Innovative. best-practice solutions

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1 04 FORGING AHEAD DECISIVELY INNOVATION Innovative best-practice solutions For us, progress is the key to our future. That is why the many smart people in our company are systematically driving forward new, promising ideas. Understanding change as an opportunity Wherever one looks, the world is changing dynamically. Technological advances, fast product cycles, more efficient production processes what we need is flexibility and also the willingness and ability to keep moving. For us that means constantly refining our range of products and technologies. And they are to be found in use in numerous areas of everyday life. Structures such as bridges and tunnels, car headlights of crystal clear plastic, dental bridges: none of these can be produced to meet the highest quality standards without the use of special steel solutions. Growing in line with requirements As the expectations of industry and consumers rise, so do the demands placed on the production process and thus on raw materials and tools. Innovations are therefore not just nice to have. They are as important for our success as the air we breathe. We are constantly striving to always find the best solution. We have a structured, cross-business unit innovation process and experts who are constantly tracking down new possibilities. On top of that, our people in all locations are keeping an eye out for even the smallest details that can be improved just that little bit more.

2 S+BI ANNUAL REPORT % was the share of product innovations in proportion to revenue in 2016.

3 06 FORGING AHEAD DECISIVELY INNOVATION Material for underwater pelletising units The customer has a need we have the solution Innovative power is about working together with the customer to efficiently get a product idea ready for series production. With the development of a new material for plastics processing, Deutsche Edelstahlwerke (DEW) provided an impressive example of this in What does special steel have to do with plastics? More than you might think. Even the production of the raw material format the plastic granulate is not possible without steel solutions: the fine, brightly coloured pellets are produced in underwater pelletising units. At the heart of these are perforated plates with lots of holes through which the molten plastic is pressed and then cut off. Product characteristics greatly optimised Heat, water, chemicals, high throughput the perforated plates in this production process are exposed to many factors of wear and tear. Three qualities are therefore essential: optimum resistance, good corrosion resistance and relatively low thermal conductivity. On top of this, there is a trend in the industry towards microgranules, which requires even smaller and thus higher-quality perforated plates. In close cooperation with the customers Coperion from Stuttgart and Gala Industries from the US, the DEW specialists first defined the precise requirements and then developed a new material. With impressive results: the resistance to wear and tear is 50% better, the corrosion resistance is more than a third higher and the thermal conductivity a fifth lower than with conventional material. Meanwhile, the innovation is ready for serial production in both countries. «The new material is a true joint effort of specialists on the customer and on our side.» Dr-Ing. Horst Hill, specialist for the development of special materials at DEW Perforated plate made of special steel Centrepiece of an underwater pelletising unit

4 S+BI ANNUAL REPORT Some of the participants at the workshop in April R & D workshop Systematically steering innovation processes Where is the potential and what market opportunities are there, how can synergies be best used? In an innovative company like S+BI there is always a lot to talk about. Swapping notes between Business Units is decisive. A pool of ideas is a good thing. When a canalised stream of innovations emerges from this, that is even better. That is exactly what the initiative launched by central Technical Development in 2016 is all about. The aim is to coordinate innovation activity in the producing Business Units (BU) and to plan strategically. In a group of companies with locations, customers and staff spread around the globe this can be quite a challenge. From idea to market maturity Cross-BU collaboration is therefore accorded a key role. To ensure that no ideas get lost there, four virtual competence centres (CC) have been established. This allows experts for product and process development in the BUs to share concepts and project progress with one another and with representatives from Sales & Services. The CCs report to Technical Development. Promising innovations then go through a sixstep process. At the very end, if all goes well, is marketability. However good virtual exchange may be, it cannot replace personal dialogue. The CC members therefore also meet twice a year for workshops in order to examine projects, results and procedures. 4competence centres, one shared goal: driving forward innovations across the Group.

5 08 FORGING AHEAD DECISIVELY INNOVATION New reinforcing steel It lasts and lasts and lasts The production of the new reinforcing steel Top is a good example of the way the companies within the S+BI Group work together: the primary material is melted at DEW in Germany and delivered to Swiss Steel in Emmenbrücke as steel billets. 5-fold improvement in protection against corrosion offered by the new Top reinforcing steel. After three years of preparation, the innovation as regards durability and corrosion protection has been on the German market since September What can the new material solution do that conventional steel can t? A decisive advancement is the fivefold higher corrosion resistance. Infrastructure such as tunnels and bridges are thus considerably better protected from the risks of rust, reducing the life cycle costs in the process. Top has already proved to be the optimum material in more than 1000 Swiss building construction and civil engineering projects. In Germany, the Etterschlag and Eching tunnels on motorway 96 near Munich are two of the pioneering construction projects for non-corrosive reinforcing steel. The motorway authorities for southern Bavaria use the material specifically to extend the life of components that are exposed to chloride. Additive manufacturing of dentures From metal powder to dentures «Additive manufacturing» is 3D printing for sophisticated industrial applications. DEW is at the forefront of this trend. Their products meet even the strictest quality standards of the medical technology industry. < 50 μm is the size of the individual powder particle smaller than the largest known bacteria. 3D printers are capturing more and more areas of use, right through to private households. However, the resulting plastic structures are not at all suitable for technical applications such as tool making. Metal, or to be more precise, metallic alloys on an iron, nickel and cobalt basis, is the preferred material. For this «additive manufacturing», to use the technical term for this procedure, the metal has to be available in powder form. And it is precisely this metal powder that Deutsche Edelstahlwerke produces at their Krefeld plant. High-tech in the mouth The chemical composition of every single powder particle is such that it meets the material characteristics required for the technical product. The metal powder then undergoes further processing using various methods at the customers. Our cobalt-based powder, for instance, is used by the dental industry for the additive manufacturing of dental prostheses like bridges. Our powder materials and production methods thus meet the very stringent standards of the medical technology industry. We are certified accordingly as supplier according to DIN EN ISO (medical products quality management systems).

6 S+BI ANNUAL REPORT New XTP plant at Steeltec in Dusseldorf, Germany XTP technology True strength comes from within Energy + strength = ultra-fine grained steel: with its Xtreme Performance Technology (XTP) Steeltec has come up with a new formula for success. The technology is setting standards in the production of long steels. Strength and toughness are actually opposing characteristics. The new XTP technology makes it possible to combine the two better than ever before. The technological milestone lies in the systematic refinement of the thermomechanical processing phase. In this way, virtually any conventionally produced standard steel can be treated and significantly improved. An ultrafine grain can be imparted to the steel, using heat and mechanical force, producing a steel with properties that could otherwise only be achieved by adding expensive alloy components. For extreme challenges While XTP-treated steel looks like conventional steel, its true strength lies on the inside: the steel structure of the steel offers previously unattained levels of material resistance. The new product family is in its element when exposed to high levels of dynamic loading. Ideal areas of application include bolts and screws for construction machinery or snowcats, spring bows for trucks, shafts in transmissions and electrical engines, signal technology in the railway industry and wind power turbines. «As development partners of our customers we are constantly working to improve the technological possibilities in steel manufacturing.» Guido Olschewski, Head of Quality and Development at Steeltec