May 2006 — ThyssenKrupp Stahl-Service-Center GmbH is building a new service center in Poland to serve important markets in Eastern Europe.

Located in the southern Polish city of Dabrowa Górnicza, the center — which will be known as ThyssenKrupp Stal Serwis Polska — will start operations in summer 2007, producing hot-rolled, cold-rolled and coated slit strip and blanks on a slitting line and a cut-to-length line. The facility will have a capacity of 150,000 tonnes per year. The center in Dabrowa Górnicza will serve customers not only in Poland, but also in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Ukraine.

Key customer groups in these markets will be those with particularly high demands for surface quality and dimensional accuracy of processed steel products. These include automotive OEMs, suppliers and stamping plants as well as producers and suppliers in the home appliance sector. To date, these customers have been served from ThyssenKrupp steel service centers in Germany. The company is building the new service center in acknowledgement of the strategic importance of the Eastern European markets and with a view to strengthening its position in the region.

The building in which the service center will be located is currently under construction. In addition to ThyssenKrupp Stal Serwis Polska, the 75,000 square meter ThyssenKrupp services and logistics complex will house ThyssenKrupp Energostal, a Polish subsidiary of ThyssenKrupp Services, and ThyssenKrupp Stainless Poland, a company in the Stainless segment of the ThyssenKrupp Group. Close cooperation within the Group will provide synergies and opportunities to share know-how, which the companies will use intensively.

The Steel Service Europe operating group managed by ThyssenKrupp Stahl-Service-Center GmbH is part of the Industry business unit at ThyssenKrupp Steel. It currently has sites and equity interests in Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Spain. Its service offering comprises slit strip and blanks in a variety of sizes and includes hot-rolled, cold-rolled, coated and tinmill products. Last fiscal year, including its equity interests the Steel Service Europe operating group generated sales of over one billion euros and had just under 1,000 employees.