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ArcelorMittal Frýdek-Místek Continues to Invest, Increase Production

09/30/2009 - The new ArcelorMittal Frýdek-Místek facility for production of grain oriented (GO) steel was recently commissioned. According to company CEO Tomáš Mischinger, this segment has not experienced a drop of demand due to the economic crisis.

The new ArcelorMittal Frýdek-Místek facility for production of grain oriented (GO) steel was recently commissioned. According to company CEO Tomáš Mischinger, this segment has not experienced a drop of demand due to the economic crisis.
 
“Our total investment in the increase of the production of these sheets reached CZK 2.5 billion, and investments continued this year when they exceeded CZK 200 million,” said Mischinger.
 
The new facilities will result in an increase of GO sheets production to 46,600 tonnes this year compared with 22,000 tonnes in 2008. Beyond 2009, the company is planning a “rapid increase” to 75,000 tonnes per year, Mischinger said, while also gradually improving the quality of its sheets to boost competitiveness internationally.
 
The company claims that only 13 producers worldwide are currently able to produce GO steel sheets.
 
This year, the decarburization line and electric switchgear of the line were revamped in the cold rolling mill. Two gas fired high-temperature annealing furnaces and three foundations were installed as well.
 
“The decarburization line is the key facility for us to reach the best quality of produced sheets,” said the Director of Production and Technology, David Božoň, who added that the switchgear reconstruction provided for increased electric power inputs required for starting new production lines.
 
In the first stage of investment, five covered electric furnaces for high-temperature annealing of coils supplied by the German company Loi were installed, together with a hot straightening line supplied by Ingeteam and a new surface layer application line from the Italian company Tenova.
 
“During the year 2008, we invested some CZK 650 million in these facilities,” noted Mischinger.
 
The most important project of the next stage, according to ArcelorMittal Frýdek-Místek, will be the construction of a new decarburization line. The company says that the planned slitting line and packing center will bring more orders due to higher quality of the slit strip. The rolling stand also will be partly revamped and modernized to allow rolling of high-quality sheets.
 
In addition, the company invested some CZK 60 million to de-emulsification, neutralization, and treatment of waste waters, which it claims brought significant improvement of environmental impacts.
 
ArcelorMittal Frýdek-Místek (formerly Válcovny plechu Frýdek-Místek), the subsidiary company of ArcelorMittal Ostrava, is a producer of cold rolled steels. The production portfolio of the company contains deep drawn and grain oriented steels as well as galvanized grounding strip and wire. After the merger with the company Nová Huť – Válcovna za studena, its production range also contains carbon and micro-alloyed steels and binding strips. Most of the company’s production of GO steel is exported to Europe: Italy, Germany, and Turkey, in particular. In 2008, the company generated a profit of CZK 600.32 million (before taxation), 13% more than in the previous year.