International Conference "Steel in Cars and Trucks"
16.06.2014 | Salzgitter AG
Platform for dialog between automobile and steel industries - Salzgitter AG is Platinum Sponsor
The international conference, Steel in Cars and Trucks (SCT), is being held in the city hall in Braunschweig from June 15 to 19, 2014 under the banner "Future trends in steel development, processing technologies and applications". As the Platinum Sponsor, Salzgitter AG is supporting this top-class event in many different ways with presentations, exhibition space as well as guided tours and talks in the integrated steel plant in Salzgitter.
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Heinz Jörg Fuhrmann, Chairman of Salzgitter AG, will give a talk on Monday, June 16, 2014 on the subject of „Requirements of steels in new automobile concepts, focusing on global challenges“.
This is the fourth time that the SCT conference has been held, and it has now become an established platform where representatives of the automobile and automobile supplier industries can share information and experience with the steel industry. The event is hosted by the German Steel Federation and the Steel Institute VDEh.
"Steel in Cars and Trucks" Conference - Prof. Dr.-Ing. Heinz Jörg Fuhrmann, Chairman of the Board of Salzgitter AG
"The future of steel is just beginning"
If we look at the mega trends and subjects which will shape our future, we can see that environmental protection, demographics and the shortage of energy and raw materials dominate the list. It is not hard to see that with the global population on the rise there will be ever more pressure on our existing natural resources. This will force us to change our production technologies and develop new products and new mobility strategies.
The powerful and proven material, steel, will play an important part in helping to meet the resulting challenges. For example, the mass production of rationalized, light automotive designs is inconceivable without steel. Steel will therefore remain the basis for mass mobility which is one of the fundamental cornerstones of life and business. Modern grades of steel are indispensable both for producing renewable energy and for upgrading conventional energy production processes. Steel is still the world's No. 1 material by a distance as far as infrastructure development is concerned.
By comparison with other materials, steel has an excellent life cycle assessment. The carbon footprint caused by its manufacture is already much smaller. And steel is also multi-talented when it comes to recycling. The materials cycle works well and ensures that almost 100% of scrap steel is reused! This makes steel the sustainable material.
Salzgitter AG is working hard to continually expand the potential of steel. This includes optimizing products, coating systems and production processes as well as the medium-term development of completely new techniques. This is done with reference to our customers' processes with whom we are always in close contact.
We don't mind saying it: the future of steel is just beginning. One example of this is the Belt Casting Technology, BCT, which we have developed together with the Clausthal University of Technology and equipment manufacturer, SMS Siemag. This casting technique not only allows novel steel materials to be produced. The process is also especially energy-saving. Considerable savings in weight are also being made with the new HSD steels, enabling completely new designs to be achieved which are helping to further reduce vehicles' fuel consumption.