To be in line with the Paris Agreement and mitigate average temperature rise to 1.5°C, and to a maximum of 2°C, greenhouse gas emissions will have to be reduced close to zero before mid-century. If these targets are to be reached, rapid and complete decarbonisation of every sector within the global economy is required. Currently, energy-intensive industrial sectors account for more than 30% of global energy use, and are responsible for approximately 50 % of global greenhouse gas emissions, whereas the iron and steel industries have the largest aggregated greenhouse gas emissions globally. Although the steel industry is at the cusp of major climate neutrality transitions, as recent studies have presented opportunities of producing completely fossil-free steel, decarbonising large-scale production processes is a complex query affected by a multitude of internal and external factors. Höganäs AB, as one of the largest powder metal manufacturers in Sweden, has initiated their work towards net-zero emissions in 2045. With production sites in over 18 countries, the company serves as an example of a company in the midst of turning a “hard-to-abate” industry towards being sustainable.  The aim of this study is thus to assess the effects of climate agendas and frameworks, such as the Paris Agreement and the IPCC Report on initiatives and policies on a global, national and regional level within countries where Höganäs AB has its major production facilities. The aim is further to review the effects of climate strategies and targets on the steel and powder metal industry, as well as to monitor the industry’s inclinations towards climate neutrality. The findings of the performed literature study, as well as the conducted qualitative interviews, resulted in a framework regarding how to identify and assess trends within the steel and powder metal industry based on two theoretical perspectives on corporate climate transitions. Through the results, it could be concluded that despite all countries having ratified the Paris Agreement as of January 2021, no country is currently on the path towards reaching the 1.5°C target that is recommended by the IPCC Report and the Paris Agreement. Still, there is a growing demand for low-carbon technology and renewable energy in every country, something that will partly weigh up for both up-scaled industrial production and countries’ increased GDP. Within the industry, an increased number of initiatives and commitments has been launched during the past few years, indicating that questions of climate change and sustainability are being entrenched in the corporate sector. Going forward, indicators to measure continuous improvements to reach net-zero are associated with emission- and energy data, value chain management and industry investments. As technological advancements towards hydrogen, electrification and digitalisation are being upscaled and increasingly tangible, climate neutrality in the PM and steel industry is achievable through a profound and intended climate focus and an increased sense of urgency.

No description available.

The traditional method for conducting sensitivity analysis is to repeatedly solve a model while varying the parameters. The solution is then obtained as some average of these optimal solutions under those different conditions or states of the world. The present work presents results of conducting sensitivity analysis using a method more firmly ground in mathematical programming theory. The present analysis models the investment decisions in a case with large uncertainty in demand: the steel industry in Argentina. Special emphasis is devoted to the recent history, where a recent shift in economic policy (1976-1981) towards allowing free competition with imported products resulted in a severe crisis for the steel industry and its trading partners. An increase in exports was observed during this period which is not likely to continue if there is a recovery process. In the first sections, the relation of steel production and economic growth is analyzed in the context of the world situation of the industry, setting the background for the analysis of the Argentinian industry as a case study. The results of the present model adequately describe the existence of unutilized capacity observed in the industry, as well as the recent increase in exports. The most important conclusion of the model is that the traditional method of conducting sensitivity analysis results in significant inefficiency of the reached decisions, involving large losses for a case such as the steel industry considered here. / Master of Arts / incomplete_metadata

No description available.

The general aim of the study was to determine the effect of feedback derived from task observations on lower-level employees’ empowerment, motivation and performance in a selected steel production company. Feedback plays an important role in empowering and motivating employees to improve performance. Previous research indicates that relationships exist between feedback and empowerment, motivation and performance. However, past research was confined to particular context(s), and the effect of feedback on lower-level employees has received little research attention. It was identified that feedback derived from task observations could potentially become a tool to enable lower-level employees to be empowered to perform to the best of their abilities. The research design used is a quantitative non-experimental cross-sectional approach, where questionnaires were used to collect data. The targeted population was all 500 lower-level skilled workers at one business unit of a selected steel production company. Only 308 lower-level employees were available and willing to participate. The findings of the study indicate that there is a statistically significant positive relationship between feedback as derived from task observations and employee empowerment, motivation and performance. The positive relationship found between feedback and empowerment indicates that feedback derived from task observations can be used as a critical component in empowering and motivating lower-level employees to improve performance. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

