Citing an “unprecedented rise” in running costs, inflation and the need to make its operations greener, British Steel reported proposals to close ovens and cut 260 jobs.
At its website, the company announced proposals to close its coke ovens as part of its drive to overcome global economic challenges and build a green and sustainable future. The company, which noted that its bills for energy and carbon increased by £190 million last year, said that decisive action is required “because of the unprecedented rise in operating costs, surging inflation and the need to improve environmental performance.” That response could include the loss of up to 260 jobs at the Scunthorpe plant.
Three years ago, the struggling British Steel operation was bought out of receivership by China’s Jingye Group. British Steel CEO Xifeng Han said that for the operation to continue its crucial role, the company has to undergo “the biggest transformation in our 130-year history” because of extreme conditions. “We have taken action to reduce costs within our control; however, steelmaking in the U.K. remains uncompetitive when compared to other international steelmakers. Our energy costs, carbon costs and labor costs are some of the highest across the world, which are factors that we cannot influence directly.”
The company’s coke oven at its British Steel’s integrated steelmaking site in Scunthorpe is reaching the end of its operational life and its closure would bring environmental benefits, including reductions in emissions to air and water. British Steel held talks with the U.K. government representatives last summer, and is hoping it can help the company continue making home-made steel Britain needs for generations to come. “We’re disappointed at having to make such proposals but are confident they will support a successful transformation.”
“We appreciate this may be an unsettling period for our people and we will give them our full support. We haven’t set any deadlines but aim to keep the period of uncertainty for our colleagues as short as we can. We’ll ensure this process is handled in a sensitive manner,” Han said. He noted that the company has taken positive steps. Those include the installations of a £54 million billet caster and a £26 million mast service center, both of which are scheduled to come online this year, while a near £50 million upgrade to its wire rod mill continues and is set to be completed next year. Other investments include £30 million for new unloaders for British Steel’s port facility, £14.6 million for improvements in energy operations, £9 million for a new rail stocking facility and £12 million to upgrade IT systems.
Italy’s Continuus-Properzi announced that it has been selected by Adani Group to supply a Properzi ETP TOP copper rod line for a subsidiary—Kutch Copper Ltd.—for its new copper complex project in Gujarat, India.
U.S.-based Fort Wayne Wire Die announced the opening of a new die service center in Querétaro, Mexico, where the business—Fort Wayne Wire Die de México—will service the fast-growing Mexican wire and cable market with locally produced single crystal diamond and polycrystalline diamond wire drawing dies and recutting service for the same. See p. 95 for more about the company.
“Having a local service center in the heart of Mexico will allow our company to provide a much higher level of service to our Mexican customers,” said FWWD President Eric Bieberich. “The ability to finish new dies from rough drilled inventory and to recut and repolish worn dies without their leaving the country will greatly improve our responsiveness to the demanding and growth oriented Mexican market.” The location will be a focus factory with a heavy concentration on new and recut diamond and PCD dies for rod breakdown, intermediate, and fine wire drawing operations, including matched die sets for high-speed, multi-wire drawing machines.
Tino Corral, a Spanish-speaking 30+ year FWWD sales veteran, along with his wife, have re-located to Querétaro, where he will head the office. A core team of Mexican nationals with a variety of experience have gone through extensive wire die specific training in Fort Wayne and another service center.
FWWD also has plants in Canada and the Philippines, and the Mexican addition is the first new one for the company in some 15 years. “Servicing the Mexican wire and cable market from the U.S. had been a challenge,” Bieberich said. “To really get serious about this market, the best solution for us was to do this. It can be intimidating to staff a new plant, but we have been impressed by the steep learning curve of our newest employees.”
Italy’s Continuus-Properzi announced that it has been selected by Adani Group to supply a Properzi ETP TOP copper rod line for a subsidiary—Kutch Copper Ltd.—for its new copper complex project in Gujarat, India.
A press release said that the deal represents a strategic milestone for the entire copper field, not only in India but also worldwide. “We are more than happy and proud to announce this strategic sale of a brand new Properzi CCR line designed to produce up to 250,000 tons of ETP copper rod per year and even more, with our mission to make this CCR line as the most efficient, easiest to operate, and highest quality in the sector. This new project, after several others during the last years, is further proof of our leading position in the copper and aluminum rod fields; Properzi is the benchmark and reference throughout the world.”
