Sumitomo has thus created a production line for steel sheets to be used exclusively in automotive manufacture. The new pickling line will have an annual production capacity of 1.5 million mt and is directly linked with the No. 2 cold rolling mill. The total cost of the investment in question is Yen 9 billion ($79 million).
With this new addition, Sumitomo Metals has established a high-efficiency production system for steel sheets - which it claims is one of the most competitive in the world - through the start of the new pickling line, together with the No. 3 continuous galvanizing line which went into operation in December 2006.