The general aim of the study was to determine the effect of feedback derived from task observations on lower-level employees’ empowerment, motivation and performance in a selected steel production company. Feedback plays an important role in empowering and motivating employees to improve performance. Previous research indicates that relationships exist between feedback and empowerment, motivation and performance. However, past research was confined to particular context(s), and the effect of feedback on lower-level employees has received little research attention. It was identified that feedback derived from task observations could potentially become a tool to enable lower-level employees to be empowered to perform to the best of their abilities. The research design used is a quantitative non-experimental cross-sectional approach, where questionnaires were used to collect data. The targeted population was all 500 lower-level skilled workers at one business unit of a selected steel production company. Only 308 lower-level employees were available and willing to participate. The findings of the study indicate that there is a statistically significant positive relationship between feedback as derived from task observations and employee empowerment, motivation and performance. The positive relationship found between feedback and empowerment indicates that feedback derived from task observations can be used as a critical component in empowering and motivating lower-level employees to improve performance. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

<p></p><p>I dagens samhälle tas miljöfrågor allt oftare upp i den allmänna och politiska debatten och ett aktivt miljöarbete är något som i allt högre grad krävs av företag från bland annat myndigheter och miljöorganisationer. Stålindustrin är inget undantag och får därför ofta kritik för att de åtgärder som vidtas inte är tillräckliga.</p><p>Inom stålindustrin genomför företag ofta investeringar för att minska sin miljöpåverkan trots att avkastning på det investerade kapitalet uteblir. Den institutionella organisationsteorin förklarar dessa handlingar som direkta konsekvenser av likriktning. Det fenomen som studeras i studien är spridningen av miljömedvetenhet eftersom denna anses ligga till grund för investeringarna i miljöåtgärder inom den svenska stålindustrin. Formatet för studien är en fallstudie där den empiriska datainsamlingen skett genom tryckt material och intervjuer.</p><p>Det kan konstateras att det studerade företagets miljöarbete påverkas i stor utsträckning av andra aktörer inom det organisatoriska fält som företaget tillhör. Inverkan på det studerade företagets miljöarbete och således spridningen av miljömedvetenhet varierar mycket mellan olika aktörer. Det är framförallt aktören <em>politiker och myndigheter</em> som genom tvingande mekanismer styr företagets miljöarbete. Beroende på rådande situation kan dock även influenserna från övriga aktörer påverka företagets miljöarbete och spridningen av miljömedvetenhet.</p><p> </p> / <p></p><p>In society today environmental issues more often appear on both the public and the political agenda and an active environmental awareness is increasingly often demanded from companies by regulative authorities and environmental organisations. The steel industry is no exception and therefore receives criticism that they do not undertake the necessary actions to prevent further pollution.</p><p>Companies within the steel industry often invest in different measures to reduce their environmental impact although it seldom generates a profit. Institutional theory explains these actions as direct consequences of conformity. The phenomenon of interest is the spread of environmental awareness because it is considered to be the reason behind investments in environmental impact reduction within the Swedish steel industry. The study is preformed as a case study where the empirical data is collected through written sources and interviews.</p><p>It is established that the environmental work of the focal company is largely affected by the other actors within the organizational field of interest. Among these actors the level of impact on the focal company’s environmental work and therefore also the spreading of environmental awareness varies a lot. <em>Politicians and government authorities are</em> the actor which first and foremost through coercive actions affects the environmental work in the studied company. Although, depending on the situation at hand the other actors can also play very important parts in affecting the studied company and the spread of environmental awareness.</p><p> </p>

