Last month, metallurgical industry supplier SMS group and material joining equipment manufacturer Taylor-Winfield Technologies joined together in a global strategic alliance for the supply, support and service of SMS’s proprietary X-Roll heavy gauge coil joining laser welder.

Taylor-Winfield has been given exclusive access to use SMS’s third generation machine design to sell and build the X-Roll coil joining laser welder to steel producers and line builders globally.

As industry leaders, SMS and Taylor-Winfield have a combined 280 years of industry expertise – SMS in the design and integration of metallurgical plants, rolling mills, and forging plant technologies and Taylor-Winfield in the design, supply and servicing of robust, innovative coil joining welding machines.

Together, this alliance leverages the strengths of both companies to accelerate the growth of the X-Roll laser welder and to better serve steel producers and line builders worldwide.

“For SMS group the agreement simplifies the completion of two strategic goals – to expand our business by additional sales of our X-Roll laser welder and to strengthen our service of already installed machines and all future installations,” says SMS group processing lines VP Markus Jaenecke.

He adds the current third generation of the X-Roll laser welder is a product of more than 15 years of development and operational experience.

“It is among the best laser welder machines for joining black coils, given the extreme reliability of the process,” he enthuses.

“This agreement represents a unique opportunity for Taylor-Winfield,” says Taylor-Winfield Technologies president Donnie Wells.

He explains that not only does Taylor-Winfield gain access to the proprietary design of the X-Roll laser welder, but it has also become the exclusive manufacturer and service provider for this machine.

As the steel industry continues its transformation driven by advanced technology, Taylor-Winfield is excited to add the cutting-edge X-Roll to its coil joining offerings.

The X-Roll is the most technologically advanced heavy gauge coil joining laser welder on the market.

It is designed to join common and advanced high strength steel grades in pickle lines, pickling line tandem cold mill and other heavy gauge process lines.

The laser welding system overcomes variation in strip shape and presentation while offering real-time feedback that ensures the highest weld quality, all with a cycle time under 60 seconds.

Now in its third-generation design, the X-Roll is already a valued coil-joining welder being used in steel mills globally.

The X-Roll design includes additional advanced technology features such as automatic calculation of welding parameters for every material pairing, automatic weld seam quality assurance, and patented induction pre and post weld heat treatment of the weld seam.

“The agreement provides our clients with another option for the supply of pickle line laser coil joining welders,” says Taylor-Winfield Technologies sales VP Blake Rhein.

He points out that the X-Roll perfectly complements Taylor-Winfield’s light gauge laser welder, the Eclipse X1.

“Our customers routinely come to us for state-of-the-art coil joining welding technology and our machine quality has been proven over decades,” Rhein concludes.