Issue 20 January 09

New concept in coil protection Static Intercept bags Going global The Tata perspective REACHing new levels in safety New EC regulations explained

Serving your business

packaging plus news

Up front
Director manufacturing, Ernst Hoogenes brings CPP's new year greetings and also answers three questions. 2008 was a year of extremes. The credit crisis and the global recession it caused is radically changing our perspectives of the future. Dealing with these changes will be a challenge in 2009. Corus remains as committed to our packaging steel market as ever. We look forward to working together with you to overcome this challenges delivering your steel to serve your business.

Contents
03 News round up 04 Protact high performance Material for tough retort applications 05 Supply chain management New IT ordering systems offers win-win 06 Tata overview Going global: the Tata perspective 08 Safety regulations REACHing new levels in safety What has happened in the manufacturing reconfiguration at CPP? We closed our operation in Bergen, Norway, in July, and shifted production to IJmuiden, the Netherlands, and Trostre, UK. Ninety per cent of our employees in Bergen already have another job. At Trostre, we are beginning our programme to reduce capacity by about 120kt, while maintaining a full product range. At IJmuiden, we have started a roadmap process, looking ahead to the next 3-5 years to assess what technology and investments will be needed. For example, we are investing in multi-roll levellers to improve shape and flatness. 10 9th Tinplate conference Innovation: The key to sustaining business 11 Improving service New static Intercept bags for coils 12 My job serves your business Mike Coakley, logistics manager

What has been the effect on customers? We talked with our customers throughout and reassured them that we would be safeguarding their supplies. For customers of our Norwegian plant we undertook trials in plenty of time at the new sites and our key customer support manager has moved from Bergen to IJmuiden. Feedback from a major Scandinavian customer whom we are now supplying from both Trostre and IJmuiden, has been very positive. We did what we promised. What was the reason for the reconfiguration? To get a better fit with the demands of the market in both continental Europe and the UK. We will continue to be able to supply a full product portfolio and offer the best supply chain solutions. Its really aimed at the longer term. We can ensure a steady supply for our customers and reassure them of our commitment to keep investing and improving in the future.

Packaging Plus News is the external business magazine of Corus Packaging Plus On the cover: Static Intercept bags in action Contact: For all comments on this edition of Packaging Plus News and ideas or recommendations for future issues, please contact: Corus Packaging Plus Dudok House 3H16 PO Box 10.000 1970 CA IJmuiden The Netherlands Samantha Allison Linda Scheringa T: +31 (0) 251 493 186 F: +31 (0) 251 470 051 info@coruspackaging.com www.coruspackaging.com

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News round up

The best in metal 2008

Above: Sustainability category winner Crown Speciality Packaging's Quality Street tin

Above: Supreme Gold Award winner Impress Metal Packaging's Heineken TenCan Beer Keg

The annual Metal Packaging Manufacturers Association awards celebrate the best in metal. The 2008 winners, announced in November, showed how the industry is meeting escalating challenges with ingenious, technically-advanced and sustainable packaging solutions. The Supreme Gold award was scooped up by Impress Metal Packagings

Heineken TenCan Beer Keg with its combination of the best in design and performance: offering peak condition beer on tap for 30 days after opening, as well as excellent print quality. Other winners were Ball Packaging Europe with the worlds first resealable drinks can and Crown Speciality Packagings easy-open lid for wood finish products. Crown

and Nestles Quality Street pack highlighted the sustainability credentials of packaging steel with their winning entry in the sustainability catagory. The reduced height Quality Street pack uses 10 per cent less steel and carries a cradle to cradle message for consumers on the base of the pack. Visit Awards 2008 at www.mpma.org

90 years young

Steeluniversity.org
Students, teachers, lecturers and employees in the steel industry now have a new way to learn about packaging steel. Corus experts have created a new module for steeluniversity.org, a free to use, on-line learning resource developed by worldsteel association (previously IISI). The steeluniversity offers the definitive guide to steel and its applications to attract graduates to the industry. The website is used by undergraduate and graduate students. It covers the scientific and metallurgical properties of packaging steel, its production and use. The packaging steel module offers a fresh, clear look at the subject focusing on performance capabilities, with easy diagrams and interactive simulations. For example, participants are encouraged to be material scientists, selecting the material, format and coating for a two piece food can. Visit packaging at www.steeluniversity.org.

