The cast bar is cut into ingots of precise length by a rotary shear. The ingots are then cooled in line to a temperature of 70-80°C in order to allow the palletization and strapping operations with plastic or steel straps.

The Track & Belt process is gaining wide acceptance in many countries and can work either in continuous operation reaching an Overall Equipment Efficiency (OEE) exceeding 90% or on a batch basis.

For many years ingots have been produced with the traditional mould chain and such ingots are referred to as “Open Top Ingots” in the market. Although many improvements have been made over the years, several problems related to the general design concept remain unresolved.