Years

1890 - Expansion at Globe Works, StalybridgePlans are drawn up for expansion of the Globe Works at Stalybridge. Sheet bars imported from America and the Continent replace puddled iron for the pr…
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1894 - Hot dip galvanising commencesJohn Summers and Sons make their first move towards becoming the largest producers of galvanised steel sheets in the country. An experimental galvanis…
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1895 - Deeside site for a new worksWith no room at Stalybridge for further expansion, the Summers brothers start their search for a site for a second works. Harry, who has business cont…
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1896 - Hawarden Bridge iron works opensActivity on a six acre site at Hawarden Bridge is intense, with the Flintshire Chronicle reporting on 16th May that “ hugh chimneys are already spring…
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1896-1913 - An expanding workforceApart from a few coal mines, small iron and brick companies, local fishing and seafaring trade, Deeside was agricultural and sparsely populated at the…
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1898 - Limited company formed John Summers and Sons becomes a limited company with a capital of £200,000. The eldest brother, James is chairman and all the shares are held by the S…
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1900 - Thirty hand rolling mills are now in operation at Hawarden Bridge in an area known as the Top Yard.
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1902 - Open hearth steel furnaces commissionedWith the supply of steel bars from America no longer reliable, bars are also being bought from Barrow on the west coast of England and elsewhere. Harr…
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1904 - Galvanised sheet production is doubled to 83,000 tonnes.
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1906 - A foundry is opened to make rolls, brasses and general castings for use across the plant.
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1907 - More hand rolling mills installedA new department, known as the Marsh, is opened. It is equipped with two engines driving 12 hand rolling mills and all the latest finishing equipment.…
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1908 - Headquarters moved to DeesideAn impressive new General Office has been built at Hawarden Bridge to replace Stalybridge as the new headquarters of John Summers and Sons Limited. Th…
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1909 - Country’s largest steel sheet galvaniser & Union StrikesJohn Summers and Sons is now the largest manufacturer of galvanised steel in the country. Hawarden Bridge covers 60 acres and altogether 10,000 acres …
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1910 - 18 galvanising pots are now in operation at Shotton.
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1913 - Harry Summers is new company chairman Henry Hall (Harry) Summers becomes chairman of the company on the death of his brother, James. Born in 1865 and educated at Malvern School and Owens C…
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1914-1918 - Support for war effort Thousands of steel sheets are produced for the trenches, for Nissen huts and for shell making during the First World War. Until the First World War th…
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1915 - Ingot steel make has increased from 21,000 tons in 1904 to 233,000 tons, with 49 hand rolling mills now in operation.
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1916 - Second open hearth steel plant builtThe Government of the day decides that the country’s steel output for conversion into sheets must be increased. Company chairman, Harry Summers travel…
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1917 - To overcome war-time difficulty in obtaining refractory materials for lining the steel furnaces, Summers buys the first of its subsidiaries, the Castl…
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1918-1939 - In the immediate post-war years, Shotton is highly successful. The workforce rises to 5,800 and the firm is the second largest producer of steel sheet…
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1920 - Major export tradeSummers is now exporting 90 per cent of its output, nearly all galvanised, to India, Africa and South America.Staffordshire steel plant purchasedShelt…
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1925 - Summers forms a new company, the Anglo-Argentine Iron Co. Ltd, Buenos Aires to galvanise black sheets imported from Hawarden Bridge. This follows the …
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1928 - Technical assistance from America With the overseas market for black and galvanised sheets continuing to fall, Summers engage steel sheet production experts from the American Rolling M…
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1931 - “Black Friday” as recession affects SummersThe outlook for the steel industry is bleak as the Great Depression spreads across the Atlantic to Europe and Summers’ exports dwindle to 25 per cent.…
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1933 - In its 3rd October issue, the North Wales Guardian reports that “The great steelworks and rolling mills of John Summers and Sons at Hawarden Bridge ar…
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1935 - Harry Summers is 70 years old on 25th January. To celebrate the occasion, he provides recreational facilities in the General Office area for use by st…
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1936 - Cold rolling introducedA Sendzimir “Z” cluster rolling mill is installed in the Marsh Department at Hawarden Bridge. Designed by a Polish inventor, Tadeusz Sendzimir and man…
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1937 - Continuous hot and cold rolling mills plannedStrip steel now accounts for 7% of the UK steel demand.Negotiations begin with the American firm, MESTA Machine Company of Pittsburgh, for the design,…
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1938 - Richard Summers becomes Chairman, Neville Rollason, Managing Director, and A.Reith Gray, General Manager. They had all realised several years earlier …
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1939 - Continuous hot rolling mill installed Britain’s second continuous hot strip mill is commissioned at Shotton. Some 7,260 tons of machinery had been shipped across the Atlantic during 1938 a…
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1939-1945 - Shotton Works operates at full capacity throughout the war, contributing 2.2 million tons of black and galvanised sheets. The feared loss of jobs is a…
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1940 - No. 2 continuous hot dip galvanising line installedThe latest line has a capacity to zinc coat strip up to 1,070 mm wide, operating at 32 metres a minute. The maximum coil size is 12 tonnes.
