Trends and solutions for future steel grade development

Abstract

The world steel market is in a phase of maturity. Worldwide growth in steel demand is expected to be in the range of 1% per year and the world’s biggest market, China, is facing a phase of stagnating or even diminishing steel demand. The situation has changed from a supplier driven to a customer driven market meaning that customer demands are increasing and margins are dropping. Besides increasing levels of digitization and service orientation as well as the development of new sales channels the delivery of higher quality, introduction of new steel grades and further customization of high-end products to cover niche markets are of prime importance to keep or increase market shares. Besides efficient organization and execution of the daily business ranging from production to quality management and customer services paired with data-based insight, highly efficient research and development (R&D) with increasingly limited amount of resources is a must. This paper addresses the latter topic regarding trends for future steel grade demands and strategies for efficient R&D.