Sandvik Steel invests in new cold rolling mill

Sandvik Steel invests in new cold rolling mill Sandvik Steel in Sandviken, Sweden has announced that it is to invest SEK 140 M in a new cold rolling mill and annealing equipment. The new mill, planned to be operational at the beginning of 2001, will produce thin strip steel used principally in the manufacture of catalytic converters. The investment is designed to make further market growth possible and follows the installation of two cold rolling mills in 1994 and 1996, both of which are producing to full capacity. It has been planned against a background of rapidly growing markets for thin strip steel for catalytic converters and razor blade steel, areas where the market trend is towards the use of thinner strip. The new mill will be able to roll strip down to 0,015 mm thickness and will be able to more than double Sandvik's production of thin strip steel. The new mill will also be used for production of thin Kanthal strip used as heating elements for ceramic top cookers. "The majority of todays catalytic converters contain ceramic material, but converters with metallic content have several technical advantages. They offer more compact design, shorter starting time, a greater catalytic capacity and result in less power drop. The market for thin strip steel for converters is therefore estimated to increase dramatically", says Per Ericson, President of Sandvik Steel. Sandviken, 5 May 1999 Sandvik AB; (publ) For further information, please contact Mr Per Ericson, President of Sandvik Steel Telephone +46 26 26 36 28. Sandvik Steel is one of the world's leading producers and distributors of tube, strip, wire and bar for many advanced applications. The products are made of stainless and high- alloy steels and of special alloys based on nickel, titanium and zirconium. Sandvik Steel has 20 production plants in 11 countries all over the world apart from the main facilities in Sandviken. It employs about 7,300 people, of which 3,800 at the main plants in Sandviken, Sweden. Sandvik Steel is a separate business sector and is together with Kanthal and Sandvik Process Systems included in the business area Sandvik Specialty Steels within the high-technology Sandvik Group that does business through 300 own companies and representatives in 130 countries. The Group has about 37,000 employees and the turnover amounts to more than SEK 40,000 M. ------------------------------------------------------------ Please visit http://www.bit.se for further information The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/05/05/19990505BIT00200/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/05/05/19990505BIT00200/bit0002.pdf