Trasteel is a steel trading and investment company that was founded in 2009 by a group of professionals operating in the steel sector. Despite the initial difficult years, being in the middle of the 2008 crisis, Trasteel has today reached its maturity becoming a 2’000 tons trading and transforming unit of steel products.
The Group operates worldwide with offices, representatives, and clients all over the world.
Trasteel is investing mainly in industrial units that transform steel products, reaching today a varied Group of 1.5 billion euros of sales, 1’000 people and 10 industrial units, mainly in Europe but also in countries like Turkey or Serbia.
Easy Engineering: What are the main areas of activity of the company?
TRASTEEL: Trasteel today has well divided its activities, 50% of them are industrial related and 50% are trading related. The trading activity is mainly divided into three divisions: steel, non-ferrous and consumables.
For the industrial unit, Trasteel has a controlling participation into the biggest Italian producer of precision pipes called Profilmec (owning a pipe factory in Serbia called Yugotub), the majority of Officine Tecnosider, which is a target company in the field of hot rolled plates siatuted in Italy. Tamac, a fully controlled company, which is specialized in the coil cutting and situated in Massa, Italy. And on top of these there is Trasteel Makina ve Tikaret A.S, the latest addition to the company’s portfolio: a 30.000 m2 total area of workshop located in Izmir (Turkey), which can produce a broad range of heavy carpentry products to satisfy various commercial and industrial requirements.
E.E: What’s the news about new products?
TRASTEEL: The realisation of a new Ladle Slide Gate System, is the latest innovation which complements the supply of refractories for our clients. The new system is fully designed and manufactured by Trasteel under the highest international standards and has been developed with the target to optimise maintenance and ease of operation.
The design of the adaptor plate can also be modified to adapt to all major existing systems. This allows an easy replacement of old systems without the need to modifications on the ladles.
E.E: What are the ranges of products?
TRASTEEL: Main highlights of the system are the following:
- Reliability and operational safety;
- Longer sequences of casting;
- Insulated structure/springs to avoid overheating;
- Air cooling device to increase lifetime of mechanical components;
- User friendly operation;
- Fast and safe refractory replacement;
- Sturdy and ergonomic design;
- Targeted maintenance of only the damaged components.
It is also offered in 3 sizes, that allow its installation on all ladle dimensions:
| Model | 1001 | 2001 | 3001 |
| Dimensions | 285x928x448mm | 349x1164x560mm | 377x1285x700mm |
| Stroke | 105mm | 132mm | 180mm |
| Casting bore diameter (mm) | 20-50mm | 30-60mm | 50-80mm |
| Ladle Capacity | 15-50ton | 50-130ton | 150-220ton |
| n° of springs for each pack | 3 | 4 | 5 |
E.E: At what stage is the market where you are currently active?
TRASTEEL: Market requirements for our new slide gate systems are mainly related to the need for replacement of old units in existing plants and also installations in new plants under construction or start-up.
The advantage of using our system compared to others, is that there is no patent related to the refractory products, which, with other competitors, is forcing the customers to buy only selected refractory materials ay higher prices for the whole lifetime of the system.
E.E: What can you tell us about market trends?
TRASTEEL: The market is following the steel world demand, so it’s pretty much variable in the last few years.
E.E: What estimations do you have for 2023?
TRASTEEL: We are planning to extend marketing of our systems to various geographical areas, in order to be more effective in various markets.