鋼鐵産業是象徵國家經濟情況的重要基礎産業，也是代表社會發展程度、經濟實力的重要標誌。因此鋼鐵產業常被認為是具有代表國力強弱的指標性意義，不論是先進國家或發展中國家，皆長期的、積極的振興鋼鐵產業。 現今臺灣的鋼鐵業者在面對上、下游皆瘦而中游獨大的特殊產業環境之下，許多企業為了達到產業規模經濟與拓展銷售市場，紛紛前往海外另闢戰場。傳統的國際化理論認為國際化過程的演變是大型企業為了因應產品生命週期的演進而選擇在海外市場發揮其資源優勢的行為，然而從網絡連結觀點我們可以把國際化看成是企業試圖和國外網絡連結建立關係的作為。通常非大型企業並不具備獨自建立國外相關網絡的資源深度，然而透過網絡關係的合作卻可以快速取得當地市場知識並藉由現有通路進入國際市場。這對於具有高進入障礙、高度資本密集、高度技術密集且企業難以獨自擁有足夠生產資源等特性的鋼鐵產業而言，網絡關係連結相當重要。 在這個全球化的時代，大多數企業遲早都會在國際上競爭。因此，專注於國內市場交易的在地企業會被迫具有國際競爭力並參與國際商業活動。所有管理國內企業或跨國集團的經理人都必須意識到這個潮流的影響力。全球化經濟現在已經充斥在世界的各個角落，而且國際化現在所影響的不僅是大型企業集團連許多的非大型企業也是。本次研究針對鋼鐵產業使用多點個案研究法，調查網絡連結對企業國際化進程的影響。來自六家鋼鐵業者的研究證據顯示可以印證在企業的國際化過程中，網絡連結會觸發並驅動企業的國際化、影響企業的海外市場選擇決策與進入模式決策、幫助企業獲得起始信用、接近新網絡關係與現成通路、也協助降低成本與風險，並且影響企業的國際化步調。 / The iron-and-steel industry is an important basic industry to symbolize national economics, and a main indicator which represents social development level and economics power. Because the iron-and-steel industry is usually considered as an index of national strength, no wander many developed and developing nations all have prospering iron-and-steel industries. Now iron-and-steel firms in Taiwan are facing a unique industrial environment, and many are expanding new overseas markets to exploit economies of scale. Traditional internationalization theory posited that the internationalization process is a behavior of giant enterprises to adapt to the product life cycle evolvement and exploit the resource advantage abroad. However, we can view internationalization as a behavior of SMEs to establish relationships with foreign networks from the network perspective. Usually small firms can’t afford enough resources to build up international networks by themselves, but by only cooperating through network connections they can obtain foreign market knowledge soon and penetrate international markets via existing channels. The iron-and-steel industry has high entry barriers, high capital requirement and technology intensity, for SMEs difficult to have all kinds of production resources, the network relationship connections are quite crucial to succeed in international markets. In this era of globalization, most firms will sooner or later have to compete in the international market. Therefore, local firms that focus their business on the domestic market are forced to be internationally competitive and to participate in international business. All managers must be aware of this trend when managing a domestic firm or a multinational conglomerate. The global economy now has reached every corner of the world, and internationalization now involves not just the giant corporations but also many SME enterprises. This research use case research method to examine the influence of network connections on the internationalization process of SME iron-and-steel firms in Taiwan. The evidence from the cases of six iron-and-steel firms shows that the firms’ internationalization process was triggered and motivated by network connections which also affected their foreign market-selection decisions and mode-of-entry decisions, helped them obtain initial credibility and access to other relationships and established channels, helped in lowering cost and risk, and influenced their internationalization pace.