Royal visit Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands recently visited the Corus steelworks at IJmuiden. On this occasion she officially opened Cold Rolling Mill 22, the latest investment for automotive steel in IJmuiden. Her visit was one of the highlights of many celebrations during 2008 to mark the plants 90th year of steel manufacture. Corus Packaging Plus has its headquarters at IJmuiden, and tinplate has been made there since 1953. Visit www.steel90.com for more information

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Protact for peel-off ends

High performance Protact proven for continuous retort systems

Peelable ends increasingly bring convenience to the food market, so demand for high performance ring material is also growing. Protact, being suitable for both counterpressure and non-counterpressure continuous retort systems, opens up a huge variety of markets including vegetables and soup. Large pressure differences can develop during the continuous heat processing of canned foods. Only Protact offers the capability of producing peel-off end (POE) rings able to tolerate these extreme continuous retort conditions with higher temperatures. The secret lies in the 100% polypropylene coating, which is firmly adhered to the steel substrate. This makes the ideal surface for heat sealing the aluminium membrane, resulting in the unique pressure resistance that is only achievable with Protact. With standing pressure Andreas Ziegler, who is responsible for product development at Alcan Packaging, producer of aluminium membranes, confirms this. Protact, in combination with Alcan Packagings Alufix Retort membrane, provides an outstanding bond to withstand the challenging pressures of continuous retorting, while keeping the excellent peel properties.

Above: In summer 2008, Bonduelle captalised on Protact's outstanding bond capability and launched peel-off ends (POE) for their continuous retort preservation systems.

Protact for high performance

Peel-off ends with a Protact ring offer the remarkable performance of a unique polypropylene (PP) bonding system: Strong - 100% bonding Fully retortable Superior seal integrity Easy opening

Protact provides an outstanding bond while keeping the excellent peel properties.
Find out more about how Protact can give you a competitive edge in the fast growing convenience food packaging sector. Request the new brochure or download it from www.coruspackaging. com. Or contact Dennis Vlaminckx, Manager account development on +31 (0)251 495823, dennis.vlaminckx@corusgroup.com.

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Supply chain management

New win-win IT systems for order management and logistics

To offer the best customer service and logistics, we need to support our commercial and supply chain teams with excellent systems, says Adam Cietak. Manager, information management (IT) Adam Cietak is leading the implementation of new IT systems at Corus Packaging Plus. For the company, it is more than just the arrival of some new software it is a major change to business processes to ensure Corus keeps up with the best practice in the industry. The project will implement new commercial order management and logistical systems for CPP which are already being used successfully by our supplier, Corus Strip Products IJmuiden. says Adam. The new systems cover all aspects of our commercial information management needs from product and contract master data to order entry. They will also help us manage production capacity, through volume and order planning. This simplifies the process of managing customer forecasts. Reduced lead times Its largely an internal change. How will it help customers? It will allow CPP to reduce lead times for many customers and enable us to be more flexible to meet fast-changing customer requirements, says Luc Brantjes, director commercial. The programme will give CPP the ability to fully support three key customer demand fulfilment methods, make to order, finish to order and make to end stock, allowing us to offer shorter lead times to customers for a larger proportion of the order book. This will improve our ability to deliver to customers on time and in full. It will also allow CPP to be more flexible and efficient in how we schedule our production. Its a win-win. Its a big project for CPP but it has been meticulously planned to roll out gradually and seamlessly both within the business and for customers. The new capacity reservations tool went live in September and is now successfully embedded in our day to day processes, says Kees van der Flier, supply chain development manager at CPP. Order entry is a step by step implementation process, starting early in

2009; all customers will be transferred to the new systems by June 2009. The new, improved customer forecast handling system will be available from Q2 2009 and this, linked with the new logistical planning systems, will make day-to-day orderbook management with CPP a whole lot easier. We will be contacting customers shortly to check master data.
Above: Manager information management, Adam Cietak Left: Order on its way Below left: Unloading the coil from the line Below right: Labelled and ready to go

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Tata overview

Going global: the Tata perspective

Left: Director manufacturing, Ernst Hoogenes with MD of Tata Tinplate, Mr B Raina, on a visit to CPP.

