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Tata makes multi-million pound investment in Scottish steelworks

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New equipment means the Clydebridge plant will boost output by up to 50%

Tata Steel is to invest £8 million at its Clydebridge plant in Cambuslang, Glasgow, to increase its capability to produce high-strength steel plate.

Workers at Clydebridge carry out two processes – quenching and tempering – which strengthen steel plate. The investment – which includes expanding the plant’s two furnaces, and installing two new gas-cutting machines and a new stamping and marking machine – will boost the output from the specialist plant by up to 50%.

Jon Bolton, director of Tata Steel’s long products hub, said the investment supported Tata's ambition to focus on making premium products for profitable markets.

“The Clydebridge plant specialises in producing difficult-to-make high-strength steels used in some of the most challenging environments around the world. Increasing our capability at Clydebridge will help us to maximise the value of the steel plate we make in the UK and make this business more competitive and sustainable,” he said.

Bolton said that in general terms the market for steel had rebounded, but that the recovery remained mixed, depending on the sector. “Steel demand is not back to what it was before the recession – different sectors have recovered at different rates. But we will continue to invest to enhance our capability in manufacturing specialist and highly technical steel products.”

In August last year Tata also announced that it was to invest £8 million in a new heavy-duty press and other equipment at its nearby Dalzell plate rolling mill, in Motherwell, along with the recruitment of 60 new workers across the two Scottish plants.

Colin Timmins, works manager of the Dalzell and Clydebridge steelworks, said: “This is the second major investment we are celebrating in less than a year. It’s the largest investment in the Clydebridge steelworks for many years and it will be welcomed by our workers.”

The quenching and tempering processes involves heating the steel plate to up to 1,000 degrees Centigrade before cooling it, either rapidly using water, or gradually. These processes alter the microstructure of the steel to improve its strength.

Quenched and tempered steel plate is typically used in the mining and energy exploration sectors, in products such as underground mining structures, on offshore oil and gas platforms and in “yellow goods” – cranes, excavators and dumper trucks. The majority of Clydebridge’s products are exported.

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