TPT March 2007

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26 March/April 2007
Industry News
Following one of the most publicly drawn
out bidding wars ever, Tata Steel of
India has finally
beaten Brazil's Companhia Siderurgica
Nacional to the ownership of Anglo-Dutch
producer Corus. Due to the industrial tug-
of-war, Britain’s takeover panel had set up
an auction where Tata’s offer of 608 pence
per share pipped the offer of 603 pence by
CSN. The total deal is believed to be worth
US$13.7bn.
Salzgitter AG ),
Germany, and Vallourec SA, France,
have begun the initial stages of Salzgitter’s
planned acquisition of Vallourec
Précision Etirage (VPE), France, a 100
per cent subsidiary of Vallourec. VPE is
specialised in the manufacture of cold
drawn precision tubes for automotive and
industrial applications, with expected sales
for 2006 of €220mn. With 1,230 staff, VPE
operations include five production plants in
France.
Eagle Precision Technologies Ltd
, Canada, a provider
of tube bending and forming solutions,
has introduced a new five year warranty
programme. The warranty covers new
machinery, including the company’s line of
CNC tube benders and end formers.
Machinery International Corp (www.
machyintl.com), McMillan Conroy
Machinery and Cedar Hill Industries
Ltd, have moved to a newer, larger and
more modern facility. The new address for
the facility is 20 Commerce Drive, North
Branford, CT 06471-1250, USA.
UKF Stainless Ltd
co.uk), UK, has reported a successful
financial year, with turnover increasing to
nearly GB£7m, and a budget of GB£9m
for the year 2006/2007. During the last
12 months the company has made major
changes to its management team. While
continuing to be a main UK distributor
of automotive tubing, the company has
received new business for cut, polished and
manipulated tube.
The stainless tubing division of Dofasco
Copperweld, USA, has announced that its
website – – has been
redesigned and expanded to include new
technical literature, additional tolerance
and size charts, an ecommerce site that
will have order entry capabilities, and new
product brochures, including Chinese and
Spanish versions.
Plastic pipe, components and fittings
specialist, Polypipe
has chosen IFS Applications to bolster
its financial, supply chain, manufacturing,
distribution and maintenance operations
across the UK. IFS Applications 7 will
replace numerous disparate legacy
systems to automate a range of labour-
intensive and costly manual processes.
Other IFS customers include Schlemmer
Filtrona Extrusion, Nolato Plastteknik AB,
and Euroform AB.
Seversky Tube Works, a subsidiary of
TMK ), has completed
the installation of a new piercing mill, the
latest stage of the company’s strategic
investment program. The piercing mill
is a component of the modern high-tech
seamless pipe production complex being
created at the enterprise.
A new journal entitled Journal of Coatings
Technology and Research (www.
springer.com/journal/11998) has resulted
from the merger of Surface Coatings
International Part B: Coatings Transaction
and the Journal of Coatings Technology
Research. Jointly owned by the Oil &
Colour Chemists’ Association (OCCA)
and Federation of Societies for Coatings
Technology (FSCT), the journal will be
published by Springer Science+Media LLC.
It will be available in four issues during
2007, both as printed issues and online
through SpringerLink.
The Hazira operations of Essar Steel Ltd
), India, has commissioned
a continuous caster built and supplied by
SMS Demag AG , Germany. The caster
produces slabs in widths of up to 2,000mm
and a thickness of 220/260mm. Designed
for an annual production of 1.8mn tons of
steel, the caster will be used to produce
heavy-plate and tube-steel grades.
Roll-Kraft ), USA, has
taken delivery and installed additional
CNC’s at its headquarters facility in Mentor,
OH. This latest addition brings Roll-Kraft’s
capacity to 36 CNC machines, which will
lead to an increase in manufacturing levels.
MID , France, is seeking
international distributors for its Variacor ®
joint system. The system is designed to
make all hoses flexible and adjustable,
whatever the pressure and rigidity. Variacor
joints have been designed for applications
such as automotive assembly lines.
business news in brief…
Business News in Brief…
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