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The purpose of this study has been to examine selected issues involved in the growth and development of the steel industry with particular reference to the part played by government. A secondary purpose is a study of the steel industry, itself - its founders, type of organization, and some of its problems.

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M.Ing. (Engineering Management) / The steel industry is considered a very harsh working environment that has been seen to be a major contributor to the occupational health and safety incidents occurring in the manufacturing sector. Due to the nature of the steel making process, the steel industry remains dangerous to employees. Leading key performance indicators of safety are a control mechanism that can be used in contributing to the improvement of safety performance. The aim of the research conducted was to determine if leading key performance indicators of safety are being utilised in organisations in the steel industry, to determine the KPI in use was informative of the root cause of the safety incident and to identify the initial KPI development requirements in a steel manufacturing organisation in South Africa. A literature review centred on leading key performance indicators of safety was conducted to establish the meaning of KPI and their application in other similar industries. A benchmark for the research was established from the literature review. The research was influenced by the methods that were applied by Grabowski, Ayalasomayajula, Wang, Merrick, Mc Cafferty, Meador & Kinney, 2007, that were successfully used in the derivation of leading KPI in the shipping industry. The research done by Toellner, 2001 on leading indicators of safety was also influential in conducting this study. The data was obtained through random sampling in a population of production staff, engineering, personnel, specialists and managerial staff, whose experience in the industry ranged from two years to forty years. The questionnaire was randomly distributed to a population consisting of fourteen supervisors, twelve engineering staff, eighty-six production personnel, twenty-one specialists and six management staff. The respondents’ level of experience in the industry varied from two years to forty years and a combined experience level of one-hundred and thirty-five years. It was found that the key performance indicators of safety that were being utilised have not evolved significantly over the past fifteen years and they do not provide insight to the root cause of the accident. This research provides the strategic requirements needing for developing leading key performance indicators of safety in a steel manufacturing organisation.

This project deals with the viability of establishing a staging operation in the Alberton area which will enable Cargo Carriers Limited to improve its service in the distribution of Iscor's steel. This report discusses the logistics of the staging operation and the cost implication : a forecast is made to compare the profitability of the new operation with the existing method distribute tg i teel. Conclusions reached are: - the establishment of a staging operation will provide an improved service to Iscor at the cost of being 7 percent less profitable (in term s of return on turnover). - the cost of establishing a new depot in Alrode for the staging operation will be in the region of R5 000 000, - by shunting nnd stag in g loads o v ern ig h t In A iberton a capital saving of 27 vehicles will be achieved. T h j establishm ent of a sta g in g operation will also provide Cargo C arriers Limited with the following benefits: - improved p ro d u ctiv ity of fleet. - more flexibility of serv ice. - enough room for any fu tu re expansion of depot. - the possibility of obtaining new bu sin ess from th e larg e in d u strial companies which are located near th e new depot. Because of the operational ben efits and im proved custom er serv ice it is recommended th a t Cargo C arriers Limited pro ceed s with the establishm ent of such an operation.

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O tema desta dissertação consiste no desenvolvimento de uma metodologia para comparar o desempenho de diferentes unidades industriais, abordados em usinas de um grupo siderúrgico. O objetivo principal deste trabalho é, utilizando indicadores que melhor avaliem o desempenho industrial, definir benchmarks entre as unidades, comparar as boas práticas existentes e direcionar ações para a gestão da rotina e da melhoria. Para tanto foram escolhidos os indicadores industriais mais representativos dentro do processo em estudo, e a partir deles desenvolveu-se uma ferramenta de comparação, baseada em conceitos estatísticos, calculou-se o desempenho comparativo entre diferentes unidades do grupo, indicando um procedimento de benchmarking interno. Conclui-se que há a possibilidade de avaliar a sustentabilidade do desempenho utilizando indicadores parametrizados, capazes de revelar quaisquer alterações no desempenho, além da aplicação do método estruturado de benchmarking para ajudar na priorização de investimentos, recursos para projetos e demais ações de rotina e de melhoria. / The subject of this work is the application of a methodology to compare the different industrial units performance, covered in mills of a steel group. The main objective of this work is, using indicators that best evaluates the industrial performance, define benchmarks between mills, and compare best practices and direct actions to routine and improvement management. Therefore, the most representative industrial indicators has been choose in the process in study, and based on this, a comparable tool has been deployed, and using statistics concepts, the performance between mills of the steel group has been calculated, using internal benchmarking. In conclusion is possible evaluate the sustainability of performance using parameterized indicators, revealing any change in the performance, beside the application of the methodology of benchmarking to help on prioritization of investments, resources for projects and others routine and improvement actions.

