Marketing Director Sander Heinhuis explains why customer focus is so important at Tata Steel Nederland: "Both large and small companies have high and specific demands. That is why we work closely with our customers; we know them very well. Our marketers understand exactly what is happening in their markets, whether it's packaging, automotive, engineering, or construction. Meanwhile, our technical experts understand, at a molecular level, what customers require from our steel and how they apply it within their production processes. With this versatile knowledge, collaboration, and joint innovation, we genuinely help our customers enhance their products.”

The agreement we signed with Ford in 2022, and subsequently with many other partners in the automotive sector, is exemplary. “We already provide sustainable solutions, but at the same time, we offer unique and high-quality steel. In the automotive industry, where steel is the most used material, it needs to be simultaneously strong and formable. Our experts know precisely how strong and formable it needs to be, and our factories can deliver that very accurately. All that quality is what underlies this recognition. Our own data previously indicated that we achieved our highest customer satisfaction score in years,” Heinhuis continues. “This recognition from the market is a fantastic confirmation of that. I am proud that we accomplished this. The fact that this quality runs throughout our entire organisation is what makes Tata Steel Nederland truly exceptional.”

About the MT500

Each year, MT/Sprout compiles a ranking known as the MT500. To create this list, managers and decision-makers from major companies are asked to evaluate their industry peers on various topics, including customer friendliness. The research distinguishes 33 different sectors, with over 4,500 respondents providing more than 16,000 evaluations in total. The study was conducted by the University of Amsterdam under the leadership of Professor of Strategy and Innovation, Henk Volberda.

Highlights:
• More sustainable, with lower investment requirements
• Ready for future food safety standards
• New line enables closer collaboration with customers

In a typical can-making line, small steel cups are first punched out, then stretched to form the sides of the can. In conventional processes, this generates heat due to friction, requiring cooling water that must then be washed off the cans—an energy- and water-intensive process. Tata Steel’s new line doesn’t need any of that. Thanks to the use of innovative Protact® steel and advanced internal cooling of the tooling, cans can now be formed in a dry process. This eliminates the need for emulsified water, reducing energy use and cutting the investment costs for customers.

Food safety for the future
Protact is a polymer-coated steel that reduces friction during forming. “The polymer layer also ensures that the can meets all future food safety standards,” says Hans van der Weijde, Director of R&D at Tata Steel Nederland. “There’s no need to apply a lacquer to the steel. While lacquer is still allowed under current regulations, we see a clear trend toward phasing out these chemical coatings. Lacquered cans also often contain tin. Protact allows for a shorter and cleaner production line.”

Working with customers
The new line can produce up to 400 cans per minute—25% more than the industry standard of 320. The machine at Tata Steel serves as a proof of concept, where customers can see the dry forming process with Protact in action at full industrial speeds. “That collaboration with the customer is crucial,” says Joris Essing, Marketing Manager for packaging steel at Tata Steel Nederland. “We have the expertise in the dry process, but the customer has to make it work on their own production lines. We work closely together to make that happen.”

That collaboration has already delivered results in the packaging market. One example is Tata Steel’s partnership with Grupo Calvo, which led to the development of an innovative Protact tuna can. The polymer layer applied to the steel reduces the need for oil to keep the tuna fresh and make it easy to remove from the can. The packaging is also lighter, due to more efficient material use, which brings transport benefits.

Champion of recycling
Steel food cans offer several advantages: long shelf life even without refrigeration, reduced food waste, and excellent recyclability. Thanks to their magnetic properties, steel cans are relatively easy and cost-effective to separate from other waste streams. In the Netherlands, steel packaging—such as cans for beans, corn, or fish—is the country’s recycling champion. More than 95% of all steel packaging used in the Netherlands is recycled into new steel, making steel the most recycled packaging material.

This new steel type is much more edge ductile than our previous steels in the advanced-high strength levels. Dr. Arjan Rijkenberg, Principal Scientist specialized in high-strength strip steels at Tata Steel Nederland, explains: "In many chassis components, holes are punched during the manufacturing process for assembly, routing of wires, and achieving weight savings. Furthermore, for extra strength and stiffness, these parts can feature very intricate edges, but it is precisely these edges that are susceptible to cracking during the forming of the parts in the press shop. For the development of this new advanced steel type, we have developed specific test methods with which we can assess risks of edge fracture and measure the fracture toughness of steel types. With the new knowledge and insights obtained from this, we have been able to develop HyperFlange, which is both strong and edge ductile."

