BUSINESS: 327 PRACTICES
With over 40 years of operation, “Maillis Metals Solutions” is a major player in the European steel strapping business with the largest Vertical Integrated manufacturing facility in Europe. Offering a comprehensive product portfolio along with engineering support, we cover a wide spectrum of application requirements in more than 1200 customers worldwide.
https://www.maillis.com/en/brands/maillis-metals-solutions
Use of new steel raw materials, more environmentally friendly, which result in the production of higher quality products but also the reduction of energy consumption, used chemicals and produced waste of the Inofyta factory.
The program is addressed to the employees of the company but also to the external stakeholders (customers, partners, local community, control authorities) and confirms the company's commitment to the continuous improvement of product quality, the protection of the environment and the prevention of pollution.
The exclusive receipt and use of deoxidized steel coils started in January 2021, but the beginning of the project dates back at least a year before its implementation.
Our company, having a strong sense of responsibility towards the environment and the local community and utilizing the many years of experience of its engineers but also the excellent cooperation with the collaborating steel producers, proceeded to the development, receipt and use of ready-made deoxidized steel rolls with simultaneous suspension of the deoxidation unit’s operation in our premises.
The production process of steel strap requires the use of steel with clean surface, without traces of oxidation (rust) and other deposits. The cleanliness of the steel surface is an important condition for both the protection of the mechanical equipment that processes the steel and the quality of the final products. For this reason, our production process includes a unit for deoxidation of the steel surface, by immersing it in an aqueous solution of sulfuric acid (25 m3 tank) and rinsing the steel surface in water baths with increasing pH.
The operation of the deoxidation unit needs the consumption of large quantities of water from the existing drilling, electricity, and natural gas. In addition, extensive use and consumption of chemicals is required for cleaning (sulfuric acid) and passivation of the steel surface as well as for the treatment of liquid waste resulting from the unit.
The R&D department of our company and the respective department of the steel raw material suppliers collaborated in order to clean the steel surface at the modern deoxidation units of the steel producers. By receiving directly from our suppliers, steel with cleaner surface and inactivating the old deoxidation unit of our facilities, we have achieved the improvement of the quality of our final products, the increase of productivity and the significant reduction of consumption of natural resources, energy, and chemicals as well as minimization of generated liquid and solid wastes.
In addition to the development of deoxidized steel coils, research was conducted about how we will protect the clean deoxidized surface from external environmental conditions, both during sea transport and during storage in our facilities, until their final use. The Technical, Procurement and Quality Control departments of our company collaborated with the steel suppliers to find the appropriate packaging materials for steel coils that will prevent the phenomenon of surface oxidation. Also, for the protection of the steel surface, a specially designed and covered storage space was created, which allows the safe storage of materials for a long time.
The receipt and use of deoxidized steel coils with parallel suspension of deoxidation unit’s operation at the Inofyta factory contributed not only to the reduction of consumption of natural resources (e.g., water, gas) and energy but also to the saving of large quantities of chemical consumables.
Specifically:
The savings of the chemicals contribute both to the protection of the environment in general but also to the improvement of the working conditions and the health and safety of the employees of our company.
Steel strap production factory at Inofyta Viotias, Greece.
Cooperation with the R&D, Quality Control and Procurement departments of the steel producers.
For the implementation of the program were participated the Engineers of the R&D and Technical departments as well as our colleagues from Procurement and Logistics departments.
The benefits of this initiative for the organization are multiple.
The following graphs show the performance of the main environmental indicators related to energy consumption and natural resources per ton of product produced. The reduction of the indicators is noticeable in the year 2021 where the initiative is implemented in relation to the previous years. Reducing electricity and gas consumption has a direct impact and financial benefit for the company, especially today that the prices are going to high levels.
Graphs attached as images....
The total annual savings of chemicals, which is estimated at a quantity of 800 tn / year, results in a reduction of the cost for their purchase which amounts to approximately 200,000 € / year
