Plant and method for producing flat rolled products

Rolling plant to produce a metal strip having a final thickness (SF) comprised between 0.6 mm and 25 mm, configured to operate in an operating mode selected in a group comprising coil-to-coil mode, semi-endless mode and endless mode, and which comprises at least:

• a continuous casting device configured to produce thin slabs, that is, having an initial thickness comprised between 50 mm and 160 mm;
• a first selectively activatable cutting device configured to cut said slabs produced by said continuous casting device;
• a furnace configured to maintain said slabs at a certain temperature and/or to heat said slabs;
• at least one roughing stand configured to reduce the thickness of at least one of said slabs in order to produce an intermediate rolled product, and a plurality of finishing stands configured to reduce the thickness of said intermediate rolled product in order to obtain said metal strip;
• a rapid heating device, consisting of selectively activatable elements, which is interposed between said at least one roughing stand and said plurality of finishing stands and is configured to heat said intermediate rolled product;
• a second selectively activatable cutting device configured to cut said metal strip according to a predefined length;
• the plant also comprising a management and control unit configured to command the functioning of said cutting devices so as to define said operating mode, wherein the management and control unit is also configured to always keep said rapid heating device active in the coil-to-coil or semi-endless mode in order to produce a strip having a final thickness smaller than about 4.0 mm.