About us
Arguably, our business has changed more in the last couple of years than at any time in its existence. This is because we aim to be the first choice for strip steel in the UK.
We are part of Corus, which recently became part of Tata Steel, the world’s sixth largest steel producer, and we have been making strip steel for over a hundred years.
Our Port Talbot Works makes liquid steel, which it and our Llanwern Works in Newport roll from slab into strip. Llanwern and our Aluminised Products Works in Pontardulais also coat some of that strip with metallic coatings to protect it from corrosion.
The sections below cover some aspects of our business.
Our communities and our environment
Port Talbot works began with the Margam plant, completed in 1923, and then the Abbey plant in 1951. The works was named after Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot of Margam, the principal sponsor of the nearby dock, which had opened in 1837. Additions to Port Talbot Works include the continuous annealing processing line in 1998, caster 3 in 2005 and heavy-end developments from 2003-2006. Today, 3600 employees produce some 4.7 million tonnes of steel a year, roll about 3 million of it themselves and send the rest to Llanwern to roll.
Llanwern works was completed in 1962 in response to the need for a fully-integrated iron and steel works. After almost forty years, steel making ceased in 2001, but the works continues to roll and coat strip steel. Today, some 1600 employees roll more than 1.5 million tonnes of steel a year.
This works began as an independent company in 1960 when it developed the first aluminising process in Europe. It passed through two other companies before becoming part of Corus when the group was formed in 1999. Now called Aluminised Products, the works employs some 70 employees and produces over 100,000 tonnes of aluminised steel, principally for exhaust pipes, but with some use in domestic appliances and a small amount in construction.
Iron ore, sinter, coke and limestone are combined in a blast furnace to make molten iron, which is refined into liquid steel by reducing its carbon content.
Secondary steel making gives the steel precise physical properties by controlling its chemistry, temperature and inclusions.
The liquid steel is then cast continuously into slabs.
Hot rolling reduces the thickness of the strip and controls its finishing temperature, cooling rate, and coiling temperature which, together with chemistry, define its mechanical properties.
Cold rolling enhances the surface finish, shape and forming characteristics of the strip and reduces its thickness.
The ductility lost in cold-rolling is recovered by annealing, which also develops the mechanical properties. Temper rolling refines the shape, surface finish, and mechanical properties still further.
Cold-rolled strip steel may then be coated with metallic elements, or alloys of them, to protect it from corrosion. These elements include zinc and aluminium.
Strip steel is no longer a single product, but many products with different properties determined by the chemistry and manufacturing processes. Each steel is designed to perform in a particular way when processed by our customers and when used as a finished product by the final customer.
Altogether, we make hot-rolled, cold-rolled, galvanised, and aluminised strip steels. In 2006, more than half our sales were hot-rolled, about a third were cold-rolled and the rest were metallic-coated steels. A significant part of our material goes to other businesses in Corus to make products such as organic coated strip steels, tinplate and tubes.
Our products include steels for forming, structural steels, high-strength steels and steels for particular uses such as pipes. We also stock certain popular specifications and offer them in less than normal lead-time under our Speedstock trademark.
But our products are only part of what we supply. We also serve and support our customers to help them compete in their markets. This includes working closely with them from the start and recommending the right steels for their products. We want our customers to get the best results not only when they process our steels but also when the final customer uses the end product. We achieve this through world-class research and development, expertise in steel making, and the latest technology in areas such as modelling and simulation. We also develop strip steels in anticipation of future market requirements.
We want it to be easy for our customers to trade with us and therefore we offer them our e-SURE on-line order management system, which helps them manage many aspects of the orders they place with us.
Our steels are used in the automotive, construction, packaging and engineering industries and to make tubes, drums, radiators and consumer appliances. To meet the demands of those industries and products, we were one of the first steel businesses approved to ISO/TS 16949 : 2002. Our continuous improvement programmes recognise that excellence is redefined almost daily by technological change, competition and the marketplace. This is why we educate and train our employees to meet these challenges.
Just as with our customers, we work closely with our local communities. Social development, education, health and safety, and the environment are integral parts of our day-to-day activities in the areas around our works. We also talk with our communities and with the Welsh Assembly Government about what is going on in our business and how it affects them.
The business is still on a journey to change the way it does things. To be the best and remain the best is a journey of continuous change. For Corus Strip Products UK, it is a journey based on values and driven by the vision of a safe and sustainable steel industry in Wales.
My Order
Energy & Power
- Linepipe
- OCTG
- Process pipe / Petrochecmical
- Jackets
- Topsides
- Power generation
- Renewable energy
- Drilling and well completion
