Tata Steel completes transformation of Steelpark into national processing hub
04/07/2015 - Tata Steel has completed a series of investments at its Steelpark site at Wednesfield in the West Midlands that has strengthened the site’s position as the UK’s largest steel processing centre.
The start-up of a further multi-strand blanking line has completed the expansion of Steelpark’s new Light Gauge Service Centre, which operates cut-to-length, blanking and slitting lines processing hot rolled, cold rolled and galvanized steel coils. The £15 million of investment at Steelpark saw the opening last year of the UK’s largest Plate Profiling Centre. The Automotive Service Centre at Steelpark has also received substantial investment with the commissioning of new and upgraded tailor welded and press blanking lines.
Tata Steel’s Chief Commercial Officer in Europe, Henrik Adam, said: “What we have created at Steelpark is a national hub for flat product processing that serves the whole of the UK. Getting the right logistics is one of the key elements in improving service to steel customers. The vast majority of the steel processed at Steelpark comes in by rail through our nearby Round Oak rail head. By reorganising our distribution activities and collecting such a large array of capability onto a single site we have improved the productivity of our processing lines and the efficiency our customer delivery systems.”
The new Light Gauge Centre has been formed by the installation of a dedicated decoiler and three multi-strand blanking lines that process steel sheet supplied in coil from Tata Steel plants in Wales. This is supported by further shearing lines for the supply of smaller precision blanks. Together with the adjacent slitting centre that has been operating out of Steelpark for many years, the new Light Gauge Centre has an overall throughput capability of 500,000tpa.
Paul Steele, Managing Director of Tata Steel’s Distribution UK & Ireland business, said: “We now have a fully integrated distribution supply chain serving the steel markets in the British Isles. Including the Teesside structural steel service centre, the new Heavy Gauge Centre at Llanwern, the plate distribution hub at Scunthorpe and our service centre in Lisburn, Northern Ireland, we now operate five major distribution hubs and a network of smaller retail metals centres across the UK and Ireland.
“The new Light Gauge Centre at Steelpark processes to order but also produces stocks of standard size sheet for immediate delivery. We recently invested in a custom racking facility that provides select customers with an inventory management service on site for their bespoke product and service needs. We see initiatives like this as the way forward for truly customer-focused steel distribution.”
The new Light Gauge Centre serves general trade customers, such as manufacturers of lighting, IT cabinets, racking and shelving, office furniture, coinage, construction fit-out, exhausts, heating and ventilation and sheet metal work.
Tata Steel’s Chief Commercial Officer in Europe, Henrik Adam, said: “What we have created at Steelpark is a national hub for flat product processing that serves the whole of the UK. Getting the right logistics is one of the key elements in improving service to steel customers. The vast majority of the steel processed at Steelpark comes in by rail through our nearby Round Oak rail head. By reorganising our distribution activities and collecting such a large array of capability onto a single site we have improved the productivity of our processing lines and the efficiency our customer delivery systems.”
The new Light Gauge Centre has been formed by the installation of a dedicated decoiler and three multi-strand blanking lines that process steel sheet supplied in coil from Tata Steel plants in Wales. This is supported by further shearing lines for the supply of smaller precision blanks. Together with the adjacent slitting centre that has been operating out of Steelpark for many years, the new Light Gauge Centre has an overall throughput capability of 500,000tpa.
Paul Steele, Managing Director of Tata Steel’s Distribution UK & Ireland business, said: “We now have a fully integrated distribution supply chain serving the steel markets in the British Isles. Including the Teesside structural steel service centre, the new Heavy Gauge Centre at Llanwern, the plate distribution hub at Scunthorpe and our service centre in Lisburn, Northern Ireland, we now operate five major distribution hubs and a network of smaller retail metals centres across the UK and Ireland.
“The new Light Gauge Centre at Steelpark processes to order but also produces stocks of standard size sheet for immediate delivery. We recently invested in a custom racking facility that provides select customers with an inventory management service on site for their bespoke product and service needs. We see initiatives like this as the way forward for truly customer-focused steel distribution.”
The new Light Gauge Centre serves general trade customers, such as manufacturers of lighting, IT cabinets, racking and shelving, office furniture, coinage, construction fit-out, exhausts, heating and ventilation and sheet metal work.