A escória de aciaria LD é um coproduto originado do refino do ferro gusa em aço e da metalurgia secundária, sendo gerado, em média, uma quantidade de aproximadamente 120 kg/t de aço produzido. Assim como as escórias de alto-forno, que são utilizadas como matéria-prima para a fabricação do cimento, as escórias de aciaria LD, após beneficiamento (chamadas de agregados siderúrgicos), possuem diversas aplicações, tais como: artigos de concreto, diques marítimos, tratamentos de efluentes, lastro ferroviário, base e sub-base para pavimentos de rodovia, corretivo de solos, entre outros. Entretanto, este material possui compostos (CaO e MgO quando livres, Fe0, FeO e mCaO.nSiO2) que sofrem reações quando exposto ao ambiente, provocando expansão e desintegração dos materiais onde é aplicado, sendo necessária a estocagem em pátios para cura ou envelhecimento e consequente minimização da expansão. Atingido um determinado tempo de envelhecimento, o agregado é avaliado sob o ponto de vista do potencial de expansão para que, a partir dos resultados obtidos, seja ainda mantido sob cura ou destinado à sua aplicação. Os métodos mais comuns que avaliam a expansão de escórias de aciaria são o PTM-130/78, JIS A 5015/92 e o ASTM D4792/00. No Brasil, atualmente, o ensaio PTM-130 é o mais utilizado pelo Departamento de Estradas de Rodagem, entretanto o método leva 14 dias para obtenção dos resultados, que em geral são pouco detalhados sobre o comportamento da escória. Desta forma, o presente trabalho buscou correlacionar o método de avaliação do potencial de expansão volumétrica da escória de aciaria LD com a concentração de determinados compostos, quantificados através da difratometria de raios X em pós e o método de Rietveld, respectivamente. Buscou-se, também, compreender a influência dos diferentes compostos sobre a expansibilidade. / BOF slag is a byproduct originated from the hot metal refining to steel and its subsequent types of secondary metallurgy processes, being generated, on average, an amount about 120 kg/t of steel. Similar to blast furnace slag which is used as raw material for the manufacturing of cement, BOF slag, after treatment (so-called of steel slag aggregates), has many applications such as: concrete components, marine docks, effluent treatment, ballast, road and highways base, correction of soil, among others. However, BOF slag is composed by chemical products (such as free CaO and MgO, Fe0, FeO and mCaO.nSiO2) which suffer expansive reactions when exposed to the atmosphere, causing expansion and disintegration of the materials where it is applied. Therefore, it is required some temporary storage for curing or aging to minimize the volumetric instability that is evaluated trough the potential of expansion. Depending on the volumetric expansion results, steel slag aggregates may be approved or disapproved according to a specified limit that will allow to be used or not. The most common methods to evaluate the expansion of BOF slags are the PTM-130/78, JIS A 5015/92 and ASTM D4792:2013. In Brazil, PTM-130 test is currently the most used by the department of highways. This method spends 14 days to obtain the result that generally shows few details about the behavior. Thus, the present study has the purpose of correlating the traditional method of evaluation with the one of X-ray diffraction in powders associated to the Rietveld Method. Another goal is to understand the influence of different compounds on expansion.

To achieve agreed targets for reducing global carbon emissions, industry must become more resource-efficient. To this end, two viable strategies exist: energy efficiency and material efficiency. Despite their inherent interdependence, industry continues to treat these two strategies as isolated pursuits, providing in the process only a partial insight into the potential of resource efficiency. To resolve this disconnect, this thesis attempts to develop and apply tools that help integrate industrial energy and material efficiency analyses. Three areas of research are explored. The first is concerned with a fundamental component of industrial performance: efficiency benchmarks. No agreed-upon metric exists to measure the efficiency with which the sector trans- forms both energy and materials - that is, how resource-efficient they are. This thesis applies exergy - a well-established method to consolidate energy and materials into a single metric - to a case study of the global steel industry in 2010. Results show that this exergy-based metric provides a suitable proxy to capture the interactions between energy and materials. By comparing energy and material efficiency options on an equal footing, this metric encourages the recovery of material by-products - an intervention excluded from traditional energy efficiency metrics. To realise resource efficiency opportunities, individual industry firms must be able to identify them at actionable time-frames and scopes. Doing this hinges on understanding resources flows through entire systems, the most detailed knowledge of which resides in control data. No academic study was found to exploit control data to construct an integrated picture of resources that is representative of real operations. In the second research area, control data is extracted to track the resource flows and efficiency of a basic oxygen steel-making plant from TataSteel. This second case study highlights the plant's material efficiency options during operations. It does so by building close-to-real-time Sankey diagrams of resource flows (measured in units of exergy) for the entire plant and its constituent processes. Without the support of effective policies the new exergy approach is unlikely to be widely adopted in industry. By collating evidence from interviews and policy documents, the third area explores why the European Union's industrial energy and emissions policies do not incentivise material efficiency. Results suggest several contributing factors, including: the inadequacy of monitored indicators; an imposed policy lock-in; and the lack of a designated industry lobby and high-level political buy-in. Policy interventions are then proposed to help integrate material efficiency into energy and climate agendas. The European Union's limited agency stresses the need for Member States and industry to drive the move to a low-carbon industry in the short-term.