Internal policies and precautionary measures that can ensure total safety for workers, employees and staff of the third-party sources. And then, transparency, observance of all applicable rules, sustained environmental improvement via works related to structural adjustment and to production processes. With these priorities guiding its business strategy, ArcelorMittal Italia (AMI) presented the industrial plan of the company aimed at increasing production and strengthening one of Europe's largest steel mills: Ilva. This development plan opens a completely new panorama also for Semat S.p.A., ready to take up the challenge set by the multinational (a giant employing 197 thousand workers) that took over the former Ilva steel plants last November. 'We want to be part, and to make all our know-how available to ArcelorMittal', said Sergio Trombini, President of Semat at the end of the meeting called by the Luxembourg-based company and held in Martina Franca.
During this meeting AMI's top management of made a detailed presentation of the corporate project to all the companies of their supply chain. Besides the Taranto steelworks, the plan includes the former Ilva complexes in of Genoa and Novi Ligure. As regards the headquarters in Puglia, the objective set by CEO Matthieu Jehl is to reach 6 million tonnes of steel per year, thus increasing the current 4.5 output. 'We are currently through a ramp up; I believe that at a 6 million tonne rate, fully produced at Taranto, we could reach that target by the spring of 2019', explained Jehl in an interview to Italian daily business newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore. As regards the industrial plan, we will spend 520 million euro in the first next year's operations'.
At a press conference, Emmanuel Rodriguez, Head of the Purchase Department of ArcelorMittal Italia, reaffirmed that with the investments included in the budget – 4.8 thousand millions, of which 2.4 only for capital expenditure, there will arise interesting opportunities for all the companies in the supply chain. As already expressed, the guiding principles of the change will be safety and the environment. Firstly, then, the new management will work on significantly minimise industrial accidents by trying to lower them to the mean (very low) value of others AM plants around the world. Secondly, they will assign resources to the environmental plans to reduce as much as possible the impact of the company's production activities. This is planned to be achieved meeting the deadlines set forth by the Decree of the Prime Minister of Italy. 'We are ready to meet the requirements of the new management', states Carlo Scolari, CFO of the Trombini Group. 'With us, ArcelorMittal finds a partner who boast a vast experience in the sector, especially in the Taranto complex, and who can seamlessly work together with the other industrial companies belonging to the Group'.
The end of the long interval of the Extraordinary Administration by Ilva marks a major milestone in Semat's history spanning over thirty years. 'This moment encourages us in very positive manner, asks for the participation and collaboration of every one of us to meet the requirements of the new customer over time', concludes Scolari. 'There is huge opportunity to grow right before us that could be beneficial to expand the scope of action of the company towards new steelworks'.
