Andrea Bianchi

Chief Technology Officer
Acciaieria Arvedi SpA

Andrea Bianchi obtained his master’s degree in mechanical engineering at Politecnico di Milano in 1988 focusing on technological studies, with a doctorate thesis on an expert system applied to industrial design. After gaining experience in automated forging processes and heat treatments, he joined the Arvedi Group in 1991 as maintenance engineer and then as process engineer, having the possibility to participate in the commissioning of the thin-slab caster of the first European mini-mill for flat products. As a continuous casting technologist in 2004–2005, he participated in the revamping of the Arvedi ISP thin slab caster No. 1 and in 2007–2009 in the design and start-up of the Arvedi ESP Endless Casting and Rolling process. Collaborating with the main European OEMs, Bianchi has worked for Arvedi in South Korea, South Africa, China and the U.S. to transfer thin-slab casting technology and operational know-how to the companies that have purchased Arvedi ISP/ESP plants. In 2008, Bianchi became the production manager of the Acciaieria Arvedi Cremona Steel Works and deputy works manager. Since 2013, he has been the Research and Development director of Acciaieria Arvedi. In 2018–2020, he participated in the study and design of the innovative 300-metric-ton EAF2 and in the upgrade of the Arvedi ESP Master plant to reach the capacity of 3.0 million metric tons/year on a single strand. Since 2022, he has been appointed chief technology officer of the Arvedi Group that in the meantime acquired Acciai Speciali Terni, the historical stainless-steel plant in Italy. Bianchi has been involved in numerous research programs, including the charge and the technology of the EAF, secondary metallurgy, metallurgical vessels and refractories, caster molds and mold fluid dynamics, electromagnetic fields applied to steelmaking, and decarbonization programs, resulting in the present system configurations at Arvedi and in the development of steel products with proven reduced carbon footprint. He is coinventor of some of the patents constituting the body of Arvedi Technology. Since 2024, he has been an advisory member of ITATEC, the Italian National Academy for Engineering and Technology. He has been a member of AIST since 1997.