Acerinox implements new Industry 4.0 supply chain technology

Spanish stainless steel producer Acerinox says that has begun a change in its supply chain processes by implementing its so-called Oracle Demand Planning Cloud, the company tells Kallanish.

The project is part of Acerinox’s so-called Excellence 360° plan. This will allow the company to optimise its business in terms of production, supply chain, commercial management and purchases of raw materials by using Industry 4.0 developments.

“At Acerinox we face a global competitive environment in which efficiency in costs and operations is critical,” Acerinox`s ceo Bernardo Velázquez says. The plan, relying on Oracle Cloud technology, will result in a general improvement in terms of competitiveness and efficiency. The technology will also contribute visibility to the business and flexibility to the decision-making throughout the supply chain, aligning itself to the behaviour of the market in real-time, he adds.

The Oracle Demand Planning Cloud is based on statistical algorithms that generate a precise forecast for each customer and makes it possible to plan the demand for all product and regions.

The project is in partnership with Minsait, a company involved in digital transformation and technologies in Spain and Latin America.

Oliver Sonst is succeeding Guido Spenrath at Stahlo

German steel service centre company Stahlo has announced the appointment of a new managing director. It is headquartered in Dillenburg in the state of Hesse and is now starting up its enlarged site in Thuringia, Kallanish notes.

The new managing director is Oliver Sonst, who previously headed Austrian profiling group Welser Profile since 2014. Prior to that he had held management positions at Benteler Distribution and at Erbslöh Group. He is succeeding Guido Spenrath, who is leaving the company.

Stahlo has two steel service centres, in Dillenburg and in Gera in Thuringia where it has been investing €45 million ($49m) since the launch of the expansion programme in 2017. The site will have in a new 23,000 square-metre workshop, and the capacity to double the volume of steel processed.

Until recently, the retrofitting and relocation of the existing contoured blanks and slitting line from the old to the new building was still in progress, but projected to be completed by the end of the year. After that, the site will be able to process around 100 coils/day and over 400,000 tonnes/year. The enlarged Stahlo will have a processing capacity of 800,000 t/y, with a staff of over 240 people.

thyssenkrupp considers layoffs and closures in Bochum: reports

Several of thyssenkrupp Steel’s operations in Bochum may be facing cuts in staff and possible closures, according to German media reports.

At a meeting with the workforce of various plants in Bochum, tk Steel’s ceo Premal Desai gave details about the cutbacks. These could affect between 800 and 1,200 jobs, and the discontinuation of electrical steel production by 2021 as well as the stoppage of the hot-rolling mill by 2024, according to reports by Reuters. Bochum also has lines for hot-dip and electrolytic galvanizing.

tk Steel’s press office would not comment on the details as reported, as they were given at a closed meeting between management and workforce. “That was only a concept presented to the staff. Once a decision is made on the actual plans, we will make them public,” a spokesman tells Kallanish upon request.

Allegedly, tk Steel want to move as many operations as possible to its Duisburg site. Media reports have suggested that this might also affect the electrical strip plant in Gelsenkirchen, and processing sites in the Siegen area.

AM InvestCo signs non-binding agreement with Ilva commissioners

ArcelorMittal has announced that AM InvestCo, its Italian subsidiary, has signed a non-binding agreement with the Italian government-appointed Ilva commissioners that forms a basis to continue negotiations on a new industrial plan for Ilva. This includes discussions on a substantial equity investment by a government-controlled entity, Kallanish learns from ArcelorMittal.

The new industrial plan would contemplate investments in green technology, including through a new company funded by public and private investors. Negotiations will continue into January. In the meantime, at the hearing today (20 December) the Ilva commissioners and AM InvestCo have requested a further postponement of the Ilva commissioners’ application for interim measures until the end of January.

The Italian government had previously rejected the industrial plan submitted by ArcelorMittal Italia. The steelmaker said in the plan that it would cut almost 4,700 jobs during the next three years. The first cuts would have been in 2020 while the remainder would have occurred in 2023 when the company proposed to idle blast furnace No. 2 and launch an EAF at the Taranto site.

German steel sales from stockpiles and inventory lower in November

Germany’s total steel sales from stockpiles dropped 5.5% month on month in November as destocking from inventories continued by members of the German trade association BDS AG towards year end, according to data published by the group Friday.

Sales declined for all products in November, and so did inventories, indicating a continuing destocking period with less sales given the time of year.

Long products sales saw the strongest sales drop, by 7.7% month on month to 277,416 mt, followed by flat products by 5.1% to 506,524 mt. Other products sales declined by 1,011 mt to 99,365 mt.

Total inventory balances declined by 83,412 mt to 2,132,743 mt, down 3.8%. Compared with November 2018, total inventory balances were 7.7% lower.

Flat steel stockpiles saw a stronger decline in inventories, by 4.5%, dropping by 60,244 mt month on month. They were 10.8% lower than November 2018, and the lowest in the past three years.

Long steel stockpiles declined to their lowest level since December 2018. Inventories fell by 18,027 mt, or 2.2% month on month. Compared to November 2018, long steel inventories were 2.9% lower.

For other products, inventories declined by 5,141 mt, or 10.2% month on month.

Lower sales from stockpiles and lower inventories are common in the month of November. In November 2018, sales from stockpiles and inventories also declined for all of the above products. December is normally a month where this destocking trend continues.

BDS members include ArcelorMittal Distribution, Jepsen Stahl GmbH and Klockner & Co Deutschland GmbH.

— Charlotte Bucchioni