Continuously operable production plant and method for operating the production plant when there is a fault

A method of operating a production plant including, arranged in a row one after another to define a production line for forming a thin slab or strip, a thin slab continuous casting machine, a roller hearth furnace for receiving therein a cast strand or at least one cut-off section of the cast strand which forms the thin slab, a rolling mill for rolling the cast strand or the at least one cut-off section thereof that was heated or kept warm within the roller hearth furnace, and an associated coiler, wherein the continuous casting machine and the rolling mill are operated in a continuous endless operating mode along the production line;

• wherein the roller hearth furnace is associated with a furnace ferry system which is arranged laterally off-line with respect to the roller hearth furnace and the production line, and the rolling mill has a first roller stand group, a second roller stand group, and a heating device provided between the first roller stand group and the second roller stand group;
• wherein upstream of the roller hearth furnace in a displacement direction of the thin slab or strip along the production line, there is provided a first slab or strip cutting device, and at an outlet side, in the thin slab or strip displacement direction, of the roller hearth furnace and upstream of the first roller stand group of the rolling mill-, there is provided a second slab or strip cutting device, the second slab or strip cutting device being a flame cutting device;
• wherein in an outlet region of the roller hearth furnace, in front of an elongate section of the roller hearth furnace corresponding to a longitudinal extent of a furnace ferry of the furnace ferry system, is provided a third slab or strip cutting device formed as a flame cutting device, which is positioned in front of a length section of the roller hearth furnace that corresponds to a longitudinal extension of the furnace ferry system,
• wherein on an outlet side, in the thin slab or strip displacement direction of the first roller stand group of the rolling mill and upstream of the heating device, is provided a fourth slab or strip cutting device, the method comprising:
• activating, at a standstill of a slab or strip transportation during an accident in the production plant while being operated in the continuous endless operating mode, all of the first through fourth slab or strip cutting devices which are arranged along the row forming the production line of the production plant;
• contemporaneously cutting off the thin slab or at least a cut-off section thereof and the strip at respective positions of the activated first through fourth slab or strip cutting devices along the production line, such that a length of the thin slab or at least a cut-off section thereof is formed between the second and third slab or strip cutting devices within the roller hearth furnace;
• and
• laterally removing from the production line, via the furnace ferry system, the length of the thin slab or at least the cut-off section thereof within the roller hearth furnace to a site displaced from the production line, such that a gap is formed where the length of the thin slab or at least cut-off section thereof was removed within the roller hearth furnace between the second and third slab or strip cutting devices.