Corus opens service centre in China

Europe's second-largest steel producer Corus and a subsidiary of Tata Steel  today opened a new service centre in China to supply the country’s growing aerospace industry.

Aerospace Service Centre Suzhou (ASC Suzhou) is modeled on Corus’       successful aerospace supply operation in the UK, ASC Bolton, which is one of the company’s key routes to the European aerospace market.

ASC Suzhou will stock, break bulk and process specialist aerospace steels  produced at its Stocksbridge plant in the UK. It will also supply other  materials, particularly non-ferrous metals, from third parties as part of a  comprehensive materials service package for customers in China. Given the importance of material tracking in the aerospace supply chain, a key element of ASC Suzhou’s offer will be the ability to provide high-quality material with  the right certification and a high degree of traceability.

Suzhou is a city in eastern China less than one hour inland from Shanghai. The new company is located in the Free Trade Zone in Suzhou industrial park, where an aerospace hub is being created.

Peter Hogg, general manager Corus Specialty Steel and chairman of ASC Suzhou, said: “This new facility gives Corus Specialty Steels a link in China’s aerospace supply chain and is an important step in extending our position in higher-value, specialist applications. Some of our existing customers in the sector are already located in Suzhou and we have high hopes of being able to participate in Chinese aerospace developments such as the China Big Jet programme.”

The 12 billion pound company has a crude steel capacity of about 20 million  tonnes. With main steelmaking operations primarily in the UK and the Netherlands, Corus supplies steel and related services to the construction, automotive, packaging, mechanical engineering and other markets worldwide.

Following the acquisition of Corus by Tata Steel in 2007, the combined  enterprise has an aggregate crude steel capacity of more than 28 million tonnes and about 82,700 employees across four continents.