March 20, 2006 — Steelscape, Inc. recently awarded Siemens’ Industrial Solutions and Services (I&S) Group a contract to supply process equipment and solutions for a new metallic coating line in Shreveport, La. The value of the contract was not disclosed.

The new coating line will be used to produce galvanized and galvalume (which is mixture of aluminum and zinc) steel-sheet coils, starting with purchased cold-rolled coils. The line will be comprised of a mixture of new equipment and existing equipment from an idled Steelscape continuous galvanizing line in Richmond, Calif.

Voest-Alpine Industries, Inc., Pittsburgh, Pa., will implement the project, with scope of supply including engineering and new process equipment. New equipment will include a welder, cleaning section, entry accumulator, dual-pot coating system and dynamic air knives (DAK). Voest Alpine will also supply a surface-conditioning mill, tension leveler, roll coaters and a strip-transport system, as well as the electrical and automation systems.

The new facility is scheduled to be completed in November 2006. Upon completion of the new facility, Steelscape will produce an additional 260,000 tons of hot-dipped galvanized/galvalume products for use in the construction industry.

Steelscape, Inc. is a 100% subsidiary of IMSA Acero, the leading supplier of metallic-coated steel in Mexico and a company of the Grupo IMSA Group. Steelscape produces cold-rolled, metallic-coated and painted steel coils for use in the construction market in the United States and Canada. The company has several production facilities in the USA, including Shreveport, La.

The VAI group, a division of the Siemens Group Industrial Solutions and Services (I&S), is one of the world's leading engineering and plant-building companies for the iron and steel industry as well as for the flat-product-rolling sector of the aluminum industry. VAI, derived from the company Voest-Alpine Industrieanlagenbau, Austria, provides a comprehensive range of supplies and services for all related technological processes and integrated automation solutions for the entire life-cycle of metallurgical plants. Voest-Alpine Industries, Inc. is a company of the I&S division VAI.

The Siemens Industrial Solutions and Services Group (I&S) is the integrator of systems and solutions for industrial and infrastructure facilities and global service provider for the plant and projects business covering planning, installation, operation and the entire life cycle. I&S uses the electrical and technical products of other Siemens Groups in order to enhance productivity and improve competitiveness of companies in the sectors of metallurgy, water treatment, pulp and paper, oil and gas, marine engineering, open-cast mining, airport logistics, postal automation, intelligent traffic systems and industrial services. In fiscal 2005 (to September 30) I&S employed a total of 31,700 people worldwide and achieved total sales of EUR 5.390 billion.