Corus Packaging Plus is now part of the worlds sixth largest steelmaker. How do we fit in to the Tata organisation? Here is a quick guide giving an review of the group. The Tata Group The Tata Group is Indias best-known industrial group. With operations in over 80 countries, it has 350,000 employees and 3.2 million shareholders. In 2007-08, total revenues for the Group were US$62.5 billion, with profits of US$5.4 billion. The Tata Group has 96 companies in seven business sectors. Chemicals soda ash, fertilisers and pharmaceuticals. Brands include Tata Chemicals, one of the worlds biggest manufacturers of soda ash.
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Consumer products beverages to watches. Brands include Tetley Tea and Titan watches. Energy power generation and oil and gas. Brands include Tata Power. Engineering automotive and engineering. Brands include Jaguar Land Rover, the Nano, and Indica. Information systems & communications technology and consultancy. Brands include Tata Consultancy Services. Materials metals and composites. Brands include the Tata Steel Group. Services includes hotels, property development, financial services and management services. Brands include the Taj group of Indian luxury hotels.

The Tata Steel Group The Tata Steel Group is the worlds sixth largest steel producer. With a combined presence in nearly 50 countries, the Tata Steel Group includes Corus, Tata Steel Thailand and NatSteel Asia. It has over 80,000 employees across five continents and a crude steel production capacity of over 28 million tonnes. Tata Steel Tata Steel in India produces hot and cold rolled coils and sheets, galvanised sheets, tubes, wire rods, construction rebars, rings and bearings. Its main steelworks are at Jamshedpur, which by 2010 will be producing 10 million tonnes of steel per annum. Work is underway to build a six million tonne steelworks on a greenfield site in the Indian state of Orissa. The company recently signed a joint venture agreement to build a 4.5 milliontonne steel plant in Vietnam, due to be commissioned by the end of 2010. NatSteel Asia and Tata Steel Thailand produce construction grade steel, with outputs of around two million and 1.7 million tonnes respectively.

Above: Managing director TSG, Mr. B Muthuraman at the Corus customer event. Right: The Tinplate Company of India Limited, the Jamshedpur plant. Right: Tata Group chairman, Mr. Ratan N Tata at the opening of new Corus R&D facilities.

Corus is Europes second-largest steelmaker, with a production of over 20 million tonnes, supplying a range of long and strip products to customers worldwide in markets including the construction, automotive and engineering sectors and, of course, packaging. Other Tata Steel subsidiaries and joint ventures include: Hooghly Met Coke & Power Company Tayo Rolls Limited: India's leading roll manufacturer and supplier. Tata Steel KZN: high carbon ferrochrome plant in South Africa. Tata Steel Cote dIvoire: iron ore projects

Tata BlueScope Steel Limited: A joint venture for branded steel products for building and construction applications. Steel for Packaging Corus Packaging Plus supplies approximately 1.2 million tonnes of high quality light gauge steels to the packaging industry. With a strong focus on customer service and maintaining excellent relationships with our customers, our three plants in the United Kingdom, The Netherlands and Belgium are global suppliers and produce material for delivery to over 50 countries worldwide. Tinplate Company of India Limited (TCIL): Tata Tinplate, is today the largest producer of packaging steel in India, enjoying 35-40% market share with an annual production of 170,000 tonnes.

The company exports 20-25% of its production. Since the acquisition of Corus by Tata Steel in 2007, CPP and Tata Tinplate have been steadily strengthening links and co-operation. Tata Tinplate was represented on the CPP stand at Metpack in 2008.

