility. Our existing equipment had reached maximum capacity and could no longer meet the growing demands. We expect the new technology to significantly enhance our performance, allowing us to exceed an annual output of 60,000 tonnes of high-quality aluminium coils,” says Gerardo Caniego, Executive Vice President at Compañía Valenciana de Aluminio Baux.
The new 4Hi cold rolling mill is capable of rolling strips from 6 mm down to 0.15 mm thickness, with a maximum rolling speed of 600 meters per minute. Premium product quality is ensured by automatic gauge and flatness control systems. In addition, the mill is equipped with side-shifting cars, reducing the time needed to change working rolls to less than 5 minutes.
Collaborative success
This achievement is the result of the close collaboration between the engineering, project management, and commissioning teams of both companies.
“Compañía Valenciana de Aluminio Baux needed to install the new technology extremely close to the existing cold rolling mill, in a limited space, while avoiding production downtime and maintaining quality during installation and commissioning of the new mill. Successful project delivery required precise engineering and close coordination with the customer, especially during execution, which involved frequent on-site visits and joint decision-making on technical and operational aspects,” says Sergio Arevalillo, Chief Operating Officer & Project Manager at Fives Steel Spain, a Fives’ subsidiary specialized in steel and aluminium process technology.