Mittal Steel Temirtau holds 2nd Customer Meet

Mittal Steel Temirtau holds 2nd Customer Meet

Mittal Steel Temirtau held its 2nd Customer Meet on 25-26 August 2005 in Temirtau, Kazakhstan. Among those in attendance were customers from China, South Korea, Russia, Ukraine, and Iran as well as representatives of various trading companies (Please click for the first customer meet held in April 2004). The General Director of Mittal Steel Temirtau, Mr. N.K. Choudhary, delivered the opening address of the customer meet. His speech emphasized the huge turnaround challenge that Mittal faced when it acquired the steel works back in 1995. The first two phases of the three-phase plan have been implemented successfully. The turnaround strategy's first phase (1996-1999), known as “Stability”, involved the launching of a series of technology transfer programs. These programs were: - upgrading the rolling mills - upgrading the galvanizing line - installation of a new galvanizing line - installation of a new computer controlled blast furnace (no.3) The second phase (2000-2004), known as “Growth”, saw the company set up a marketing network, improve the manufacturing quality, and implement human resources and organizational development initiatives. The plant has now entered its third phase (2004-2007), called “Growth and Value Creation”. The first one of the new continuous casting machines was commissioned in March 2005 and went in to full production by May/June of this year. The second one will be commissioned in November. Management emphasizes that these new continuous casters will help improve the product quality, allowing the mill to serve a larger spectrum of industries like automotive, shipbuilding, home appliances etc. The amount of investment for the new CCM is approximately $320 million. Mr. P Kumar, Director (sales), also addressed the attendees. He explained the commercial view of the company, emphasizing that even though the industry growth rate has fallen a bit, he believes the growth path continues in the steel industry. India, Brazil and Russia were named as the top three growth opportunities for the steel industry. Mr. Victor Sherba, Director (Production), presented the developments and new planned investments. Mittal Steel Temirtau plans to build a new tube and pipe plant (spirally welded pipes) in Aktau, Kazakhstan. The plant would be able to produce API grades of 5L X52 to X80 to cater the growing oil and gas sector of Kazakhstan. The company is also going to invest in a new bar mill of 400'000 tpy capacity to cater the ever-growing construction industry needs of Kazakhstan. The plant is to be commissioned by December 2006. Investment into a new color coating line with a capacity of 85'000 tpy is also underway, as are investments in Coke battery no.7 and the cold rolling mill. The customer meet continued with shop visits the second day. This is when customers had the chance to see the new continuous casting machines, the color coating line (which is expected to be operational within a month), the tinplate and galvanizing lines as well as the cold rolling line. Later, a technical discussion session was held during which customers were able to direct their questions and requirements to the technical people of the plant. Please click to read about our interview with Mr. N.K. Choudhary.