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Danish plate mill Dansteel, part of Russian mining and steel group NLMK, aims to initially pass through 5% of its annual sales volume to its newly created steel service center, a spokesman for NLMK told S&P Global Platts Wednesday.

The Frederiksvaerk-based mill has just inaugurated its steel service center, which specializes in custom plate cutting and edge beveling. It is capable of processing up to 32 meter long plates with 8 mm-150 mm thicknesses and up to 4 meters wide.

Dansteel is seeing good demand for the added services from makers of wind turbines, pressure vessels, bridge builders and other heavy industry end-users, according to NLMK.

Previously, Dansteel outsourced these services to a third party but decided to invest in in-house expertise and develop its own steel service business. With this in view, NLMK made a minor investment in upgrading an old cutting machine installed at the plant and in skills and training of a new team.

Dansteel sold 290,000 mt of steel plate in the first half. Its sales grew 9% last year to 520,000 mt.

Im Jahr 2015 kündigte das Weltwirtschaftsforum (WEF) die “verteilte Fertigung” als eine der zehn aufstrebenden Technologien an. Gerade in den letzten Monaten hat das Thema wieder an Aufmerksamkeit gewonnen. Für uns als Werkstoffhändler führt das zu der Frage: Wenn sich die Produktion verteilt, wie wird die Zukunft der Materialverteilung aussehen?“

Die Vorteile der Digitalisierung und ihre Konsequenzen

Wie jede andere Branche baut auch die Fertigung auf Digitalisierung, die es ermöglicht, überall auf der Welt per Knopfdruck Produktionsprozesse zu starten – die verteilte Fertigung dank Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). Sie legt aber auch den Grundstein für einen neuen Trend: Weg von der Massenfertigung hin zu individuell nach Kundenwünschen angefertigten Produkten. Die Nachfrage danach ist steigend und hat zur Folge, dass die Losgrößen sinken. 

Digitaler Fortschritt bedeutet aber auch, dass der Materialverbrauch massiv zurückgehen wird. In einer gemeinsamen Studie mit der Ellen MacArthur Foundation schätzt McKinsey die Einsparungen an Materialkosten in der EU verarbeitenden Industrie bis 2025 auf bis zu 630 Milliarden US-Dollar pro Jahr. Der Grund: die Steigerung der Produktivität.

Unsere Branche steht vor gewaltigen Veränderungen. Wir werden unseren Umsatz nicht mehr steigern können, indem wir einfach mehr Material verkaufen, denn diesen Bedarf wird es nicht mehr geben. Auch wird die Profitabilitätssteigerung durch massive Skalierung von Lagerbeständen ihre Grenzen erreichen. Unsere eigentliche Wertschöpfung wird in den Dienstleistungen rund um das Material und nicht im Material selbst liegen. Bei thyssenkrupp Materials Services nennen wir das „Materials as a Service“ – die smarte Interaktion von Werkstoffen und individuellen Services.

Paradigmenwechsel in der Wertschöpfung

Wir stehen vor der Herausforderung, kleinste Losgrößen aller Arten von Werkstoffen in kürzester Zeit in die entlegensten Orte der Welt zu liefern. Die Antwort darauf: Supply Chain Management. Vor 20 Jahren habe ich gelernt, dass ein guter Verkauf von einem guten Einkauf getrieben wird. Oder anders gesagt: billig kaufen und teuer verkaufen. Was dazwischen passierte, war zweitrangig. Heute stimmt das nicht mehr: Was dazwischen passiert, ist entscheidend. Wertschöpfung entsteht künftig vor allem dann, wenn wir unsere Kunden in ihrer Supply Chain unterstützen. Voraussetzung dafür ist die Optimierung unserer eigenen Lieferkette. Dazu müssen auch wir die Stärken der Digitalisierung nutzen und benötigen entsprechende Software.

Drei grundlegende Fragen

Softwarelösungen werden die gesamte Wertschöpfungskette unterstützen und damit in der Lage sein müssen, vertikale Integration zu erlauben. Das führt uns zur ersten von drei grundlegenden Fragen: Werden klassische Softwareunternehmen, die unseren aktuellen IT-Backbone zur Verfügung stellen, ihre Fähigkeit zur vertikalen Integration beweisen, oder müssen wir unser IT-Backbone diversifizieren?

Als langfristiger Player in diesem Markt verfügt thyssenkrupp Materials Services über eine riesige Datenquelle – und Daten sind das neue Gold. Damit kommen wir zur zweiten Frage: Wie können wir unsere Daten leicht nutzbar machen und unsere Fähigkeit zur Interpretation und Digitalisierung dieser Daten vermarkten? 

Cloud-Infrastrukturen bilden das Rückgrat des IIoT. Dafür benötigen wir externe Backbones, wie z.B. Infrastructure as a Service und Product as a Service. Diese Infrastrukturen erfordern technisches Fachwissen und nicht industrielles Know-how. Damit stellt sich die dritte Frage: „Wie kann man die Zusammenarbeit zwischen Technologie und Industrie stärken statt den Wettbewerb anzustacheln?“

Eins ist klar: die Rolle des Materialverteilers verändert sich mit der verteilten Fertigung. Unser industrielles Erbe kann dabei unsere Stärke sein, wenn wir zugleich den Mut zur Veränderung aufbringen und damit die Kraft in unserer Organisation entfesseln.

