05 Mar 2014, Trade News

With its innovative stock solutions and the shortest rolling programme of any major steel maker in Europe, Tata Steel can react quickly to customer requirements by offering shorter lead times and greater flexibility. Wire rod and bar customers can keep stock levels to a minimum, reducing their own operating costs whilst still being flexible enough to respond quickly to their own customers. By working closely with its customers on new product and manufacturing process developments, Tata Steel is able to provide services and products that meet exact customer requirements and help them to gain market advantage.

Tata Steel’s Chief Commercial Officer, Henrik Adam said: “We have a long-term commitment to the European wire rod and bar market and we work closely together with our customers to provide the service they need, from product development to supply chain organisation. We guarantee consistency of supply and offer flexibility to ensure our customers have the steel they need, when they need it. These factors, coupled with a vast amount of experience and our world-class research and development facilities, mean we are able to provide all of the expertise needed for customers to choose the best product, and the best way of working, for their particular application.”

Some of Tata Steel’s services to support operational efficiency include:

• A unique ability to cast seven-tonne trial grades which  can be rolled under factory conditions at its mill to produce wire rod
• Access to Tata Steel’s Automated Coil Warehouse – the only warehouse of its type in Europe, designed to minimise risk of surface damage for safety-critical components
• A single dedicated account team giving access to the company’s extensive product range and technical, logistical and Research & Development resources.

Tata Steel’s wire rod and bar portfolio includes black and bright bar for a wide range of demanding global applications, from high-strength steels for tyre reinforcement, to gears with improved machinability manufactured from bar steel. The range of sizes and chemistries is constantly being developed by Tata Steel’s leading, European-based research and development facilities in cooperation with the company’s customers. The aim is to design steel grades that suit the demanding applications and production processes they need to succeed in their own markets.

For wire 2014 Tata Steel will also demonstrate on the stand its expertise in the automotive sector, and how it can help to improve operational efficiency with its work on gear steels with enhanced machinability. Tata Steel has worked with Sheffield University in the UK to become the first steel producer to create a test which quickly compares how gears made of different steels act in service, offering a much better way of assessing the benefits and behaviours of different materials. This specific knowledge is directly feeding into Tata Steel’s new gear steels development programme, which reduces car manufacturers’ Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), by creating products which are lighter, and easier and more cost effective to manufacture. In this way the technology in this area is catching up with the advanced steels already available for other automotive applications like body-in-white.

Finally, Tata Steel will be demonstrating innovative applications of its bar products, being brought to market through The Proving Factory®­­. The Proving Factory, of which Tata Steel is a leading partner, is a UK initiative in the automotive sector that is seeking to bridge the gap between technology developers creating low-carbon vehicle designs and the need of OEMs for 'proving volume' (1-20,000 units per annum) supply. The Proving Factory is currently working with six technologies, of which two will be on display at wire 2014.

Tata Steel at wire 2014 fair, 7th to 11th April 2014: Hall 12, Stand B41. For more information please visit: http://www.tatasteeleurope.com/en/news/wire_2014/

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For further information, please contact:

Kathryn Swinglehurst, Tata Steel, on T. +44 (0)1536 404005 or kathryn.swinglehurst@tatasteel.com

Ingo Trenkner, pr people, on T. +49 (0)208 299933 13 or i.trenkner@pr-people.de

About Tata Steel in Europe

The European operations of Tata Steel, whose main steelmaking sites are in the UK and the Netherlands, comprise Europe's second largest steel producer. They supply steel and related services to construction, automotive, packaging, rail, lifting & excavating, energy & power, aerospace and other demanding markets worldwide. The combined Tata Steel group is one of the world’s largest steel producers, with an aggregate crude steel capacity of more than 29 million tonnes and approximately 80,000 employees across four continents.