Higher press shop efficiency and robust manufacturing with HyperFlange

Edge cracking is one of the most common pain points in chassis press shops. With this newly developed steel type, we can address this challenge with and for our customers. Moe Ziaran, Marketing Manager Automotive Chassis & Components at Tata Steel Nederland, states: "Thanks to the product optimizations we have made with HyperFlange, customers will experience less edge cracks, minimized material loss, and reduced production line interruptions, all of which contribute to increased productivity and efficiency in the press shops of car manufacturers." Additionally, with the higher formability of the product, car designers can more confidently create thinner designs with HyperFlange, knowing that their designs can be manufactured reliably. As a result, parts become lighter, ultimately making the car more fuel efficient and improve driving characteristics.

"Steel recycling is recycling par excellence. Where other materials such as plastic, glass, and aluminium are not infinitely recyclable without a lot of sorting and extra effort, steel is. In fact, lower quality steels can be made even better in terms of quality. We call this "upcycling" in the industry," says Judith Krale, new business manager for scrap at Tata Steel Nederland and responsible for the use of scrap in steel production.

‘Can deal’ contributes to 30% scrap use for green, circular steel

She is often referred to as the woman of 30%, because Krale works every day to achieve the goal of 30% scrap use in the production of cleaner, greener, and circular steel by 2030. This is ambitious, as in 2022 the share of scrap in Tata Steel's steel production was 17%. Krale states: "With new technologies for making green steel, we can also recycle more steel. So, we are always looking for more scrap, including packaging tin." To achieve this, Tata Steel Nederland has signed agreements with ten scrap companies in multiple countries: the Nederland, Belgium, Germany, and the United Kingdom. The majority of the tinplate scrap in this 'can deal' comes from the United Kingdom, as that country has been engaged in waste separation for a longer period and is therefore further ahead in waste separation than the Netherlands and its neighboring countries.

Increased steel density for a more sustainable end product

At Tata Steel Nederland, the old steel, to-be-recycled tin is called 'tin can shred' because the steel cans are crushed in a kind of industrial mincer and flattened into small pieces, with a higher steel density. This has the advantage that its processing in the Oxy Steel Plant is more efficient, which in turn contributes to a more sustainable end product.

Steel cans are the recycling champion of the Netherlands

In addition to the many advantages of steel food packaging, such as long shelf life (even outside the refrigerator) and therefore less food waste, steel cans are not only easily recyclable but also relatively easy and inexpensive to separate from other waste due to their magnetic properties. In the Netherlands, steel packaging is therefore the 'recycling champion'. Almost 95% of the packaging steel used in the Netherlands is recycled into new steel. This includes beverage and food cans, aerosol cans, and paint cans. Tinplate is therefore the most recycled packaging material.

Read also: Tata Steel deploys high-tech laser and AI for increased steel recycling

To be able to significantly increase the use of scrap in steel production in the near future, Tata Steel aims to further optimize the recycling process. A challenge in this regard is that much of the old steel, such as from old ships or railroad tracks, is too large for regular conveyors and difficult to analyze. Therefore, Tata Steel researches the use of digital laser techniques to analyze the composition of scrap directly from the truck. The process works as follows: the truck carrying scrap enters a specially constructed gate with industrial laser and analysis equipment. The laser vaporizes very small pieces of the steel locally, creating a 'plasma', a small local gas bubble containing all the components of the scrap. This can then be filmed and analyzed with special cameras. Subsequently, depending on the specific composition and criteria, the scrap can be optimally introduced into the recycling process.

AI and digital twins for reduced waste and more CO2 reduction

Tata Steel researcher Bernard Ennis states: "In this measurement and analysis process, AI is used to more quickly recognize and analyze specific types of steel based on visual characteristics, known as 'scrap image recognition'. The manufacturing process is digitally modeled, or simulated, and tested in a computational model using 'digital twins'. This innovative combination of laser, AI, and digital modeling allows for more efficient sampling, faster scrap deployment logistics, and improved product quality. Moreover, this leads to fewer process errors in scrap deployment and thus less waste and CO2 reduction." At present, the technique is being researched and developed under the 'DiGreeS program'. The first measurements with the ‘Laser- Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy’ are scheduled to take place in the first quarter of 2025, with the first results being announced. In 2026, the first prototype of the truck portal is expected to be ready for use, and the measurements and modeling will commence. Then, the implementation will follow, including the introduction of the digital twins modelled process.