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Foto: thyssenkrupp Materials Services

Diversified US service centre chain Worthington Industries has bought a pickling and slitting facility in Cleveland, Ohio, Kallanish learns from a company release.

Heidtman Steel Product’s 278,000 square-foot facility processes hot-rolled carbon flats for the auto and heavy equipment markets. It sits adjacent to the ArcelorMittal Cleveland mill.

“Heidtman’s Cleveland operation is a great addition to our Steel business, further expanding our value-added steel processing capacity,” says Worthington ceo John McConnell. “The addition of Cleveland will strengthen our pickling capabilities and allow us to expand our presence in an attractive market.”

Financial terms were not disclosed.

Imports of Turkish and Indian strip mill products are on the agenda of European steel association Eurofer, market participants told Argus on the sidelines of EUROMETAL’s Steel Trade Day in Rotterdam today.

Another review of the European Commission’s steel safeguard measures is unlikely before the expiry of the quotas on 1 July 2021, unless there are significant changes to the measures applied by the US, Van Bael & Bellis lawyer Yuriy Rudyuk said during a presentation. But Eurofer may seek further restrictive measures on some of the products already covered by the quotas, he said.

Fifteen of the products covered by the safeguards also face anti-dumping or countervailing duties in Europe. Any country with duties in place may still import under the quotas and pay the applicable AD/CVD duties, but should the quotas exhaust, then the higher duty between the 25pc and the country-specific tariff is due.

The safeguard measures may be extended beyond 2021, Van Bael & Bellis said, but these can be applied only for up to eight years. A future review may also lead to narrowing of the measures.

The commission’s revised safeguard measures took effect on 1 October. The major changes include a 30pc cap to any country’s access to the hot-rolled coil (HRC) and rebar quotas, a stricter differentiation between auto-grade galvanised steel imports and construction-grade, and a 3pc yearly increase in quota volumes instead of 5pc.

But any future review of the safeguards would be conducted by a new European Commission. The new commission aims to tackle trade distortions caused by third countries through their production costs. The EU will also push for access to procurement contracts of European companies with operations abroad, Rudyuk said, singling out Russia as one of the countries causing concern because of raw material costs.

Another tool the EU is developing may see a border adjustment tax to steel arriving from countries with less stringent emissions rules. European steelmakers firmly support such a tax, with Eurofer suggesting it needs to be throughout the supply chain. But it is not clear how it would differentiate between imports. Many HRC imports from Turkey, for example, would be less carbon-intensive than those of European mills.

While exclusive talks continued between the Official Receiver and preferred bidder OYAK over the sale of the UK based steel producer, Chinese steelmaker Jingye group approached the UK government with a fresh offer for British Steel last week, according to UK-based Sky News.

OYAK didn’t make any comment to S&P Global Platts about the news on Monday.

The Official Receiver could not engage in discussions with rival bidders during the exclusivity period, but the UK’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) was not prohibited from holding talks with other potential buyers of British Steel, according to Sky News.

Jingye’s renewed interest, which is based in Hebei province in northern China, could strengthen ministers’ hand in the ongoing negotiations, Sky News said.

As part of its regional growth ambitions in the steel industry, OYAK, the biggest complementary pension fund in Turkey, signed an exclusivity agreement to buy British Steel in mid-August, as reported.

According to an OYAK statement previously sent to Platts, after the successful completion of a detailed inspection process at the end of October, the handover was expected to be held by year-end. Turkish military pension fund OYAK is Ataer Holding’s parent company, which is the largest shareholder in Erdemir, the nation’s biggest steel producer.

British Steel, which went into compulsory liquidation on May 22, has about 3 million mt/year of production capacity in the UK, France and the Netherlands.

— Cenk Can

Global vehicle production is expected to continue to grow in the next 10 to 20 years. Challenges for steelmakers supplying the sector will also continue to increase according to experts at a meeting to discuss the future of the automotive sector in Turin last week, attended by Kallanish.

Gianpiero Mastinu, professor of vehicle construction at the Milan Polytechnic confirmed that expectations are for motor vehicles production to reach 150 million units in the next 10 to 20 years. Almost 100 million vehicles were produced globally in 2018, with China being the biggest producer followed by Europe. In 2003 China accounted for less than 10% of the global production while its share has now reached almost 30%.

Despite the positive outlook in terms of vehicle construction, uncertainties remain for steelmakers. This is specifically so for those based in Europe, which was the largest vehicle-producing region with over 30% of global share until ten years ago.

Gianfranco Tosini from Siderweb, noted that the first issue for steelmakers is to reorganise their presence to be closer to where vehicles will continue to be produced. This indicates therefore that Asian mills are better placed than their European counterparts.