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1945 - Henry Hall (Harry) Summers dies in January and is succeeded as Chairman by Richard Summers. His obituary in the Ashton Reporter, a South Manchester we…
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1946 - Full integration planned Plans are drawn up for a two-stage development to make Shotton a fully-integrated plant by the installation of coke ovens, two blast furnaces, a new o…
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1947 - The works now extends over 250 acres of reclaimed marshland, with 750 acres still available for development. There are nearly 6,000 employees and more…
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1948 - The works extends over 250 acres with 50 acres under buildings and a further 760 acres available for extensions. The workforce totals 5,900. Water con…
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1951 - On 15th February the Labour Government of the day nationalises the steel industry and John Summers and Sons becomes part of the new Iron and Steel Cor…
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1952 - No.3 continuous hot dip galvanising line installedThis line will process coils weighing up to 15 tons with a width range of up to 1,250 metres operating at up to 32 metres a minute. Non-annealed cold …
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1953 - Royal opening for new “heavy end.”On 29th April The Duke of Edinburgh officially opens the first phase of the post-war development scheme including a coke oven plant with two batteries…
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1954-1962 - Steel consumption in the UK car industry increases by 88 per cent to 812,000 tonnes per annum.
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1955 - The second phase of the “full integration” development is completed by the commissioning of a further two batteries of coke oven and a second blast fu…
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1956 - Open hearth melting shop is now Europe’s largest Another four open hearth furnaces are under construction in the No.3 Steelworks, making it the largest melting shop of its kind in Europe, being 1,870…
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1957 - Plastic lamination of steel stripA pilot line for the application of polymer film coating to zinc coated steel strip is installed in the Coatings One Department. Products such as Form…
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1960 - Developments centre on the hot and cold rolling mills – to deal with an increase in steelmaking capacity –and the Coatings One Department where a four…
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1960s - The 1960s bring great technical change in the way steel is made. Across the world, the basic oxygen and electric arc processes are coming to the fore …
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1963 - Sir Richard is knighted for services to the steel industry which had culminated in the office of President of the British Iron and Steel Federation in…
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1964 - Steel nationalisationThe return of a Labour Government in 1964 sees nationalisation of the steel industry back on the political agenda. As before in the early 1950s, Sir R…
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1967 - John Summers and Sons nationalised Nationalisation of the steel industry in July brings together 13 major companies with 270,000 employees including 13,000 within the former John Summer…
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1967-1977 - Colorcoat ® is launchedOrganic coated strip steel is marketed under the branded product name of Colorcoat ®, a unique high performance material. British Steel backs marketin…
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1968 - BSC study groups in JapanWith open hearth steelmaking being replaced by more modern processes, the trend particularly in places like Japan, is to concentrate bulk steel produc…
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1969 - Product Development Centre openedThe new centre at Shotwick on the outskirts of Shotton Works has three units, Design and Engineering, Field Development and Product Research, to assis…
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1970 - The link between Shotton and Shelton works, previously owned by John Summers and Sons, comes to an end.The capacity of the No.2 blast furnace at Shott…
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1971 - Environment award for tern reserveThroughout the gradual reclamation of hundreds of acres of marshland to allow expansion of the steelworks, every effort has been made to protect the f…
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1972 - Cold Strip Mill developments Work starts on a £20 million scheme to increase cold rolling capacity from 1.1 million tonnes to 1.6 million tonnes by 1974 through the installation o…
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1973 - Workers march on Parliament BSC Chairman, Lord Melchett, visits Shotton on 9th January, meeting management and workers’ representatives to outline the steps to be taken to reduce…
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1974 - New coating lines to meet increasing demand Since a Product Development Centre was established in 1969 at Shotwick, on the outskirts of Shotton Works, BSC’s Strip Mills Division’s coatings capac…
