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Quality Tracking System for Steel Coils
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Flat steel products, such as sheets, are often delivered to customers as coils. Coils are easier to transport as several hundred metres of steel can be shipped in a relatively compact load. However, steel coils can have isolated quality issues – imperfections – at points along their length. These isolated flaws can disrupt customers’ processes as finished parts containing the imperfections may be rejected during quality control.
As early as the 1990s, steel coil users began expressing their interest in an information tracking mechanism capable of tracing these imperfections. Steel producers have worked together since then to develop a technology that can track coil information with a high degree of precision. This technology is called the Quality Tracking System. The main function of the Quality Tracking System is that it can provide additional information about the coil without requiring changes to any quality standards.
In addition, the Quality Tracking System can also be an enabler for companies that are looking to transition to Industry 4.0.
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Brussels, 05 September 2024 – The latest developments in the steel sector and across critical value chains are worrying signs of a steady deterioration, endangering the survival and the transition of steelmakers and their key manufacturing customers in Europe, such as automotive. A Clean Industrial Deal including swift and radical measures in EU industrial, energy and trade policies, is the last chance to ensure Europe’s prosperity and shield European industry from cheap imports driven by third countries’ unfair trade practices, overcapacity and lower climate ambition, urges the European Steel Association.
Brussels, 25 July 2024 – Major indicators in the European steel market show a steeper-than-expected downward trend, further impacting the outlook for this year and the next. Poor demand conditions, driven by ongoing factors such as high energy prices, persistent inflation, economic uncertainty and geopolitical tensions, are exacerbated by a manufacturing crisis affecting the largest steel-using sectors, including construction and automotive. According to EUROFER’s latest Economic and Steel Market Outlook, apparent steel consumption is further deteriorating. After a slump (-3.1%) in the first quarter of 2024, its rebound for the full year has been revised downwards (to +1.4% from +3.2%), as well as for 2025 (+4.1% from +5.6%). Similarly, output in steel-using sectors, after a decline in the first quarter (-1.9%), is projected to experience a deeper-than-expected recession (-1.6% from -1%). A recovery is anticipated only in 2025 (+2.3%). Steel imports continue to show historically high shares (27%).
Third quarter 2024 report. Data up to, and including, first quarter 2024