Individual housing

ArcelorMittal Europe – Flat Products regularly joins forces with customers to create co-marketing opportunities. A recent event saw ArcelorMittal work together with Polish roofing specialist Regamet to promote organic coated steels to roofers. The goal was to increase sales. Results were very impressive with a 44 percent jump in sales of Regamet products made with Granite® steels.

Regamet and ArcelorMittal: partners for the long term

Regamet is a leading manufacturer of steel products for standing seam and traditional tiled roofs. The company buys many products in the Granite® range including HDX, Deep Mat, and Quartz. From August 2019, Regamet also started to use the latest member of the family – Granite® Ultramat.

“We purchase ArcelorMittal’s Granite® range to produce seven types of steel roof tiles,” notes Wacław Tryba, owner of Regamet. “We also offer trapezoidal sheets in seven different patterns and two types of roof panels. And then there are the accessories such as ridge tiles, water management parts such as gutters and downpipes, and fixing systems.”

ArcelorMittal provides graphics and assistance

When Regamet had the idea to undertake a major marketing campaign, they contacted ArcelorMittal for help. “ArcelorMittal shared graphics and helped us to fine-tune the messages for our network,” explains Mr Tryba.

That led to the development of posters and banners to promote the campaign at Regamet branches and other participating companies. Emails were sent to almost a thousand roofers.

ArcelorMittal helped Regamet to develop a range of co-branded helmets, caps, t-shirts, and thermal vests. Roofers could buy these promotional items, as well as a banner with their own contact details, for just 1 PLN (0,23 EUR) when they placed an order for more than 100 square metres of Granite® roofing products.

Photo competition adds new dimension to cooperation

The promotion also included a photo competition with prizes for images of the most interesting roofs made with Granite®.

At the end of the campaign, Regamet presented tools to the winners of the photography contest during the company’s annual training day for roofers in Kraków. “The results of the campaign were very satisfactory,” says Mr Tryba. “The roofers were eager to participate in the competition. 215 of them received clothes and gadgets or were awarded with tools. It has strengthened Regamet’s brand and increased awareness of ArcelorMittal’s roofing solutions amongst a key target group. The result? A 44 percent jump in orders for Granite® products.”

Would Regamet participate in a similar promotional event? “Absolutely,” says Mr Tryba. “Further activities are already scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2019 and beyond.”

About Regamet

Regamet is one of the leading manufacturers of metal roofing sheets and trapezoidal sheets in Poland. Their offer also includes a wide range of roof accessories and flashings made to individual customer orders. While Poland is the largest market for Regamet’s roofing solutions, the company’s products are also sold in Belarus, the Czech Republic, Germany, Slovakia, and Ukraine.

More info: www.regamet.com.pl

Text: ArcelorMittal Europe Communications
Photos: Regamet

ArcelorMittal’s breakthrough Jetskin® coating has an extremely homogeneous surface which offers excellent corrosion protection. Metal Union, a long-term ArcelorMittal customer based in Poland, has started testing Jetskin® in a window frame application. The resulting frames are very rigid and have better thermal performance than aluminium solutions. They are proving popular in trials with customers due to the aesthetic finish of Jetskin® and its excellent environmental credentials.

A perfect blend

Metal Union developed their first Jetskin® window frame designs during 2018. “We used Jetskin® for the ‘inter-pane’ frame which separates the panes of glass in a typical double- or triple-glazed window,” explains Grzegorz Rudniak, product manager for Metal Union. “Jetskin® gives the inter-pane a homogeneous appearance which matches the colour of the overall window frame. Before Jetskin® we used galvanised steel, but this can reflect light and disrupts the visual appearance of the window. With Jetskin®, this does not occur.”

Better aesthetics, simpler production

The manufacturing process is also simpler, as Adam Satława, purchasing manager for Metal Union, explains: “The profile production process is much more efficient with Jetskin® compared to hot dip galvanised steel. For example, we use less energy and lubricants during the production process. Because we don’t need as much lubrication, we minimise the use of cleaning agents and preservatives for our profiling tools.”

Jetskin® improves the performance of the window as the steel has a similar linear expansion coefficient to the glass. “That eliminates stress on the edges of the insulating glass panels,” says Grzegorz Rudniak. “It also dramatically reduces the amount of water vapour that collects on the edge of the window, eliminating the formation of fungi and mould which can be harmful to people.”