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1975 - Case made for retaining iron and steel making An up-dated case for the retention of steelmaking at Shotton is submitted to the Government on behalf of Clwyd County Council, Shotton TUC Committee, …
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1976 - New industrial park for DeesideThe development of a new industrial park for Deeside is announced. Although the Government’s final decision on the future of steelmaking is still awai…
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1977 - Reprieve for Shotton’s “heavy endIn May BSC removes any proposal or date for the termination of iron and steel making at Shotton. With trading prospects looking brighter, it is decide…
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1977_1 - Shotton senior managers visit steelworks in Germany, Italy and Czechoslovakia to study tandem open hearth steelmaking furnaces. ( Source: 30th July 20…
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1978 - A second phase of the “Yes” campaign, this time focusing on the improvement of deliveries and other services to customers, is launched in January. By …
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1979 - “Heavy end” closure to go aheadShotton participates in the first Cheshire Industries Fair at Chester with a stand which highlights the works’ importance within the area. Over 1,000 …
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1979-1980 - The rundown of production of the heavy end at Shotton begins in mid December with the “blowing out” of the No.1 blast furnace and the last iron and st…
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1980 - National steel strike leads to earlier closureRedundancy money was paid out at the Shotwick Counselling Centre during the early part of 1980. The estimated cost of redundancy was £60m. and the ave…
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1981 - Heavy end closure completed Coke production ceases in February, marking the complete closure of the “heavy end.” Demolition of the first of the 12 180 ft. high chimneys of the cl…
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1981-1982 - Record outputsAs the industry awaits positive signs of an end to the deep recession of the late 1970s and 1980, production units in the cold strip mill and coatings…
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1983 - New No.6 hot dip galvanising lineInstallation of a new dual purpose hot dip galvanising line is announced. The No. 6 line, which will be located parallel to the No. 5 hot dip galv. li…
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1985 - Original hot dip galv. lines closed Continuous hot dip galvanising in the Coatings One Department, originally known as the Marsh, ends after almost half a century. The first of the four …
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1986 - No.6 dual-purpose hot dip coil galvanising line costing £30 million is officially opened. The new line provides the works with the facility to hot dip…
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1987-1997 - New added value products launchedThis has been a period of marketing campaigns supporting the launch by British Steel of a range of new added value products for the construction and c…
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1988 - British Steel PLC takes overBritish Steel Corporation, now in the black after 11 years of loss-making, is replaced by British Steel plc, a public limited company on 5th September…
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1989-1990 - Six coil coating lines now in production A new £60 million Coatings Three complex, on the site of the original Marsh/Coatings One Department, is completed with new coil-to-coil lines for elec…
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1990s - Increased productivity Although the steel industry experienced falling prices in the early 1990s and further rationalisation was necessary, Shotton remains busy, benefiting …
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1991 - Camouflaged Colorcoat ® products Shotton starts to produce a Colorcoat ® product with camouflage properties. A specially formulated polyester coating is applied to galvanised strip st…
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1993 - High levels of output In the year ended 31st March Shotton delivered 845,000 tonnes of prime material comprising 338,000 tonnes of hot dip galvanised, 297,000 tonnes electr…
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1994 - Major automotive suppliersThe works is now sourcing the Ford Motor Company with zinc and zinc/nickel electro galvanising products and Nissan with Durazec lacquer coated zinc/ni…
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1995 - Record levels of output of coated products For the third successive year, deliveries by the Coated Products works reach record levels. In the year ending 31st March, deliveries of prime metalli…
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1996 - Centenary year The workforce at Shotton is in buoyant mood as preparations are made to celebrate the works’ centenary. The order book for the works’ unique range of …
