Foreword 4.indd - Tata Steel

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sector A warm feeling The potential rewards of companies working together on product and application development and on environmental and legislative issues have never been greater. Through just this sort of supply-chain activity, Corus is striving to become a service leader to customers across a range of sectors in the UK. Corus’ work with Caradon Plumbing is a good example. Foreword speaks to Trevor Harvey, CEO of Caradon Plumbing, about how Corus’ technical support and account management, as well as initiatives such as e-SURE, have improved the relationship and hence the rewards for the two companies. How would you describe your relationship with Corus? We have an excellent relationship with Corus that has been built up over many years and continues to thrive, even in today’s challenging market conditions. Strong business relationships are based on people. We’ve always found the people at Corus to be highly knowledgeable, easy to deal with, and willing to share their knowledge and expertise. They take the trouble to help us with our products, our manufacturing and our development. What is it that Corus offers that you find most valuable? We buy continuously-annealed coldrolled strip from Corus, which we use in single, double and finned radiators. The metallurgical and mechanical properties of that product give us a very reliable seam weld, which helps to reduce leaks. Consistency is also key to our process. Corus is able to produce material consistently at the lower end of our thickness tolerances together with coil weights close to our optimum weight. This means we can minimise coil changes on our welding line and maximise the efficiency of our slitting process. We also take advantage of the Corus online order-progress facility, e-SURE (see page 8), which helps us plan our own scheduling. 16 Foreword
sector Is Corus involved in product and application development for you? Corus gives us a lot of support, especially in our welding operations and development. Their engineers are a regular feature of our workplace, conducting welding surveys and helping us optimise our settings to achieve the highest possible product quality. Our Benelux operations have started using Corus’ new Ymagine direct-sheet product from IJmuiden as an alternative to cold-rolled steel As with every other manufacturer, efficient use of materials is a high priority for Caradon. We continually aim to make better, stronger, more reliable products with the most efficient use of materials. Corus has put in a huge amount of effort and expertise over the years to help us achieve this and they continue to do so. What about environmental support? Aside from the ongoing work to reduce the amount of materials and energy used in the manufacture of radiators, we have an arrangement with Corus to remove all plastic packaging before coils are delivered to our UK sites. This removes our own liability for recovery and recycling under the Packaging Waste Directive, while allowing Corus to dispose of the material responsibly and efficiently. Corus also understands the environmental importance of the surface cleanliness of the steel they supply. A large part of our operations involve welding, with the potential of producing pollutants. Welding smoke has been substantially reduced as a result of the work between us. How may a supplier such as Corus help you grow and prosper? We believe there are still opportunities to reduce costs through the supply chain in many areas, including materials, and we continue to seek support from Corus in achieving this. Advances in materials and manufacturing technology should help to improve our efficiency and improve the performance of our products in use. Corus has gained a lot of expertise from working in other market sectors. We think we can benefit from Corus applying the latest tools, technologies and supplychain management to our products and markets. We see ourselves as European leaders in steel panel radiators. To maintain that position, we depend on suppliers that have a similar business perspective. We need not only consistent, high-quality products and services from them, but also cost efficiencies and added value to help us compete even more effectively. A strategic account Adrian Clarke, account manager at Corus Strip Products UK, understands the long-term importance of Caradon as a strategic account in the radiator sector. “Caradon is our longest held account in this sector and continues to be one of the leading players in the European market. We work with their European operations in Nuth in the Netherlands, Herentals in Belgium and Mexborough in the UK. We’ve worked closely with Caradon on a host of value-add activities that have strengthened both of us.” “As well as ongoing technological co-operation, we’ve yielded benefits from initiatives such as the use of wider coils for 3-width slitting, and stock management for better delivery performance.” Clarke concludes, “We believe that Caradon is an excellent long-term partner with a sustainable business. Although there is considerable competition from decorative radiators and alternatives such as under-floor heating, we believe the market for panel radiators is still strong. In the UK especially, there is a massive programme of re-investment in health and education that involves the replacement of wet heating systems. The market for LST (low surface temperature) heating is also growing for schools and old people’s homes. These activities should provide extended market opportunities for future growth”. Foreword 17
Page 1 and 2: The magazine of Corus Strip Product
Page 3 and 4: 4 9 10 14 16 Contents The magazine
Page 5 and 6: sector didn’t. We need to know wh
Page 7 and 8: service Material information Corus
Page 9 and 10: product delivery to the customer, a
Page 11 and 12: sector Rohit Kulkarni’s display C
Page 13 and 14: sector First impressions of the Des
Page 15: sector resins, or with tight heads
Page 19 and 20: news in brief Award for ‘New Llan

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