For more information visit:

www.coruspackaging.com www.corusgroup.com www.tatasteel.com www.tata.com www.tatatinplate.com

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Safety regulations

REACHing new levels in safety

What does REACH mean to Corus Packaging Plus? As the new EU regulation for chemical substances begins to come into effect, Hans Dommershuijzen, REACH implementation coordinator for Corus Packaging Plus, answers the key questions. What is REACH? REACH is a new EU regulation for chemical substances, which, after considerable political discussion and technical preparation, is now being implemented. REACH deals with the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemical substances. REACH is relevant for all companies that either manufacture or use chemical substances in all the member states of the EU. Why has it been introduced? The purpose of REACH is to improve the safety of manufacturing, handling and use of chemical substances. It requires the effective control of the
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risks to human health and environment that the manufacturing, handling and (downstream) use of chemical substances can create. What is involved? Under REACH regulation, data will become available about the risks of chemical substances. REACH specialists will identify and evaluate where there are reasons for concern, which will either lead to pre-market approval (authorisation) or to phase-out (restriction). The new law will have a big impact on any company that uses chemicals, as it shifts the burden of proof for demonstrating the safe use of chemical substances to all the companies involved. Part of the registration will involve sharing information up and down the supply chain. Manufacturers and importers must carry out a risk assessment of all intended uses for chemical substances, and downstream users are required to notify the manufacturers/importers of the

way they use these chemical substances. As a result, only registered uses of a substance will be considered legal.

All stakeholders in the supply chain have a responsibility. By working together we can streamline the compliance process.
Who needs to take action? All parties in the supply chain have their responsibility. Manufacturers in EU and importers into EU will be required to collect or further investigate the properties of chemical substances and their safe handling. It is important, for example, for Corus Packaging Plus to be sure that our suppliers know how we use the substances they supply to us.

Left: Manager regulatory affairs, Hans Dommershuijzen.

What will the effect be on the supply chain? Effective implementation of REACH will require increased co-operation between parties in the supply chain. Horizontal co-operation between parties operating in similar fields of industry will lead to new standards. Vertical co-operation between different parties through a supply chain is needed to effectively control potential risks. What has CPP done? Corus Packaging Plus has begun a number of activities to support the rollout of the REACH regulation, and to comply with the new legislation. We have recently written to all our customers, as part of our endeavour to ensure that the tinplate supply chain is compliant with the new REACH regulation. We have demonstrated our commitment by our membership of the REACH Tin Metal Consortium, which is a good example of the horizontal co-operation

that successful REACH implementation requires. In order to efficiently support communication in the supply chain Corus has sought the assistance of TNO (a well recognised independent Dutch research and consultancy institute) to streamline this process. Recently we finished with the pre-registration of the substances that we import (into EU) or manufacture (eg, by-products). This preregistration is the (administrative) start of the registration under REACH. During the further processing of packaging steel at our customers, the chemical composition of packaging does not change and therefore, packaging steel itself is not considerd a chemical substance and doesnt need to be registered. Corus is about to finalise a thorough check on whether all our suppliers know their obligations under REACH. The ultimate aim of all these activities is to ensure a continuous supply of tinplate.

How do I find out more? Your regular commercial and technical contacts at CPP will be able to give you more information. For more detailed questions, the key CPP contact is Hans Dommershuijzen (E: hans. dommershuijzen@corusgroup. com). The website of the European Chemical Agency (ECHA) (www.echa. europa.eu) provides both general brochures and detailed information about REACH implementation.

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Ninth International Tinplate conference

Innovation: the key to sustaining business

Wim van der Meer, director product market development and strategy, Corus Packaging Plus, gave a keynote speech on innovation at the opening session of the ninth International Tinplate conference in Istanbul. Joining other leaders in the worldwide tinplate industry, Dr van der Meer talked about how innovation should benefit the three Ps: people, profit and planet. Innovation is key to sustaining our business, he said, pointing out that the biggest challenge to steel packaging is to compete with alternative packaging materials. However, steels proven track record in innovation has resulted in the introduction of new can concepts such as monobloc aerosols, new opening systems, new coatings and weight reduction. All this has helped keep steel at the forefront of the packaging industry. To stay that way, the innovations of tomorrow, driven by customer demand, would stem from developments in metallurgy and coatings.These new steel products will result in higher efficiencies in can making and further supply chain optimisation. These then lead to better performing and more sustainable steel

