Slovenian Steel Group

Progressive Development in Slovenian Industry

Slovenia’s steel production history harks back over 400 years. The earliest recorded iron melting took place back in the 14th century and today the nation enjoys a long-established, stalwart industry reputation.

Following workers’ referendums in 1969, the need for a central country-wide body to represent Slovenia in the international marketplace culminated in the creation of the United Company of Slovenian Steelworks. As the result of a successful merger around 1973, this organization became the Slovenian Steelworks United Company. In 1978, the organization was restructured into what is known as an SOZD company; an acronym which describes a complex organisation of associated labour. The company underwent further restructure and name changes twice more before identifying itself as the Slovenian Ironworks in 1990, then the Slovenian Steel Group (SIJ) in 2005.

Today, SIJ is the largest manufacturer of steel in Slovenia. The company is primarily focused on scrap metal and waste steel and is comprised of three divisions: production, service and commerce companies.

IRJ takes a closer look at this ever-developing group, the ways in which it is monopolizing the Slovenian steel industry today, and some of the competitive edges, which have earned SIJ its major-player reputation.

SIJ today

SIJ is made up of six core production and service companies. Acroni and Metal Ravne are steelmakers, Noži Ravne manufactures industrial knives, and Elektrode Jesenice, SUZ and ZIP Center do the rest. Interestingly, SUZ and Zip Center are committed to employing disabled workers, a trait that makes both the wider SIJ group as a whole and the individual companies stand out from many of their peers.

It has been a whirlwind few months throughout the tail-end of 2009 at SIJ. On Tuesday, 23 June 2009, a €30 million plant for the continuous casting of steel was officially opened. The mega structure, built and commissioned within Acroni’s vast manufacturing hall, was unveiled by Borut Pahor, Slovenian Prime Minister, Andrey Zubitskiy, the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of SIJ, Tibor Šimonka, the Chairman of the Management Board of SIJ, and Slavko Kanalec, Acroni’s Managing Director.

“We have several hundred years of tradition; we utilise past experience and new skills; we have a strong organisational structure; we use the synergy between the Slovenian Steel Group (SIJ) and Koks; we are flexible; we possess a highly developed sense of team spirit and—it would have been impossible to succeed without this—diligent and loyal associates,” Šimonka tells launch attendees.

Then, on September 22, it was Metal Ravne’s turn for success when the company officially opened its new €17 million ingots casting bay. The casting bay marks Ravne’s third largest investment in little over a year, following the earlier launches of a forging shop of metal semi-products, and the renovation of the rolling mill for billets.

The launch ceremony for this latest stellar acquisition was lead by Šimonka, Dr. Matej Lahovnik, the Minister for the Economy, Andrej B. Zubitsky, the Chairman of the supervisory board of SIJ and a representative of the majority owner, Andrej Gradišnik, Managing Director of Metal Ravne.

“Steel is hard and powerful; it is splendid and sharp and it represents pride and character. It has been bringing work and food to the people of the Mežiška valley for centuries. Our electric arc furnace is a symbol of tradition and quality; it is a metaphor for knowledge, courage, association and persistence of workers from Koroška,” Gradišnik said in his speech.

“The new and additionally expanded modern automatic casting bay, which we ceremoniously opened, enables us to benefit fully from the capacity of our electric arc furnace. We can now cast 140,000 tons of ingots annually. The yield has been improved, the consumption of cooling water and sand for casting has been decreased, the reproducibility of ingot casting conditions has been achieved, and safer working conditions and less physically arduous work has also been assured.”

These individual company achievements as part of the wider 3,489 strong employees at SIJ, exemplify the groups’ diverse combined capability and range of investment interests today.

What’s next for SIJ?

SIJ’s future goal is to become and continue as a successful and profitable company. The company aims to work towards clear market and development orientation and develop an increasingly competitive brand.

“In order to achieve the increase of income and profit, we began with the modernization of production and business processes,” the company’s future plan explains.

“Our emphasis will be on modernization of the technology for the production of demanding high-quality products, information technology for supervision of the new production processes and advancing the highly skilled staff which will support the changes of the business processes.”

The plan goes on to state that the company does not envisage real future progression within Slovenia’s steel industry without “major investments in nature conservation and ecology”, and emphasizes the increased productivity in working as a healthy, safe, and environmentally aware company.

The five-year strategic plan focuses for the most part on investing in four key areas:

- replacing the dated technological instruments
- removal of bottlenecks
- development of products with higher added value
- preservation of the environment.

As SIJ looks to increase sales, plans to expand into the Far Eastern, South American and North American markets are underway.

“With these activities, we wish to increase the scope and importance of our companies’ sales and to establish Slovenian steelworks and steel manufacturers as a top-quality European steel-making brand,” the future plan states.

As a big fish dominating a small-pond market, this goal appears to be well within SIJ’s reach. Years of progressive development, an understanding and appreciation for the individual acquired-company strong points and a company-wide future focus are SIJ’s key elements to achieving just that.

www-en.sij.si

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