An award-winning solution

Metal Union worked closely with ArcelorMittal to develop the new frame, as Adam Satława explains: “Both ArcelorMittal and Metal Union put great trust in the development of new technical solutions. For example, ArcelorMittal’s R&D team in Ghent developed a special passivation technique which provides good adhesion between the glass and the steel frame. We trialled Jetskin® in production and with customers to prove that it worked.”

The innovative nature of the new window frame design has already been recognised by industry bodies. In February 2019, Metal Union received the prestigious ‘VIP Stolarka’ award for innovation at the 24th VIP Window and Door Producers Meeting in Gniew, Poland.

About Metal Union

Metal Union is a modern profiling company with extensive production facilities. As well as window frames, Metal Union also produces thin-walled profiles made of steel strips. It offers services such as spatial bending of wire and cutting and taping of steel strips and profiles. The company employs over 170 people and exports around 65 percent of its products to European countries.

More info: Metal Union

About Jetskin®

ArcelorMittal steels coated with Jetskin® are produced in a process known as Jet Vapour Deposition (JVD). The unique production line uses a vacuum chamber to coat one or both sides of a steel substrate with a fine layer of zinc. The coating is extremely homogeneous, providing excellent protection against corrosion. The JVD process minimises the amount of zinc that is required and fully complies with the European Union RoHS directive which limits the use of hazardous substances.

Text: ArcelorMittal Europe Communications
Images: Metal Union, ArcelorMittal and Ambiento, Zhu Difeng, Chonlawut / Shutterstock

Bucon is a major producer of corrugated steel tanks which are widely used in the horticultural and agricultural industries. The company’s round and square tanks are made with Magnelis® from ArcelorMittal Europe – Flat Products to ensure their long life and durability. Now Bucon is exploring a new application for their tanks as low-cost housing for Africa. As well as being easy to construct, the housing units can be quickly adapted as family needs change and are fully recyclable at the end of their long life.

A key advantage

Bucon was founded in 2015 as a producer of corrugated tanks for the storage of water and other liquid products used in the horticultural industry. The initial design, known as BUCOtank®, features a traditional round design which is made from Magnelis® provided by ArcelorMittal Liège, Belgium.

“A key advantage of Magnelis® is that it can withstand the aggressive environments found in horticulture and agriculture,” notes Erik Passchier, CEO of Bucon. “For example, manure tanks are subject to high levels of ammonia.”

Magnelis®: zinc runoff to soil minimised

Another major benefit of using Magnelis® is the reduced level of zinc runoff to soil compared to hot-dip galvanised solutions. “Zinc runoff is a major concern in agriculture and horticulture, but Magnelis® stays on the steel,” says Passchier. “This was one of the main reasons why we chose Magnelis® on a strong steel (S350GD) substrate.”

Magnelis® is an affordable solution for Bucon’s horticultural customers notes Passchier: “In industrial applications, our tanks represent just a small percentage of the overall project budget. But in horticulture and agriculture they account for a much bigger percentage – margins are much lower. Our customers need affordable and long-lasting solutions. Something we can provide with Magnelis®.”

Tanks with Granite® HDX and BUCOsquare® tanks

Bucon also produces coloured tanks in either light grey or dark green. In these cases, the steel used is Granite® HDX from ArcelorMittal Europe – Flat Products. “We offer a light grey which matches the windows of greenhouses and is usually used inside,” says Passchier. “The dark green finish is mainly used in outdoor applications where it blends into the environment.”

More recently, Bucon has introduced a new range of tanks known as BUCOsquare®. The tanks feature rounded, angular corners which create a rectangular or square tank. The square tanks are ideal for greenhouse applications where they can fit in with the shape of the building.

“Square tanks are only possible due to Bucon’s high-quality equipment,” explains Passchier. “Normally corrugated steel buckles when bent at the angle required, but our machines can bend the corrugated sheets tightly enough to create a ‘square’ corner.”

All of Bucon’s tanks are assembled using the company’s own patented bolt system. The system uses bolts and washers which have the same shape as the corrugated steel sheets they will join. This ensures much tighter contact between the sheets. As well as helping to prevent moisture penetration, the connection has a much higher tensile strength than can be achieved with normal nuts and bolts notes Passchier: “The connection can handle twice the tensile strength of normal bolts. That allows us to build larger or taller tanks safely.”

FLEXbuild turns tanks into homes

Bucon has adapted its square tank designs to create affordable housing units which can be modified or expanded to meet the changing needs of families. Known as FLEXbuild, the modular building system makes it possible to rapidly deploy a range of relatively inexpensive and sustainable architectural solutions almost anywhere in the world.