Above: Director product and market Development, Wim van der Meer

packaging. The commercial impact of innovation on the paint can value chain was presented on the second day by Corus Product Market Development Manager, Cor Waringa. It was shown that through customer cooperation, Corus polymer coated packaging steel Protact provides a total solution for paint cans. It offers compliance for both water and solvent based paint products. Not only does Protact offer performance improvements like the opportunity to down gauge (whilst maintaining pack performance) but it is also suitable for current and future generation paint formulations. For more information contact Dennis Vlaminckx, manager account development on +31 (0)251 495823, dennis.vlaminckx@corusgroup.com The conference was co-sponsored by CPP and The Tinplate Company of India (TCIL) both part of parent company, Tata Steel Group. Tarun Daga, chief Operating Officer of TCIL, presented a keynote speech highlighting the enormous opportunities offered by the emerging growth markets. His colleague Abesh Chatterjee, assistant chief marketing manager gave greater inside to the dynamics of India's packaging industry.
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Improving service

New Static Intercept bags for coils

Tested for two important improvements:
No electrostatic discharges (ESD). Reduction of non-sea water corrosion

The problems they eliminate

Customers have reported occasional issues with electrostatic discharge when unpacking coils. The new copperblown Static Intercept bags have been tested with selected customers since November 2006. Alternatives, such as paper wrapping, were explored but found to be less effective for protection as well as being more costly to produce.

CPPs own handlers report these benefits:

Following extensive testing, Corus Packaging Plus has decided to replace the existing VCI plastic bag packaging on our coils with a Static Intercept bag. The new Static Intercept wrapping is made from PE, embedded with small copper particles. Static Intercept will start replacing the VCI bags for Corus Packaging Plus coils. The change will commence with material supplied from our IJmuiden plant, with Trostre and Duffel following in 2009. Customers have reported occasional issues with electrostatic discharge when unpacking coils, says Marco Clots, packaging specialist at Corus Packaging Plus. We listened to these comments very seriously and took action. It has taken two years of development and testing to make sure we have the right answer. We think that the new Static Intercept bags put us ahead of the rest of the industry again. At the moment other suppliers of plastic bags are giving guarantees about protection against corrosion and electrostatic discharges on alternative packaging. However, there have been no tests yet to support these guarantees and testing usually takes about 2-3 years. The new bag has other benefits. Tests have shown that it offers enhanced corrosion protection compared to the existing materials. The PE material is food safe, as recyclable as the existing VCI bags, easy to handle and has no health or environmental restrictions. It has been tested according to EU regulations for plastics (2002/72/EC standard for food safety). For more information, please contact Marco Clots, Packaging Specialist, Corus Packaging Plus. Telephone: +31 (0)251 496090 or email marco.clots@corusgroup.com No ESD shocks during packing. Bags open more easily with no sticky VCI. Harmonising pack styles saves warehouse space.

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My job serves your business

Mike Coakley is logistics manager at Corus Packaging Plus, Trostre, Wales, UK
What does your job involve? I am responsible for logistics at Trostre. This involves the movement of inbound and outbound material, as well as scheduling for the plant and the safe storage and dispatch of finished goods. As part of the works management team, I also share responsibility for a safe, efficient and customer-focused plant. How do you add value for our customers? Through a partnership approach. We involve everyone in the supply chain, starting with our customers needs, our own manufacturing and commercial teams and finally down to our Corus steel strip supplier. Do you have a specialisation? I am particularly focused on ensuring my team has the relevant qualifications and most up-to-date techniques, so they can deliver our promises in todays competitive marketplace. What do you think your customers value most? A good example of that is the two-week lead time project. Customers value a supplier who supports and develops joint supply chain solutions to reduce costs and further improve service. A supplier who delivers on time with consistent quality is a given. What do you like about your job? I particularly enjoy being in a position to influence the whole supply chain, from sourcing and delivery strategies to supporting and working with customers both on everyday activities such as deliveries, and in exploring longer term, sustainable joint benefits. I like working with many people, who all have the common goal of continuously improving our service performance.