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1997 - Productivity matches Europe’s bestShotton and the other five works in the Coated Products group deliver 1.5 million prime tonnes compared with 1.4 million tonnes the previous year. Sho…
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1997-2007 - Further product development The emphasis on marketing, customer service and product development of Colorcoat ® and other organic coated product continues. Colorcoat HPS200 Ultra …
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1998 - Colorcoat HPS200 ® launchedColorcoat HP200 ® is superceded by Colorcoat HPS200® with Galvalloy ®, cold reduced strip coated with a mix of 95 per cent. zinc and 5 per cent alumin…
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1999 - Companies merge to form CorusBritish Steel PLC merges with Koninklijke Hoogovens to form Corus Group. Productivity at Shotton is now 2.11 man hours per delivered tonne compared wi…
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2000 - Galvanising capacity increasedA new millennium dawns with the fortunes of Shotton still in the ascendancy. Corus Colors is one of 23 business units in the new Corus organisation an…
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2001 - Rolling operations end after 105 years Following an operating loss of over £300m in the nine months to 1st July 2000, Corus announces a reduction of over 3m.tonnes of iron and steelmaking c…
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2002 - Colorcoat ® relaunchCorus’s premium cladding product, Colorcoat Celestia ® with a metallic finish, is re-launched following the transfer of production to Shotton on the c…
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2003 - Electro galvanising endsThe UK’s only remaining wide strip electro galvanising line, the No. 3 line in Shotton’s coatings three complex, is closed down in September. This fol…
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2004 - Redundant plant sold off Corus Colors is reported to be making a positive contribution to the company despite pressure on prices. Shotton’s four coil coating lines are fully l…
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2005 - New railhead warehouse opened With overall demand for pre-finished steel products at a low level, Shotton’s coatings lines are no longer operating at full capacity. Demand for galv…
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2006 - One-stop Steel Shop openedThe former scarfing bay has been transformed into a “One Stop Steel Shop”, supplying a wide range of Corus steel long and strip products and offering …
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2007 - Tata Group acquires CorusTata Group, an Indian company, agrees to purchase all Corus’ ordinary shares in March and the deal is concluded in April. New production levels are ac…
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2008 - Solar cell projectThe April to September period is the most profitable half-year for the works on record. However, the prospects for the October-March period are the op…
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2009 - Profiling operations increased With the recession beginning to bite, creating unprecedented market conditions, the order load for both hot dip galv. and organic coated products fall…
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2010 - Royal visitor Corus is re-branded to the group name of Tata Steel Europe.Prince Andrew, HRH The Duke of York, the UK’s special representative for International Trad…
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2011 - Coated products demand stagnates Hot rolled accounts for 55 per cent; cold rolled, 28 per cent. and coated products 16 per cent. of Tata Strip Products UK’s order book. Tata has a 50 …
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2013 - Works remains profitable Since 2010, approx. £10 million has been invested in the Tata Colors operation at Shotton, mainly to enhance galvanising and Colorcoat products.Colors…
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2014 - Product range extended Following the closure of Tafarnaubach in December 2013, Shotton’s product range is extended to supply major domestic appliance manufacturers. Technica…
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2015 - No. 5 hot dip galvanising line mothballedA level of profitability unmatched for many years is achieved by the works in the year ending March. With demand and prices falling during the first s…
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2016 - No. 1 Colorcoat line investmentTata Steel announces the potential sale of its UK assets. Despite new challenges in terms of customer/supplier relationships and staff retention and m…
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2017 - Record profitsWith a business strategy based on selling technically advanced, market leading high value products, the works achieves a record level of profitability…
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2018 - New personnelDemand for o.c.s. products improves significantly in the second half of the year, particularly in the UK. The largest turnover of staff for several de…
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2019 - Company development awardThe works wins the New Product Development of the Year award in Tata Steel Europe’s Innovista 2019 event for the development of the revolutionary thre…
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