2022 Retrospect
The highly anticipated Stainless Steel World Conference & Expo 2022 took place 27-29 September in Maastricht, the Netherlands. With its focus on corrosion resistant alloys, the event reunited the global stainless steel community for three days of networking, business and learning.
This is an excerpt of Stainless Steel World Magazine, November 2022. Please read the full article by clicking here.
The Green Steel Roundtable drew a large crowd and many audience questions on the subject of a sustainable steel future.
At the end of September, the global stainless steel industry finally reunited after several years of postponements and delays, and what a celebration it was. Three days of meeting new and old acquaintances, discussing industry updates and future challenges, or just generally catching up over coffee or something stronger. Stainless Steel World 2022 was just as energising as its previous editions.
Key topics
The technical conference programme saw some of the industry’s key issues rise to the fore, with discussions about the future of stainless steel production and new materials developments, as well as staples such as welding, corrosion, and Duplex. Stainless Steel World’s 2022 Chairman, Jan van de Wetering of Nobian, opened the conference by acknowledging how much life has changed since the event’s last edition in 2019 but ascertaining that this remains the key meeting point for the entire stainless steel sector.
Expo floor
A bustling expo floor featured 240 companies from around the world, including companies from Europe and countries further afield such the US, India, and Vietnam. Each of the three days was busy and productive.
KCI was honoured to see some companies celebrate key milestones on the Stainless Steel World expo floor; Stalatube celebrated its 50 year jubilee with food, drinks, music and some special words from on of the company’s founders, Jukka Nummi. Corrotherm also celebrated a 30-year jubilee, and various celebratory parties were hosted by Arcus, Grupo Lapuente, and Van Leeuwen.
Visitor voices
Wenjing Wei is an engineer and project manager for Kobolde & Partners AB. She told us of her experience during the 3-day event: “There were some insightful speeches about the sustainability and development of stainless steel from both manufactures and end-users’ perspectives, addressing and raising key questions such as: Can we apply stainless steel material in more applications? Why stainless steel has better sustainability when comparing with coated carbon steel and HDPE materials? How will the development of H2-steel revolution impact on the stainless steel industry? What kind of gaps exist in the current stainless steel grade standards?” “It was also interesting to join the discussion of the Green Steel Roundtable,” she continues.
“Three of the world’s leading steel manufacturers (Outokumpu, Aperam, and Mannesmann) shared their different sustainability strategies for reaching the goal of Green Steel production.”
“I think that the Stainless Steel World event is a very good and important trade fair for all exhibitors and participants,” said Kristian Jevtic, Hempel Special Metals’ Sales Director Germany. “The fair is smaller than other fairs in this segment, and the discussions are therefore more interesting and effective, since you meet the right people on site. I am already looking forward to the next edition in 2023!”
Plenary discussions addressed key issues such as sustainability, supply chain concerns, and materials developments.
Corrotherm hosted a party to celebrate its 30th anniversary.
It was often a case of ‘standing room only’ on the stand of one of the main event sponsors, Alleima, who recently changed their name from Sandvik Materials Technology.
All smiles after a packed session on corrosion which prompted many questions: Lena Wegrelius, Outokumpu; Jacko Aerts, DMS; Audren Allion, Aperam; and Dirk Engelberg, University of Manchester.