Company President Giulio Properzi said that the continuous casting and rolling ETP line to be delivered in 2023 to Adani will produce 38 t/h of copper rod. He noted that all such lines are developed in partnership with customers to meet their specific needs. “Every contract and every negotiation in our field requires considerable dedication and a lot of patience, as dialogues need very long times. But in this case, I could see the final achievement after an incredible long period of sixty years of sweat, efforts, hard work and engineering, since the first copper rod line my father provided, as a disruptive tool, to the industry in 1962.”
Per an on-line article in Business Today, Kutch Copper’s greenfield copper refinery project, in two stages, is designed to produce one million metric tons a year.
The Madem Reels Group announce that it has expanded in the Middle East with the Madem Gulf Ind. - Bahrain opening a new manufacturing, assembly and distribution plant in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
A press release said that the new site represents the company’s second manufacturing plant in the Middle East, following the initial plant located in Askar, Bahrain. The operations are scheduled to begin in 2023 with assembly and distribution beginning in the third/fourth quarter, while manufacturing is set for the first or second quarter of 2024.
The initial investment includes cutting-edge, fully automated wooden drum CNC lines. Annual capacity should reach over 1,000 truckloads of KD reel kits. The plant is expected to create more than a hundred new jobs.
“Aligned with our values and commitments to our customers, we are thrilled with the new plant in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” said General Manager Alexandre Monte Mezzo. “It’s a great step in the continuous evolution of Madem Group to be part of KSA’s current developmental strategies and economic vision, which will further improve and maximize our production and delivery capacity within the kingdom itself as well as the GCC, Arab, and North Africa markets.”
“Opening a second branch within the GCC reiterates Madem Group’s strong commitment to cater to the growing requirements of customers in this region especially the booming KSA market in line with the Royal Vision 2030,” said Adel Abdulla Mohammed Janahi, general manager, sales. “This new plant incorporated with the latest automated technology will have increased capacity and productivity to meet all the requirements and demands of our customers in the region.”
Based in Brazil, the Madem Reels Group, has its own renewable forests, sawmill and manufacturing facilities in Brazil, USA, Bahrain, Colombia, Mexico and Spain that employ more than 700 associates world-wide. It ships to more than 200 wire and cable plants in 45 countries.
South Korea’s LS Cable & System (LS C&S) reports that its new high-strength aluminum material has been assigned an alloy number (AA8031) by the Aluminum Association (AA) of the U.S.
A press release said that LS C&S is expanding its new aluminum material business through its affiliated company, LS Alsco. AA8031 has better malleability and is more than 40% stronger than traditional aluminum materials that have been criticized for their weakness, and improved malleability. Another weakness of aluminum, where conductivity drops when strength is enhanced, has also been improved.
LS C&S projects that aluminum will replace copper in industries where lighter weight is important, such as the auto industry, since aluminum is lighter than copper and the market for aluminum will grow in the future.
Changing the conductor in automobile wiring from copper to aluminum reduces wire weight by more than 40%. The average wire weight of 25 kg per vehicle can be reduced to around 15 kg, resulting in improved fuel efficiency. The company plans to expand its supply of aluminum materials for electric cars and wind power generators through its high-strength aluminum material specialist company LS Alsco.
“Unlike patents, commercialization and the time required for commercialization serves as important review criteria for AA, which makes it difficult to obtain an alloy number,” said LS C&S Researcher Sang-gyeom Kim. “AA8031 has been commercialized for wires in vehicles manufactured by Hyundai and Kia since 2019 and its quality has been proven.”
AA provides global standards to corporations and policymakers. Over 500 alloy numbers have been assigned worldwide. Of those, 20 alloy numbers have been assigned in Asia, with Korea, Japan, and China having three, 14 and three, respectively. Those include all three for LS C&S, including Korea’s AA8031.
Hellenic Cables has signed a contract to provide the cable for a Greek project that will provide a new electrical interconnection for seven Greek islands.
A press release said that the order from Greece’s Independent Power Transmission Operator (IPTO), which oversees the country’s supply of electricity, calls for the design, manufacturing, and supply of 150 kV high-voltage onshore and offshore cables as well as their accessories, the installation, laying, and protection of the onshore and offshore cables, the implementation of necessary joints and terminations as well as the final tests after installation.
The project will integrate Milos and Serifos into the continental Electricity Transmission System, part of the fourth and final phase of the Cyclades interconnection. Scheduled to be in operation in a little more than two years, the new interconnection will significantly upgrade the quality of electricity supply to seven more directly and indirectly interconnected islands of the Cyclades (Folegandros, Milos, Serifos, Ios, Kimolos, Sifnos, and Kythnos). It will also allow the gradual withdrawal of polluting and aging power plants.
