“It's impressive how they work there,” says Van de Kaa, while using his hands to explain how certain operations work at Perfox. “They not only make the big holes but also the small ones for attachment. They do this by working with dies of various heights.”

No trees, no canvases
The fact that Tata Steel Nederland makes its own windbreaker is unique. Van de Kaa and De Vos cannot think of any other company in the Netherlands that can pull off the same feat. However, there were several moments in the design process where other choices could have prevented 'Made By Tata Steel Nederland from being on the windscreen.

“When we started, we also considered trees. However, it turned out impossible to find trees that were high enough, and waiting for twenty years was not a good plan.” A variant with canvases was also rejected. “With strong winds, they would all come loose, which would have resulted in not having a windscreen but a rack with flapping canvases instead. That did not seem appealing to me,” says Van de Kaa.

Once the windscreen was designed in its current form, the question of who could produce all the parts remained. “We also looked in China, but the delivery reliability was uncertain, and any subsequent deliveries would also be problematic.”

5,000 profiles
Ultimately, producing the windscreen within Tata Steel Nederland turned out to be the best solution. Frank de Vos, who has been working at SAB-profile for about six months, was responsible as a product manager for realizing the project.

“It's quite challenging for us. Usually, we choose to get a plate into its final form with a roll former. Now that was not possible due to the specific shape. It concerns 5,000 plates that we have to make once and then never again. We cannot have mold roll form cassettes made for only one such order. That would be far too expensive. That is why we had to come up with a different solution, and that was bending the plates in our folding department.”

After IJsselstein, the profiles go to Uitgeest, where they are assembled into cassettes. A portion of the cassettes is adorned with images by the Spatzuiver artist collective from Beverwijk. “The screen consists of eight different colours. Each cassette is numbered, and there is a colour code attached to it. This is how we want to ensure that the screen from a distance looks like a beach with a horizon and clouds above it. That's quite a challenge to deliver in the correct order,” says De Vos with a laugh.

Innovation
Both the holes and the shape of the panels have a function. “The holes ensure that part of the wind passes through and part of the wind passes over. This slows down the wind and prevents dust particles from being swept away.”

The shape is also innovative. In studies in a digital wind tunnel, it was found that with the sheet pile shape, the wind will swirl near the screen. This swirl theoretically ensures that any dust that has been blown up near the screen settles. This keeps it on our site, and we can use it in our processes. This way, we use the raw materials more efficiently, and the nuisance to the environment will further decrease.”

“This project has caused me to look at our factory and our products with a different perspective. We never made a windbreaker before, and now we have completed this project. Perhaps this will turn out to be the basis for a whole new business for us,” concludes De Vos.

Improvement program
The construction of the windscreen is part of the Roadmap Plus improvement program. This program aims to reduce the impact that Tata Steel Nederland has on the environment. With the program, Tata Steel Nederland invests more than € 300 million in measures that reduce emissions of substances, odour, light, and noise. Other measures include tertiary extraction at the Steelworks, extraction hoods at the blast furnaces, and a dust removal plant and DeNOx installation at the Pellet Plant.

Efficiency 
Blast Furnace 6 on Tata Steel’s site in Ijmuiden is one of the most efficient operating blast furnaces in the world. This means CO₂ emissions per ton of steel are lower than almost all other blast furnaces in the world. Now with Blast Furnace 6 back in operation, the Tata Steel Nederland factories will be running at full capacity again. In recent months, Tata Steel has also taken measures at other locations on the site to process the flow of steel as clean and safe as possible. 

A blast furnace is always in operation, which means that the furnaces are always filled and the hearth is always burning. When this process is stopped, the hot metal will solidify and blockages will occur in the furnace. After operating for about 20 years, the oven needed to be relined. This relining of Blast Furnace 6 is the last renovation of the blast furnace that Tata Steel Nederland carried out. From 2030, the company will switch to producing steel without coal or coke. Blast Furnace 7 will be the first to be replaced by installations that run on natural gas and hydrogen. Blast Furnace 6 will be decommissioned when the second phase of Tata Steel's Green Steel plan comes into effect. That is expected to be around 2035.