ALZ (''Allegheny-Longdoz'') is a stainless steel producer based in

Genk Genk () is a city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg near Hasselt. The municipality only comprises the town of Genk itself. It is one of the most important industrial towns in Flanders, located on the Albert Canal, ...

in Limburg province,

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, ...

, Belgium. In 2001 the company was merged with French stainless steel producer ''Ugine'' and in 2006 became part of the

ArcelorMittal ArcelorMittal S.A. is a Luxembourgian multinational steel manufacturing corporation headquartered in Luxembourg City. It was formed in 2006 from the takeover and merger of Arcelor by Indian-owned Mittal Steel. ArcelorMittal is the second larg ...

group as part of the stainless steel division.

History

ALZ was founded as a vertically integrated stainless steel producer in 1960 as an equal holding between

Espérance-Longdoz Espérance-Longdoz was a coal mining and steel production company located in the Liège region of Belgium. The company merged with Cockerill-Ougrée-Providence in 1970 to form Cockerill-Ougrée-Providence-Espérance Longdoz (known as Cockerill) ...

(Belgium) (controlled by ''Evence Coppée'') and Allegheny Ludlum (USA).The Belgian economy in the twentieth century, p.171 In 1970 Espérance-Longdoz (''Société Métallurgique d'Espérance Longdoz'') became part of

Cockerill-Ougrée-Providence Cockerill-Sambre was a group of Belgian steel manufacturers headquartered in Seraing, on the river Meuse, and in Charleroi, on the river Sambre. The Cockerill-Sambre group was formed in 1981 by the merger of two Belgian steel groups – SA Cock ...

, and ALZ became a Cockerill subsidiary; Allegheny Ludlum disposed of its shares, and in 1971 Cockerill had a 90% stake of the shares. In 1979/80 the Cockerill group was restructure due to financial problems, and also disposed of its shares; German steel company Klöckner became a shareholder, in 1981 the other Flanders-based steelmaker Sidmar became a shareholder, by 1987 the majority shareholder. In 1988 the company became part of the

Arbed The Aciéries Réunies de Burbach-Eich-Dudelange ( French; literally "United Steelworks of Burbach-Eich-Dudelange"), better known by its acronym ARBED, was a major Luxembourg-based steel and iron producing company. Created in 1911 after the me ...

group. In 2001 Arbed became part of

Arcelor Arcelor S.A. was the world's largest steel producer in terms of turnover and the second largest in terms of steel output, with a turnover of €30.2 billion and shipments of 45 million metric tons of steel in 2004. The company was created in 2002 ...

and ALZ merged with French stainless producer Société d’électrochimie, d'électrométallurgie et des aciéries électriques d'Ugine , former producer of the

Zyklon B Zyklon B (; translated Cyclone B) was the trade name of a cyanide-based pesticide invented in Germany in the early 1920s. It consisted of hydrogen cyanide (prussic acid), as well as a cautionary eye irritant and one of several adsorbents such ...

in France during World War II, to become ''Ugine & ALZ'' (U&A). Subsequently, in 2006, Arcelor was taken over by

Mittal Steel Mittal Steel Company N.V. was an Indian company and one of the world's largest steel producers by volume and turnover. After a merger in 2005, it is now part of ArcelorMittal. History Mittal Steel Company was formed as Ispat International in 19 ...

to form

, and the works is now part of ArcelorMittal's stainless steel division.

Production

Initially the company processed steel by cold rolling, annealing and other processes, using stainless steel imported from the USA. Later the plant expanded to include casting, and an electric foundry installed in 1970. Cast stainless blocks were produced at the factory and sent to the ''

'' plant in Chertal, Liege for conversion to slab, they then returned to ALZ for rolling. Continuous cast stainless steel production was introduced in the mid-1970s, eliminated the need to have slabbing done at Chertal. Widths of up to 2050 mm could be continuous cast. In 1987, an electric foundry was installed with ultra-high power electric arc furnace, converter and vacuum oxygen decarburisation increasing capacity by more than double. As of 2002 steel production was ~1million tonne pa producing stainless steel coil and plate mainly from scrap. The factory site of is connected to the rail network, and is situated on the north bank of the

Albert Canal The Albert Canal (, ) is a canal located in northeastern Belgium, which was named for King Albert I of Belgium. The Albert Canal connects Antwerp with Liège, and also the Meuse river with the Scheldt river. It also connects with the Dessel� ...

from which it draws cooling water.

References

Sources

Further information

External links

* * ArcelorMittal Steel companies of Belgium Companies based in Limburg (Belgium) {{Belgium-company-stub