Guangzhou, 21 November 2013 – The World Steel Association (worldsteel) today co-hosted with the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) and the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, Automotive Industry Committee (CCPIT-Auto) a major one-day conference on “Green Manufacturing, the Future of Steel and Automotive”. Held at the Sheraton Guangzhou Hotel, the conference was opened by Joon-Yang Chung, Chairman of worldsteel and Chairman and CEO of POSCO. CISA Chairman Lejiang Xu delivered a welcome speech and the keynote speaker Jimin Zhu, Executive Vice Chairman of CISA, addressed delegates on the current market and policy trends of the steel industry in China.
Over 140 representatives of the automotive and steel industry listened to presentations addressing Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) as the key to future environmental management.
Edwin Basson, Director General of worldsteel said: “With the increasingly stringent emissions and crash safety requirements around the world, the automotive industry will be constantly looking for ways to meet the opposing challenges of lightweight vehicles that improve crash safety and reduce environmental impact. Therefore, it is critical for steel producers to work with car manufacturers in optimising design for both steel applications and future steel vehicles. The steel industry has taken the responsibility to lead the way in demonstrating the use of steel and life cycle assessment to reduce a vehicle carbon footprint and has invested more than $US80 million in future steel vehicle design.”
“We believe that a life cycle assessment of emissions is critical to a complete picture of a vehicle carbon footprint. It will primarily assist automakers in evaluating and reducing their total energy consumption as well as greenhouse gas emissions throughout the product’s life cycle. The introduction of LCA in vehicle emissions regulations is a step forward for green manufacturing.”
Cees ten Broek, Director, WorldAutoSteel said: “We are committed to helping our customers to meet mass reduction challenges using steel. The steel industry continues to develop new generations of steel that are stronger, lighter and form easily to meet future requirements. We are continually reinventing steel and this is why advanced and ultra-high-strength steels have emerged and grown to become the fastest growing materials in the automotive sector.”
“Steel provides a nearly limitless number of combinations of grades and gauges that allow engineers to place specific materials exactly where they are needed in a car body structure. No other material offers that kind of flexibility.”
China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, Automotive Industry Committee (CCPIT-Auto) commented: “We believe that the unique properties of steel enable it to continue to be the optimal material choice for the automotive sector in the next decades. We are delighted to see that our partners in the steel industry have been making substantial progress in advancing the performance of steels which will support the automotive industry’s drive towards green manufacturing.”
Presentations and keynote speeches of the conference can be downloaded from worldsteel.org.
Note:
• The World Steel Association (worldsteel) is one of the largest and most dynamic industry associations in the world. worldsteel represents approximately 170 steel producers (including 17 of the world’s 20 largest steel companies), national and regional steel industry associations, and steel research institutes. worldsteel members represent around 85% of world steel production.