It's obviously good news for the industrial site of Le Creusot. Because the investment made by Industeel, ArcelorMittal is likely to reinforce the position as far as the influence of the Le Creusot facility, a global benchmark for so called special steels.

Mr Frederick Mattei director of the Industeel Creusot said that "This new dips a reference in Europe and worldwide. It can make products at the highest level, global reference on hardened steels. This is to achieve limits of physics."

For the uninitiated, it does not fail to specify a water quench can refresh as quickly as possible steels.

He added that "It is indeed to move the steel from 900 to less than 200 degrees as quickly as possible. If Fred Mattei and all employees Industeel show a real pride, because the new temper is, so to say, 100% Creusotins. We ourselves sized machine. We defined the volumes of water and the machine design based on our laboratory and our research department. We bought the equipment and we have done work for local businesses. We have been particularly helped by the research department ATS."

The investment is between EUR 5.5 and EUR 6 million. Quenching for itself, but also for the treatment plant the water consumed by the machine with a dedicated station, which was not the case for the old model. A huge installation, which was built on the industrial site, just below the entrance of the Rue de l'Etang de la Forge.

The new hardening consumes up to 5000 cubic meters per hour. But each tempering process takes about fifteen minutes. The functions of the new machine are essential for the quality of the racks for the offshore oil platforms, but also for clad plates used by the oil and gas industry and, finally, a bit of steel.

Mr Frederic Mattei said that "This new tempering sees a quarter of our production, namely from 20 to 25,000 tons per year. And to highlight a positive surprise reserved by the new investment: We go out almost flat sheets. Leveling operations are considerably reduced. Technology does it work and we had the budget."

With a length of 22 meters and a width of 4 meters, the new quenching relies on two pools of 11,000 and 1,000 cubic meters. It induces a water pressure of 3.5 bar. In his first treatment zone, it consumes 2,400 cubic meters per hour and 3,500 cubic meters in the second zone.

To bring water, the pipes are 900 mm in diameter. The construction was provided by SPIE. The machine was installed in the foundry Henri Paul before being dismantled and relocated to the steelworks. Companies ATS Fluid' expert, Ansaldo and Veolia have contributed their expertise.