Tata Steel is to set up a new steel tubes manufacturing and processing facility at its Zwijndrecht plant in the Netherlands to serve the automotive sector.
The main elements of this expansion will be a heat treatment facility for the production of normalised precision tubes, and a cut-to-length line. The EUR3 million investment, due to be in operation by July next year, will create 19 jobs. Steel used at the facility (including innovative advanced and ultra high strength steels) will come from Tata Steel's plants in IJmuiden and Port Talbot.
Remco Blaauw, Managing Director of Tata Steel's tubes business in Europe, said: "One of the main targets of the facility will be the supply of specialised chassis parts: normalised, cut-to-length high-strength steel tubes for lightweight structural use in vehicles. The integrated supply chain this investment will create within Tata Steel will enhance our ability to serve automotive OEM customers."
In 2004 Tata Steel's European tubes business successfully entered the market for larger tubes for the automotive sector, making high-specification chassis tubes. The business has since established a reputation as an innovative quality supplier in the sector.
The Zwijndrecht investment will make Tata Steel a fully integrated tubes supplier for the automotive sector, controlling the complete chain from the production of steel to the production, normalising, cutting and packing of tubes.