The cables will be manufactured at the Corinth plant of Hellenic Cables.
Xignux announced that it will invest $5.9 million to build a plant for Multipak, a manufacturer of reels and spools for the wire and cable industry that is part of Viakable and based in Durango, Mexico.
A press release said that the new plant will have a dimension of 12,000 sq meters in the Logistics and Industrial Center of Durango, which is located at Carretera Durango-Torreón. It is expected to be operational in late 2024.
The investment in the new plant will result in about three dozen new positions. The company currently has 295 employees in Durango, and others at its branches in Monterrey, Tlaxcala, Torreón and San Luis Potosí. At its website,
Multipak notes that it is one the main producers of wooden reels in Mexico, and recognized for its quality, flexibility and timely service. It also provides wooden, plastic and steel reels as well as auxiliary products such as pallets.
Multipak’s presence in Durango dates back to 1974. “We are excited about making an investment that will generate new jobs and allow us to grow our production capacity and optimize our processes to offer better solutions to our customers,” said Oscar de J. Martínez, director of Xignux Corporate Development. “We have a long-term commitment to the development of Durango and Mexico.”
The Prysmian Group announced that it has been selected as one of the preferred bidders for the Biscay Gulf interconnection project by INELFE, a joint venture between the Spanish grid operator, Red Eléctrica, and the French grid operator Réseau de Transport d’Électricité (RTE).
A press release said that Biscay Gulf will be the first fundamentally submarine interconnection between Spain (Gatika) and France (Cubnezais). It will have two high-voltage direct current (HVDC) links, each with a capacity of 1000 MW, and almost 800 km of HVDC submarine and land cables. The two links will increase in
2 GW the exchange capacity, improving the safety, stability and quality of electricity supply between the two countries and also with the rest of Europe.
Prysmian Group continues contract negotiations, with expectations of finalizing the contract in a few months.
The Wire and Cable Industry Suppliers Association® (WCISA®) and the Wire Association International are pleased to cooperate as Industry Partners at Interwire 2023, supporting the activities of each other’s association on behalf of the wire and cable industry.
Of note, the Industry Partnership agreement was reached five years ago. Its practical deployment, however, was sidelined at Interwire 2021 by Covid-19. Being able to fully resume that relationship at Interwire 2023 is a positive step.
The agreement relates to how the two associations can support each other’s efforts. It also is quite fitting, as WCISA serves member companies that are essential suppliers to the wire and cable industry. Many WCISA company employees are also members of the WAI.
“We are pleased to cooperate with the WAI as Industry Partners with the shared goals of supporting the wire and cable industry and our common members,” said WCISA President Drew Richards, CEO of RichardsApex, Inc. “Many WCISA companies are regular participants in WAI-produced exhibitions, Interwire and Wire Expo, and we look forward to supporting these events and networking with WAI leadership at our ‘WCISA Night Out’ gatherings.”
The 2023 WCISA Night Out for members will be held from 6 pm to 8 pm on Monday, May 8, at the Der Biergarten at 300 Marietta Street Northeast.
The WAI has honorary membership in WCISA, and among those looking forward to the event is WAI Executive Director Steve Fetteroll. As he explains, a gathering of wire and cable professionals is always interesting. “I always see a lot
of familiar faces, and it almost feels like I’m at a WAI event. We both exist to further the wire and cable industry, and we do that in different ways, but it’s the same field, and the ability to hold a get-together like this to thank everyone for their participation, for helping make it all work, is a good way for everyone.”
Sam Otter, wire rope global procurement manager at Gripple Limited, said that his company was well aware of the scholarship as James Curry, a production team leader, served as the 2019 Wire Link Scholar. Also, the company has hosted visits from the U.S. Wire Link Scholar at its Sheffield plant that manufactures wire joining and tensioning devices.
A Gripple management team selected four employees who were involved with wire in their day-to-day job roles, and Otter, who joined the company 15 years ago, was chosen. “I felt on top of the world, and it’s given me a huge confidence boost. I feel honored that my colleagues put me forward for this award, and also that an external judge could see my passion and enthusiasm for Gripple, wire rope and my desire to get as much as possible from this great experience.”
Otter, age 33, said that he never attended an industry event like Interwire before, and looks forward to that experience as well as visiting industry companies. “I am looking forward to expanding my knowledge with the different seminars and also meeting new contacts that hopefully will turn into new suppliers for Gripple.”
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