📋 Tender Overview
The voestalpine Steel Division produces high and ultra-high-strength steels at its site in Linz that are used for instance in the premium automotive segment where they are required to meet stringent quality standards. Since February the comprehensive testing and approvals process for cold strip products has been taking place in a newly constructed state-of-the-art testing center which establishes voestalpine as a global steel industry pioneer when it comes to digitalization automation and cutting-edge workflows. This has required an investment of EUR 23 million.The new testing center for controlling the quality of cold-rolled hot-dip galvanized electrogalvanized and coated steel strip and electrical steel is setting totally new standards in quality testing. At the center 95 percent of all samplesan international recordare fully automatically measured processed and presorted for the subsequent process steps.Digitalization in all areas of the business is a cornerstone of our corporate strategy. Automating and digitalizing testing is another important step in expanding our global technology and innovation leadership. We are setting new standards in this field. Depending upon the product anything from 50 to 2000 chemical mechanical technological or magnetic tests are performed for every 1000 tons of steel strip. The laboratory performs around 50000 tests a month on average and this figure is growing.The entire process of manufacturing testing and analyzing samples has been standardized and completely restructured.This has allowed us to significantly reduce testing times. Furthermore we can report back to the research teams faster in turn speeding up the process of development.Hubert Zajicek Member of the Management Board of voestalpine AG and Head of the Steel DivisionThe logistics are also being fully digitalized and in future driverless transport systems will bring the samples to the individual testing and analysis stations in an efficient sequence. Our aim is to know where the sample is and how it is being processed at all times. In addition we always have access to digital information about the production and testing machines so we can react immediately when needed says Zajicek.Previously cold strip testing was decentralized and spread across the entire Linz site. Construction of the 4000 m2 building started in February 2019 with provisional testing beginning in fall 2021. The center will officially commence operation in February 2022 and be increasingly automated and digitalized through to winter 2023. In future the preparation sorting and transport of the samples as well as series testing will be automatic allowing employees to concentrate on more demanding tasks.