“The basic elements of the houses are corrugated Magnelis® panels which are engineered to precision at our facility in the Netherlands,” says Passchier. “As we are located close to the port of Rotterdam, the buildings can be shipped almost anywhere. And when they arrive on-site, the structure can be assembled easily by people with very little construction experience.”

While the basis of the houses are corrugated tanks, they can easily be fitted with insulation or other materials to create a more aesthetic finish. They can also be painted with Bucon’s Adgreen coating which reflects ultraviolet light back into the atmosphere. This reduces the internal temperature of the building by up to 20°C.

Bucon relies on ArcelorMittal’s expertise whenever they have questions explains Passchier: “We’re always innovating, and ArcelorMittal’s technical people have a lot of knowledge about steel. Their answers are based on knowledge and numbers – they don’t make promises they can’t keep. And they strongly believe in long-term relationships and working together to find the best solution – both technically and commercially. What’s technically possible is not always commercial, but ArcelorMittal’s people understand this.”

About Bucon

Bucon Industries was founded in 2015 and began producing its first corrugated steel panels by the end of that year. To date, Bucon has produced tanks which are used to collect and store water, manure, and other liquids used in horticultural and agricultural applications. Bucon has a small staff of enthusiastic and highly committed people located in the heart of the Netherlands’ horticultural industry to the north of Rotterdam. Bucon’s tanks are sold and installed by a global network of authorised dealers and distributors.

More info: www.bucon-industries.nl

Text: ArcelorMittal Europe - Flat Products, Constructalia
Image copyrights: Bucon Industries

The new Granite® Impression: Impressive aesthetics for buildings brochure has arrived!

Granite® Impression is multilayer organic steel coating with an offset printed pattern that imitates nature with its smooth, wrinkle, or grained finish, depending on the colour.

Download this brochure and more in our Document library: https://constructalia.arcelormittal.com/en/documents_library

Today, organic coated steel offers exceptional economic and technological advantages, explaining its extraordinary success story in construction.

The main advantage of organic coated steel is its consistent quality: paint film thickness, corrosion resistance, and durability in addition to colour matching and surface appearance being reproducible with narrow tolerances from batch to batch.

The flexibility of the coil coating process allows us to produce a range of different surface finishes such as smooth, orange peel, grained, textured, or embossed, all of which are available in a wide choice of colours (solid, metallic, pearlescent, etc.) and the required degree of gloss: anything from matt to high gloss.

The pre-painted steel range of ArcelorMittal Europe – Flat Products offers architects, designers, and investors in building a unique range able to satisfy the most stringent criteria required by the construction industry in terms of aesthetics, durability performance, and sustainability.

AESTHETICS

The richest colours available on the market with surface textures of high aesthetic appeal such as matt satin, smooth, grainy, or impression finishes can give a unique identity to each building.

DURABILITY PERFORMANCE

Our guaranteed pre-painted steel is able to withstand the most extreme conditions in terms of temperature and weathering.

It is suitable for marine environments and other corrosive environments, offering scratch-resistance and colour brilliance with a minimal amount of maintenance.

ArcelorMittal has many years of experience in delivering high-quality organic coated products. Thanks to our know-how and skills acquired, we are able to offer long-term warranties on our steels for external applications with a validity of up to 30 years.

Our steels are subjected to comprehensive tests by our expert R&D team under extreme conditions of corrosion and weathering, both in the laboratory and on external sites.

After running our internal testing, we turn to independent institutes and laboratories that conduct a wide variety of tests in order to obtain external certification by bodies such as the CSTB in France, the BBA in the United Kingdom, the DIBt in Germany, and many more. So, our products can be chosen safely.

SUSTAINABILITY

The Nature collection includes the full range of ArcelorMittal Europe – Flat Product’s organic coated steels that are in compliance with both present and future REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals) regulations from the European Union.
For example, the Nature collection is already 100% free of hexavalent chromium and heavy metals.

In addition, we are assessing the environmental impacts of our organic coated product range in accordance with the European Standard EN15804, and we offer EPD (Environmental Product Declarations) certified by third parties. These EPDs are increasingly relevant for the LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) of buildings and related building scheme regulation and certification.

DIGITALISATION

The use of digital tools is growing rapidly in the construction market.

Building Information Modelling, known as BIM, enables collaborative work between all construction project stakeholders, from the design stage to the in-use stage.

Among other digitalisation initiatives, ArcelorMittal Europe – Flat Products is now providing designers, investors, and contractors a full set of BIM objects dedicated to our organic coated product range. These provide the full set of product information, 3D rendering views, and they are compatible with most popular BIM software on the market.

