The Company has production plants in Belgium, France, Germany, Portugal, and Switzerland.
A four-stage production process
Zinc is a naturally occurring metal which is found in large quantities in the form of ore in the earth's crust.
All operations, from the transformation of the ore to the production of rolled zinc and finished products, are carried out within the Umicore Zinc Group to which the VMZINC brand belongs.
The Smelting Unit transforms the ore into zinc oxide in a process called "roasting", and into a zinc sulphate solution from the calcinated zinc in a process called "leaching". The solution obtained supplies the electrolysis hall where 99,995% pure zinc is obtained.
After the electrolytic process, the zinc is rolled in two VMZINC rolling mills in France, one at Auby in northern France, and the other at Viviez, in south-west France.
| 1. | Alloying
The first stage consists of melting the pure metal deposited on the cathodes during the electrolysis process and adding a controlled amount of copper and titanium in a series of induction furnaces to produce a liquid alloy. | | 2. | Casting
The liquid metal is then transferred to a continuous casting machine for solidification into a continuous slab, about twelve millimetres thick and approximately a metre wide. The controlled cooling process within the machine produces a fine, homogeneous grain structure. | | 3. | Rolling
Three to five rolling operations are performed to reduce the slab to the required thickness. Throughout this process, temperature, rolling speed and reduction rate are closely monitored and adjusted to obtain the requisite mechanical and dimensional characteristics. | | 4. | Slitting into sheets and coils
One of the final steps involves slitting the rolled zinc into sheets or coils of the requisite weight, width and thickness on specialised finishing lines. |
All the rolled zinc output is stamped EN 988 in the centre of our usual ink marking. This is a European standard, effective throughout the European Union, which guarantees ultra-pure zinc (99.995%) which complies with stringent mechanical and dimensional requirements.
The ISO 9001 certificate applies to all the administrative and production sites. It covers both products and services. Above all, it reflects the determination of the VM ZINC teams to constantly improve product and service quality by listening to their customers.
VMZINC, wishing to ensure that the quality of its rolled zinc would surpass the existing standard, has also put in place the PREMIUMZINC quality label. It guarantees good results for VMZINC in flatness, stamping and other tests done by two independent testing bodies (EMPA , a Swiss inspection organisation, and ZID , a German inspection organisation). "PREMIUMZINC Certified quality" is now marked on all the products.
KOMO 7056: rolled VMZINC complies with this standard.
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Stage 1
Stage 2
Stage 3
Stage 4
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about the production plants:
http://www.vmzinc.com/com/html/environment2.htm ------------ |
