ArcelorMittal Saint-Chély-d'Apcher, France, celebrated 100 years of operations at an open day event held on 23 September and attended by more than 2,700 guests.

The day’s activities, organised in partnership with the Museum of Metallurgy, included a tour of the plant’s facilities, exhibitions, presentations on several topics including electrical steels, industry trade, plant’s history, as well as an information stand set up by an engineering school to give insight into the applications of electrical steels.

The plant specialises in electrical steels for a number of industries, including energy (hydropower, wind, nuclear, etc.), industrial motors, consumer goods (household appliances and tools), and the automotive sector, supplying high-grade products for electric and hybrid vehicles. The plant supplies some 150 customers across the world, with 75% of the products exported, 25% out of Europe.

Investing in the future of the plant and the community

In 2013 the plant commissioned a new continuous annealing production line, an investment worth €90 million. Furthermore, in May this year, the company announced a new €5.6 million investment plan that should allow recovery and use of the heat generated in the production process. The project, done in collaboration with Kyotherm, Schneider Electric, and the town of Saint-Chély-d'Apcher, should enable the plant to save 4,000 tonnes of CO₂ emissions per year, equivalent to taking 2,000 new vehicles off the road. 

“We have been able to adopt a new course in recent years following the investment made in 2013. We are guided solely by our customers’ requirements and have become pioneers in Europe," said Gilles Hoffmann, ArcelorMittal Saint-Chély-d'Apcher plant director. 

“This plant has a bright future ahead of it with the development of high-end steels for the automotive industry,” said Bernard Dehut, ArcelorMittal Méditerranée CEO.

Writing the history of steel in the country 

The Saint-Chély-d'Apcher steel plant, located in France’s Lozère department, started operation during the First World War. Regularly updating the production facilities, it maintained a constant presence in the country’s steel industry. In the 1990s, the plant started focusing exclusively on electrical steels and is today one of the leaders in production of high-end electrical steel and Lozère’s largest private employer.