Detailed product information, EPDs, and BIM objects are all available right here on our information platform dedicated to construction:
https://constructalia.arcelormittal.com

Text: Constructalia

Photos: Adam Pejcha/ArcelorMittal Europe - Flat Products, Jeroen Op de Beeck

Blachdom Plus, a producer of steel roofing solutions in Poland, has tested Granite® Ultramat from ArcelorMittal Europe – Flat Products. This is not the first time the company has run real-life production tests on new products from ArcelorMittal. For Blachdom Plus, trials such as this give them early access to solutions that will be attractive to their customers and a competitive advantage when it comes to understanding the technical performance of the material.

A natural fit

Matt coatings are very popular with Blachdom Plus customers making Granite® Ultramat a natural fit for their product portfolio. But it is the variety of solutions that makes the Granite® range so interesting for the company as Dariusz Ceglarz, Commercial Director for Blachdom Plus, explains: “Each of the products that ArcelorMittal provides for us is characterised by a different surface appearance: glossy, matt, mineral… And each has different technical parameters such as coating thickness or type. That gives us solutions for specific parts of the building’s exterior.”

Visual and production tests carried out

The first tests on Granite® Ultramat were carried out by Blachdom Plus in October 2018 though preparations had begun months before. The test coil was produced at ArcelorMittal Eisenhüttenstadt, Germany and shipped to Poland. Piotr Szafarczyk, the ArcelorMittal client technical support manager for Blachdom Plus, travelled to the customer to observe the trial.

“After unpacking, the first step was visual and comparative assessment against a sample of Granite® Deep Mat we had in stock,” says Dariusz Ceglarz. “The Granite® Ultramat coils were then processed into four of our roofing tile products: Amalfi, Beskid, Bona, and Perła. These particular sheet tiles have two of the most demanding processing steps: profiling on rolls and drawing.”

Blachdom Plus also carried out bending tests on equipment used to produce flashings and on production lines for trapezoidal sheets and ridge tiles for roofing applications.

Results prove promising

The first results were promising says Dariusz Ceglarz: “The visual test showed that Granite® Ultramat is characterised by a large grain. The coating is rough and expressive to the touch, which translates into a good, homogenous, visual aspect. The production line tests also passed without problems. Granite® Ultramat maintained its continuity and adhesion throughout.”

R&D tests to check performance

Samples of the material Blachdom Plus processed were sent to the ArcelorMittal Global R&D team so several scientific tests could be performed.

Granite® Ultramat’s resistance to corrosion is RC4, while its resistance to UV light is RUV4.

Will Blachdom Plus take part in future trials of ArcelorMittal solutions? “These are not the first tests we have done with ArcelorMittal,” says Dariusz Ceglarz. “A few years ago we tested Granite® Quartz which is now part of our regular offer. We can see effects of these trials and the benefits they bring for both sides – it is worth the effort. And of course, we are open to new testing challenges.”

About Blachdom Plus

Blachdom Plus is a producer of coated sheet products for roofing and facades. Formed in 2006, the company is based in the province of Silesia in southern Poland and employs around 120 people. Blachdom Plus has two production plants in Poland in Rybarzowice and Wrocław. The two plants include seven lines for roof tile profiling, six lines which profile trapezoidal sheets, and two lines to produce standing seam roofs. While Poland is the main market for Blachdom Plus, the company also exports to the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, and other countries. Blachdom Plus also operates 22 sales branches and has an extensive network of independent distributors in Poland and abroad.

The company now offers five Granite® finishes including Deep Mat, HDX, Quartz, Standard, and Storm.

More info on Blachdom Plus: www.blachdomplus.pl

Granite® Ultramat: safe for 20 years and more

Granite® Ultramat is the latest addition to ArcelorMittal’s Granite® range of organic coated steels for outdoor building applications.
•    Designed specifically for roofing.
•    Advantages over standard Granite® Deep Mat and competing products thanks to the high quality and flexibility of the paint system used.
•    Wrinkled finish, available in 11 colours.
•    Good formability at low temperature and after cold storage.
•    Improved scratch resistance.
•    ArcelorMittal Europe – Flat Products is expected to offer guarantees of up to 20 years on non-perforation and up to 15 years for non-delamination. Granite® Ultramat’s aesthetic properties are expected to be guaranteed for up to 10 years.

Text: ArcelorMittal Europe – Flat Products
Photos: Piotr Szafarczyk (ArcelorMittal) and Blachdom Plus