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Sahaviriya Steel Industries relights Redcar blast furnace

I should have added that it is not a matter of "confidence". It is a matter of basic cost structure. There is nothing magical about making steel. The death knell was sounded for the Redcar works when the former owners, Corus, in their wisdom, decided to introduce separate in-works cost centres by forming separate businesses within each works, on the rather naive belief that an internal market would be created, each competing with each other. In this way, so they thought, iron and steel making at say Redcar would compete with Scunthorpe and South Wales. The whole concept of integration of the steel making with subsequent rolling was ignored, along with the modern steel casting methods known as "near-shape" casting, together with "hot-connecting" the mills with the steel making plant. This philosophy was, and could only have been dreamed up by, individuals with a financial background. I can assure you they were not professional engineers.

17 Apr 2012

9:39 pm