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The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficiency of a Brazilian steelmaking company’s reheating process of the hot rolling mill.

The research method is a quantitative modeling. The main research techniques are data envelopment analysis, TOBIT regression and simulation supported by artificial neural networks. The model’s input and output variables consist of the average billet weight, number of billets processed in a batch, gas consumption, thermal efficiency, backlog and production yield within a specific period. The analysis spans 20 months.

The key findings include an average current efficiency of 81%, identification of influential variables (average billet weight, billet count and gas consumption) and simulated analysis. Among the simulated scenarios, the most promising achieved an average efficiency of 95% through increased equipment availability and billet size.

Additional favorable simulated scenarios entail the utilization of higher pre-reheating temperatures for cold billets, representing a large amount of savings in gas consumption and a reduction in CO2 emissions.

This study’s primary innovation lies in providing steelmaking practitioners with a systematic approach to evaluating and enhancing the efficiency of reheating processes.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a supplier selection method using grey system theory for a steelmaking company in Libya.

In order to tackle incompleteness and imprecision of human’s judgments, grey numbers were used. This work uses a grey-based approach to represent decision makers’ comparison judgments and extent analysis method to select the best supplier. Therefore, an example of a selection problem of a steelmaking company in Libya was used to illustrate the proposed approach.

Supplier selection in a supply chain is a critical strategic decision for company’s success and has attracted much attention of both academic scholars and decision makers. The authors have found that the Grey model can play an important role in improving supplier selection strategy, especially when it is in a situation where complex sustainability environments (i.e. Libya) exist.

No literature has been found till date for selection of supplier using grey system theory in a steelmaking company in Libya. An attempt in this regard could enhance a decision-making technique for selecting the best suppliers for the selected case company.

Every year, tens of millions of the 1.4 billion cars on the world’s roads are decommissioned. While the ferrous and other metals that constitute about 75% of a vehicle by weight can be readily and profitably recycled, the remaining mix of plastics, glass, composites, complex materials, fragments and contaminants are mainly destined for landfill as automotive shredder residue (ASR). For every car, approximately 100–200 kg of ASR is disposed of in landfill, posing a growing technical and environmental challenge worldwide. The recovery of the ASR for high-end application is the focus of this study, aiming to optimise the use of these valuable resources and minimise the extractive pressure for raw materials, a future green manufacturing, contributing towards a zero waste circular economy. As the dissolution of carbon into iron is a key step in the manufacture of iron-carbon alloys, the feasibility of utilizing the waste polymers within ASR as sources of carbon in different areas of pyrometallurgical processing was investigated. Polypropylene and rubber, in a blend with metallurgical coke, were used as carbonaceous substrates and the slag-foaming phenomenon was investigated via the sessile drop technique in an argon environment at 1,550°C. The results indicated the rubber/coke blend achieved significantly better foaming behaviour, and the PP/coke blend exhibited a moderate improvement in slag foaming, in comparison to 100% metallurgical coke. The overall results indicated the incorporation of ASR had significant improvement in foaminess behaviour, increasing furnace efficiency.

SAID Sir Harold Wilson when he was Prime Minister, “One man's wage increase is another worker on the dole.” It seems as if that axiom has been forgotten. Members of this Labour Government which, it must be admitted, has striven manfully and successfully to bring inflation down, are now speaking with hopeless fatalism of any army of workless likely to reach over three million in a heartbreaking short space of time.

To analyze internationalization patterns among large Russian multinational corporations (MNCs).

Case study analysis of systematic internationalization attempts within three industries: IT, banking, and steel. For case studies, secondary data was used along with industry expert interviews.

The first finding is that Russian firms actively pursuing internationalization strategies through mergers and acquisitions (M&As) and greenfield investments were not as successful as several optimistic assessments had earlier suggested. Few global corporate champions emerged among Russian MNCs, despite a decade of record high outward foreign direct investments (OFDI). Secondly, we observed the unique trend of splitting operations between international and Russian businesses, which proved more sustainable than operating as a single firm. For example, the IBS-Luxoft group achieved success through gradual legal and organizational separation of branches in order to serve rising demand in developed markets and from its Russian business within the same industry. This double-headed strategy divides a business into two parts that are controlled by the same owners, but operate independently: one firm operates within the home market, while another firm aims to expand globally. This seems to be a typical trend, confirming recent findings for Russian small and medium enterprise (SME) internationalization and reinforcing earlier literature on institutional constraints in the Russian economy.

We analyzed major cases from three actively internationalizing industries. For each industry, we extensively analyzed one main case in particular. Industries’ choice also affects specific internationalization strategies.

This study identifies two distinct approaches in the literature on Russian business internationalization and attempts to combine both. We will also highlight organizational dilemmas as well as patterns in Russian businesses’ successful and failed internationalization strategies over the last decade. We identified an original double-headed internationalization strategy consisting of the separation of the national and global businesses, rather than leveraging their synergy. We will also question the established optimistic assessment of Russian MNC internationalization.

The emission of greenhouse gases has become an increasingly relevant topic in supply chain management. The steel industry is a highly intensive manufacturing industry with significant emission levels, particularly Scope 3 emissions, which are the indirect emissions from suppliers. Since a supply chain is seen as a non-mandatory measurement item within GHG measurement protocols, this article contributes to the literature on assessing the suppliers of a focal company relative to their emissions for complying with Scope 3 (indirect emissions). It adds to the evolving literature on low-carbon supply chains.

This study first conducted a survey with 110 suppliers from a focal transnational buyer company. A cluster analysis was performed, and ANOVA compared constructs relating to public or private ownership and country of origin. Finally, regression tested the relationship between the motivators and governance in the mitigation strategies.

Using cluster analysis, two groups of companies were found that have statistically significant differences. The influence of the country of origin was also found in relation to governance and mitigation strategies, as was the influence of the type of company on governance. Furthermore, the more motivated the suppliers and the more governance measures they adopt, the more companies adopt their own GHG mitigation strategies. These findings are summarized by way of an analytical framework that integrates the constructs with empirical evidence.

The steel industry is a sector that is particularly energy-intensive and produces millions of tons of CO₂ per year. Emissions from its SC (Scope 3) are relevant but still seen as a non-mandatory item for measurement purposes within the GHG measurement protocols, which leads to less attention being paid to the subject. This study contributes by way of its analytical framework that is validated by empirical data that can be tested in further studies.

A failed disc that was forged from S355J2 round bar was investigated in order to determine the failure route cause. The purpose of this paper is to determine the defects and route cause analysis regarding their origin.

Macroscopic evaluation, microstructure observation using light optical metallography and scanning electron microscopy with EDX analysis were the techniques used to analyse and characterize the defected areas.

Macro-inclusions (up to 850 µm) that correspond to high melting aluminium rich calcium-aluminate particles were detected. Their formation, possibly due to improper calcium treatment during ladle furnace steel refining process might be associated with clogging problems at casting. SEM-EDX analysis revealed whitish spots containing Zr that could be related to submerged entry nozzle (SEN) erosion/breakage. Characteristic is the large size and unusual shape of the traced particles, as well as the presence of low Si, Na, K. The findings indicated that nozzle clogging and/or breakage at casting was most possibly the root cause of the product’s quality degradation.

After extended root cause analysis, specific countermeasures are proposed to avoid clogging phenomena. The suggestions are based on the findings taking into account restrains of the steel-making process. Emphasis was laid in detecting the weaknesses that lead to product quality degradation and consequently in optimizing the steel-making process. Such incidents are often found during steelmaking a useful suggestion to steelmakers is to mark and remove cast parts after SEN problems are encountered. In this way quality issues in intermediate and/or final products will be avoided.