2018 was a very encouraging year for Semat S.p.A. in Italy and the Northern European region. During the last months, the company headed up by Sergio Trombini succeeded in completing all maintenance tasks and new works in the different plants both in Italy and abroad. Positive results and a lot of satisfactory works that help envisaged a very encouraging panorama for 2019. 'The most promising places are still France, Belgium, and Germany', explains Angelo Damioli, Industrial Manager of Semat. 'And then comes Italy. Here, with the arrival of ArcelorMittal, expectations of new opportunities are growing. We will be able to present collaboration request in the industrial complexes of Genoa and Novi Ligure too'.
Last year's report starts from France. In Porcheville, a small village in the Yvelines department, in the region Île-de-France, Semat worked in the Alpa steel mill until August. Semat finished the new scrap metal yard and some minor maintenance jobs. That was more or less similar to a job at ItonSeine, in Bonnières-sur-Seine, another company belonging to the Riva Group.
In Creil, close to Paris, Semat concluded the works that were started in 2017: building a new workshop plus a floor covering within a yard specialised in manufacturing electrowelded wire mesh. For 2019 there are investments budgeted for new deposit yards. The buildings and pavement next to the recently-built warehouse in the Monteux plant were finished. There, a job to modify the rolling mill has been scheduled for next summer. But the most relevant job order, financially speaking too, will be that in Neuves Maison. In November, at the Hauts-de-France Region 'we opened the sites for a new 8,500-m warehouse plus the relevant foundations for the wire mesh production lines, electricity cabinets, and locker and change facilities', adds Damioli. 'There are still some changes to be done to the external road network and paving'.
In Belgium, Semat has recently finished the wire mesh storage area at Thy Marcinelle SA. The company will shortly start paving the new zones that TM has recently acquired. The enlargement of the building is scheduled but for the sites in Brandenburg and Henningsdorfer in Germany. Activities in the Italian front never ceased. Maintenance services were provided the whole year long by Semat to the former Ilva plants in Genoa and Novi Ligure.
Some novelties are expected from the finishing lines that the Riva Group owns in Italy, mainly in Lesegno and Cerveno. 'We are monitoring some orders that may be soon acquired, mainly at the Piedmont facilities, that are being refurbished to enhance the quality of the steel', concluded Damioli.
