French plant builder Fives picked up not one, but two awards at the prestigious 11th Annual Fastmarkets Global Awards, held virtually last month. The awards set out to identify and acknowledge world-class innovations and excellence for companies and key partners throughout the steel industry.
The company received the award as a Technology Provider of the Year for its ground-breaking heat treatment and real-time quality management technologies, enabling steel manufacturers to improve operational efficiency, increase the quality of finished products and enhance the flexibility of operations.
Guillaume Mehlman, president of steel and glass at Fives, said that the company had been a global leader in a variety of industries for more than 200 years.
“We have been involved in landmark projects leading technological innovations for the steel industry with solutions that provide increased productivity and flexibility of operations, while drastically reducing environmental impact," he said at the virtual ceremony. "I am very proud of our team and am honoured to receive this prestigious award,” he added.
Fives was also announced as a joint winner of the Information Technology Services Provider award.
Fives and Marcegaglia developed the SmartLine, a fully automatic strip processing line control system based on predictive modelling. In 2019, the SmartLine was commissioned for Marcegaglia's continuous galvanising line in Ravenna, Italy.
According to Guillaume, "Marcegaglia had a vision for a fully integrated control system of the coil finishing lines based on predictive modelling, incorporating all the upstream metallurgy and all the processing steps down to the finished coil in order to achieve the highest quality yield and productivity. The result has been a great success for both of our organisations."