'DiGreeS': Research with German and Austrian steel producers

'DiGreeS' is coordinated by the Fraunhofer Institute for Nondestructive Testing IZFP and aims to minimize the ecological footprint of the entire steel value chain through integrated digitalization. Within the 'DiGreeS' program, Tata Steel also collaborates with Saarstahl AG and the voestalpine Group. Saarstahl AG focuses on CO2 reduction of Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) techniques at Saarstahl-Ascoval through the use of artificial intelligence based digital models, while voestalpine Group researches energy efficiency and conservation in steel plate processing. Tata Steel will also utilize this new knowledge when replacing the blast furnaces and coke and gas plants with DRI and EAF in the near future, as the traditional steel production process undergoes transformation and coal is replaced by sustainable energy.

As we speak, steel is being researched in the ISS. This concerns steel that can be used for electric motors. The quality of this steel largely determines the efficiency of motors in, for example, electric cars. This directly contributes to the energy transition. These types of steel have a complex structure that partly arises during casting. The knowledge gained from this experiment is used in the casting process to prevent errors and to achieve better steel for this application. 

ESA and Tata Steel Nederland Collaboration

It is very imaginative; steel melted in space and then cooled and solidified again in a 'high tech' monitored process. In this co-production, Tata Steel Nederland provides specifically prepared steel samples and knowledge. ESA is responsible for the execution of the scientific experiment. The knowledge resulting from the various studies is available to everyone. Materials expert Wim Sillekens is involved in the space steel project from ESTEC/ESA and states: "For science, all the materials research within the 'Space for Science' program has already resulted in more than 1,600 publications, including a number of scientific articles together with Tata Steel."

Why steel research in space?

We ask this question to the Argentinian-Dutch scientist Dr. Begona Santillana. She works in the 'Research & Development' department of Tata Steel and researches the solidification of steel. Dr. Santillana is the initiator and manager of this steel research in space and explains its added value: "All the steel that surrounds you has once been liquid. And it is precisely in that process from liquid to solidified steel that much can go wrong. The solidification of liquid steel at very high temperatures, around 1500 degrees Celsius, is influenced by mechanical, thermodynamic, and thermo-physical properties. In the lab, we investigate all these properties, but the steel samples used for this purpose are also subject to gravity. In space, we don't have that problem, which leads to purer data.

How does it work?

Steel pellets of less than 10 grams, prepared by TSN, are placed on Earth in a batch with other samples in a kind of carousel and transported to the ISS by rocket. There, the carousel is placed in the double-walled 'Electro-Magnetic Levitator' (EML). In the EML, the steel pellets are then melted and solidified in a number of cycles. This happens while the astronauts are sleeping to prevent measurement errors due to movement. The process is monitored, and the data go 'real-time' to the 'Microgravity User Support Center', a support center of the ISS in Cologne, for data collection, among other things. Upon return to Earth, the steel samples go to Tata Steel Nederland and the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom for further research.

Energy saving and sustainability through steel research in space

For applications of steel, preventing errors in the process is crucial, and precise knowledge of solidification temperature and other thermo-physical properties is important. Dr. Santillana: "Through the knowledge obtained from this scientific research, we can realize the production of steel more efficiently. Moreover, thanks to the knowledge gained, we can produce different types of steel with fewer process problems. Indirectly, this leads to energy savings and a better product." Wim Sillekens (ESA) adds: "In our collaboration with Tata Steel Nederland, we have acquired a lot of knowledge about steel properties with an accuracy that cannot be measured in any other way. Many of the materials investigated in the EML are related to sustainability; in addition to steel, these are, for example, hard-magnetic materials and semiconductor materials, for applications in wind turbines and solar panels. These materials are critical for the green transition, and even small improvements in performance are of very great value on a global scale."

*Photo: ESA