Apparatus for the production of a strip, a pre-strip or a slab

There is disclosed an arrangement and for alternatively producing a hot-rolled strip, a hot-formed pre-strip or an unformed slab, of steel by the continuous casting method. In order to obtain a high product quality for strips as thin as possible and to ensure a high operational flexibility, the following characteristic features are realized individually or in combination: casting of a strand at slab thickness in an open-ended mold having a continuously constant cross section, a first forming step including forming of the strand having a liquid core to reduce its thickness, a second forming step including forming of the already completely solidified strand to further reduce its thickness to pre-strip format, and a third forming step including forming of strand pieces separated from the strand by hot-rolling the strand pieces.