NEWS 19


UK STEEL INDUSTRY VULNERABLE DESPITE POST-CRISIS RECOVERY - TATA STEEL


Britain’s steel industry is vulnerable despite recovering from a 2015 crisis, with many challenges that led to thousands of job cuts still not resolved and risks related to Brexit looming, the chief executive of Tata Steel UK said recently.


The UK steel industry is emerging from a crisis that led to the loss of about 7,000 steel jobs, about a quarter of the workforce, between September 2015 and March 2017. Steel prices in the European Union have nearly doubled since plunging in early 2016 to their lowest in about a decade. Tata Steel UK’s Indian parent, Tata Steel Ltd, this month reported a five- fold increase in third-quarter profit,


boosted by strong volume growth in India and rising steel prices around the globe.


But the British steel industry remains vulnerable, with business rates still about 18 times higher than in neighbouring EU countries and electricity costs about 50 percent higher, the same issues that hurt the industry in the crisis. To protect vulnerable industries from the effects of Britain’s departure from


the European Union, the government launched an industrial strategy in November, but it has yet to finalise details of the deal for the steel industry. Britain’s exit from the EU in 2019 could destabilise the steel industry, particularly if trade defences that replace those of the EU prove less effective in stopping dumping or subsidised steel from entering Britain. Steel dumping, especially from China, was a major cause of the 2015 sector crisis. It is the second most used material in the world after cement, often makes its way up Britain’s political agenda because it is seen as a strategic industry for manufacturing and because the metal is used in sensitive military applications.


BROOKER AWARD


however, there are signs of improvement, with a rise in the number of engineering degrees awarded and apprenticeships started, but demand for talent still outstrips supply. It’s a concern echoed not just by LTi Metaltech but the National Apprenticeship Service, who report being heavily oversubscribed for every engineering and technology apprentice place they advertise.


Having progressed through the apprenticeship route himself, and worked his way up to Senior Project Engineer, LTi’s Gary Chamberlain is passionate about apprenticeships, believing it’s a model more engineering businesses need to adopt if the industry is to meet its skills shortage: “There’s no substitute for the practical hands- on experience you can gain as an apprentice. It was certainly the ideal platform for me before I went on to complete my mechanical engineering degree at Oxford Brookes.”


The Welding Institute has announced that the winner of this year’s Brooker Award for Outstanding Personal Contribution is TWI Industrial Research Fellow, Dr Isabel Hadley.


Isabel’s work has centred on the development and application of analytical flaw assessment techniques (BS 7910, R6, FITNET, etc) and has seen her chair the committee that develops and maintains standard BS7910. She is also a member of the RS (UK nuclear assessment procedure) panel and the co-author of the European FITNET fitness-for-service procedure. Having joined TWI in 1992, following


work in the nuclear power, offshore engineering and steel industries, Isabel went on to manage TWI’s Fracture Integrity section from 1997 to 2013. In 2016, Isabel took up an additional post as Visiting Professor at the University of Bristol under the Royal Academy of


Engineering scheme.


Her commitment to the assessment of flaws in metallic structures has seen the technology move to one that is an established and routine part of weld procedure.


Dr Hadley was nominated by her TWI colleague, Philippa Moore. She is also due to be honoured at this year’s ceremony. The award is sponsored by Johnson Matthey PLC and made in recognition of a personal contribution to the science, technology and industrial exploitation of materials joining.


The award is named in memory of Harry Brooker, who was instrumental in introducing low temperature silver brazing alloys into British industry in 1935. He went on to become a Chief Executive and Managing Director of Johnson Matthey.


The award recognises high industrial, research or educational responsibility of a character which has beneficially influenced the advancement of materials joining technology.


www.awd.org.uk | J WeldingWorld1


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