Marketing not merely refers to selling, advertising, sales promotion and public relation, but also includes various perspectives which shows solid knowledge and sturdy ability. Marketing relates to corporate operation and public daily lives intensively as well. However, it is difficult for corporation to implement diversified marketing activities due to confined product features. Marketing programs are particularly restricted to narrower scopes within the boundary of market characteristic and industry common practices for conventional industry. In virtue of the price fluctuation of international steel products in recent years, how to increase market share with more innovative marketing programs is an important strategic concern of steel industries. Hence, marketing innovation has become the breakthrough point that conventional industry needs to pursuit. This study profoundly analyzes the H-company, which has carried out its traditional sales practices for more than thirty years, by literature review and case study methodology. After recognizing the target market and focusing on meeting customers¡¦ needs, we developed the innovative marketing strategies containing product, price, place and promotion aspects. Next, we integrated marketing techniques of horizontal and vertical alliances, financial instruments as well as marketing concepts. Then, by thoroughly executing ISO quality policy ¡§ pragmatic quality, customer satisfaction¡¨ which H-company has exercised to build its new competition strategies and target of growth and profit. Based on these integrated concepts, we constructed an innovative marketing model. Finally, the in-depth interviews were made to verify the feasibility of this innovative marketing model from customers¡¦ perspective. The sample comprised two direct clients and two intermediary agents, were selected from customers of H-company. The research reached the conclusions that the innovative marketing model proposed by this study has not only verified its market feasibility through clients¡¦ in-depth interview, but also modified from customer¡¦s perspective to fit customer needs. The ultimate target of the modified model is creating high customer value through high quality consistency, pricing based on customer value, forming closer partnership relationship, delivery reservation system, trustworthy business image, integrated service combining constructional reinforced steel bar forming industry or concrete industry, and marketing-finance integration service. The verification via deep customer interviews also demonstrates that the revised innovative marketing model can best approach customer needs and acquire high marketing achievements. Last but not least, the study was done in research methodology and provided some strategic implications, making up its contributions to both academic and practical aspects.

The purpose of the thesis is to study share price response to quarterly earnings per share (EPS) announcements in the world steel industry for the last five years (from 2007 to 2011), using the event study methodology. Moreover, the paper attempts to test share price reactions to earnings releases for yearly aggregation (pre-crisis, crisis and post-crisis periods) and countries aggregation (developed and developing countries) of sample steel companies. The research is conducted employing a sample of 30 listed companies, operating in the steel industry. The steel producers’ headquarters are situated in thirteen countries; they are traded on twelve stock markets as primary listing stock exchanges and are referred to thirteen respective indexes.The thesis uses the event study methodology in order to address the purpose of the research. This methodology provides an insight on how numerous corporate events (M&As and takeovers announcements, regulatory changings and earnings announcements) influence company’s stock prices. All the announcements were divided into two groups: “negative” announcements (Group I) and “positive” announcements (Group II). By “negative” announcements it is meant, that new actual earnings per share are smaller than earnings per share from the last quarter, and vice versa for “positive” announcements. The pattern for overall aggregation of sample companies showed the significant and expected share price response to earnings announcements for Group I only. The output for Group II was puzzling. This led to the assumption of negative market perception on the steel industry stock prices as a result of 2007-2008 financial crises. Indeed, for 2007, which was determined as a pre-crisis period for the steel industry, the share price reaction was significant for both groups of EPS announcements. However, within the two other periods (crisis period of 2008-2009 and post-crisis period of 2010-2011) significant and expected pattern was obtained only for Group I once again. The 2007 yearly aggregation comprised only twenty companies due to the data availability. This revealed the assumption, that this sample of twenty steel companies should be tested for the two other periods. However, the pattern remained the same as in the overall aggregation case. Furthermore, the sample steel companies were aggregated on countries basis. The obtained response was analogous to overall aggregation response, the only difference is that Group I reaction was more significant for developed countries than for developing counties sample.