The second issue remains the reduction of the volume of steel used in carmaking. In 2015, 84% of the mass of a car was made of steel on average, including conventional grades, high-strength steels and electrical steels. Now the percentage has fallen to below 60% on average with high-strength and ultra-strength steels taking the lead as the most-used materials in car manufacture.

Aluminium meanwhile has doubled its importance in the car sector, but problems linked with costs and technical specifications remain if it is to continue to grow its share of the market.

“If we look at Europe, we need to highlight that the biggest challenges will be faced by flats’ producers, due to the need to remain competitive despite the challenges of volumes, proximity and specialisation. Longs producers for specific automotive materials seem to be better placed and more flexible to meet the changing demand from the sector going forward,” Tosini concluded.

thyssenkrupp’s tinplate and packaging steel unit Rasselstein has completed the first part of an overhaul of its tandem cold mill No. 2, Kallanish learns from technology supplier SMS group.

In March this year, Rasselstein placed an order with SMS covering the modernisation of the oil application system of the mill to meet future market requirements regarding product quality. The facility has been in operation for 48 years.

At the time of its commissioning in 1971, the six-stand tandem cold mill No. 2 already had a high degree of automation and achieved rolling speeds of up to 2,400 metres/minute. The modernisation is to improve the control of various process-influencing parameters, SMS explains. 

Its contracted scope supply, which involves its subsidiary Lux Automation GmbH, includes the dismantling of the old systems as well as the erection and commissioning of the new equipment. The modernisation will be implemented in two stages of construction with commissioning of the second construction phase scheduled for 2021.

Italian steel trade association Assofermet says that the first signs of a stabilisation in international scrap prices have been evident in the final days of September. Demand for long products in Italy remains at “… historic lows” however, the organisation adds.

The association notes that higher volumes of scrap were sold at an international level in late September following a negative month in terms of scrap price trends and volumes. The increase in sales during the latter days of the month had the effect of stabilising scrap prices, Kallanish learns from the association’s monthly market report.

“A much worse situation has been registered in the domestic market where scrap prices have reduced significantly. It is clear that the market is looking for balance as local producers chase domestic demand that appears to have reached historic lows,” the report reads.

With regard to pig iron the association has registered a complete lack of offers from Italian mills as negotiations between major CIS producers and US buyers are still ongoing. Pig iron is only available from ports but stocks at ports are also beginning to deplete, Assofermet notes.

The association has also registered continued erosion in ferroalloy prices and margins in September.

The new galvanizing line at ArcelorMittal’s mill in Florange in north-eastern France will be started up next month as construction comes to an end, Kallanish learns from the company.

The new line will produce 800,000 tonnes of high-strength automotive steel by 2020. The investment in the new facility was €89 million ($97m), the company confirms.

Galvanizing line No. 1 at the site attained an output of 500,000t of galvanized product in 2018, a record for the site. In time, the new line will increase the total capacity of galvanized steel to 1.3 million tonnes/year.

The ArcelorMittal site in Florange employs 2,300 people and produces 7 million tonnes/year of steel mainly for the automotive and packaging sectors, Kallanish notes.

KNAUF INTERFER verfolgt weiterhin die strategische Fokussierung auf Flachstahl und Anarbeitung. Daher wurden die Aktivitäten des Standorts Bremen mit Wirkung zum 01.10.2019 an die neu gegründete Bremer Stahl Service GmbH veräußert. Im Zuge eines Management-Buy-outs wird der bisherige Geschäftsführer Bill Talayman sämtliche Aktivitäten und die überwiegende Anzahl der in diesem Bereich beschäftigten Mitarbeitenden übernehmen.

„Mit der Veräußerung folgt KNAUF INTERFER konsequent der Strategie sich auf Märkte und Innovationen in den Bereichen Industrie und Automotive zu fokussieren“, so Matthias Kessel-Knauf, Vorsitzender des Vorstands der Knauf Interfer SE. „Wir freuen uns sehr, dass die Tradition des Stahlstandorts Bremen durch das erfahrene Management fortgeführt wird und wünschen Bill Talayman und seinen Mitarbeitenden viel Erfolg.“

Bill Talayman verfügt über 37 Jahre Erfahrung in der Stahlbranche. Mit der Übernahme von 70 Mitarbeitenden setzen er und sein neues Management auf Kontinuität in der Belegschaft. Zur Weiterentwicklung der Bremer Stahl Service GmbH sollen die Stärken im klassischen Stahlhandel ausgebaut und Investitionen in neue Technologien fließen sowie der Bereich Anarbeitung noch kundenspezifischer ausgerichtet werden. „So können wir unseren Kunden von Anfang an das volle Leistungsportfolio in gewohnter Qualität und Zuverlässigkeit bieten und als eigenständiges Unternehmen unsere Stärken und Innovationskraft ganz auf unsere regionalen und überregionalen Kunden konzentrieren“, so Bill Talayman, Geschäftsführer der Bremer Stahl Service GmbH. „Ich freue mich auf diese neue Herausforderung und bin entschlossen das Unternehmen nachhaltig zukunftsfähig aufzustellen.“

Quelle: KNAUF INTERFER SE