Interview with Phil Dryden
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Interview Interview with Phil Dryden Making steel used to be very labour- intensive. Take Port Talbot steelworks as an example - employment at the site peaked in 1960 when 18,000 employees worked there. In 1979, some 12,000 people worked at the site manufacturing 2.4 million tonnes of steel. As I said before, there are now 3,100 people making 4.7 million tonnes of steel at the site. Investment in technology has been a critical factor in this change. For example, continuous casting technology has replaced the labour-intensive ingot casting process, which was standard across the industry up to thirty years ago. Our £120 million investment in continuous annealing technology in 1997/98 eliminated the time-consuming batch annealing process. Investment in technology has allowed us to increase steel output in Wales over the decades while increasing our overall industry competitiveness, which is often measured as man-hours per tonne of The Welsh Economic Review editorial team interviewed Phil Dryden who is Managing steel. This has also helped to reduce by Director of Corus Strip Products UK. Phil is a relative newcomer to the steel industry some 40% the amount of energy having joined Corus in April 2004 after 27 years in the chemical, petrochemical and needed to make a tonne of steel. electronics industries. A chemical engineering graduate from Leeds University, Phil’s career started in Wales when he was appointed as a process engineer in BP’s Port In recent years, Corus had to tackle Talbot plant in 1977. He went on to become one of the site’s plant managers before some serious structural issues. This isn’t moving onto a similar role with Saudi Petrochemical in 1982. Phil joined Exxon new, but has been an ongoing process Chemical in 1984, where he spent thirteen years in a variety of senior technical, over the last thirty or more years manufacturing and logistical positions. In 1997, Phil became European Operations throughout the UK. The impact of these Director, first for Raychem Limited, an industry leader in wires and cables, and then changes in Wales have been well for Tyco Electronics after it acquired Raychem in 1999. Tyco is an industry leader in documented – the closure of the Ebbw electrical and electronic connections and interconnections systems for industries Vale steelworks in 2002, the end of including aerospace, automotive, computing and consumer goods. As Managing liquid steelmaking in Llanwern Director of Corus Strip Products UK, he is now responsible for Corus’ strip steel steelworks in 2001 and so on. Although operations in Port Talbot and Llanwern, near Newport as well as two smaller strip I wasn’t employed by Corus at the time, processing sites in Pontarddulais and Brierley Hill in the West Midlands. I know that these were difficult decisions and were not taken lightly. With a year and a half in the steel Could you outline the scope and continuous casting equipment earlier industry under my belt now, I can scale of Corus? this year, Port Talbot’s 3,100 employees understand completely why these Corus is a leading manufacturer of steel are now producing 4.7 million tonnes of decisions were taken. If your business and aluminium products serving a wide steel slab, twenty-five per cent more continues to make losses by range of industries, such as than before. manufacturing and selling products to construction, automotive, aerospace unattractive, and in some cases and packaging sectors. With a turnover This steel slab, which is an intermediate declining markets, you have to make of £8 billion and 48,000 employees product, is then processed into different choices to protect the parts of your worldwide, Corus is ranked as the eighth types of steel strip products at our business that have the potential to be largest steelmaker in the world by rolling mills in Port Talbot, Llanwern, viable in the long term. In doing so, you volume – the company manufactures Shotton, Trostre, Pontarddulais, have the opportunity of protecting the over 18 million tonnes of steel at our Tafarnaubach or at our joint venture jobs of those who can still be involved in main integrated steelworks in the electrical steels company, Cogent Power that long-term future. Netherlands and the UK. in Newport. In turn, many of these products are further processed into It was heartening for me to learn that Could you provide an overview of components, e.g. into building panels by many of the dire predictions made at the Corus’ activities in Wales? Corus Panels and Profiles in Ammanford, time didn’t come to pass. Analysis Corus is the single largest into consumer products or domestic conducted by my colleagues at the time manufacturing employer in Wales with appliance parts by Corus ColorSteels in shows that the number of former nearly 8,000 employees operating on Crosskeys, Gwent. employees who did not find alternative thirteen sites. Nearly all of Corus’ employment or did not take up activities in Wales are based around Corus, and its predecessor, British retraining opportunities was very low steel strip products – that is the sort of Steel used to employ many more indeed. Much of this can be attributed to steel that goes into cars, washing people in Wales. Could you describe the proactive way in which Corus machines and tin cans. the changes that have taken place worked with the Welsh Assembly in recent years? Government and public bodies at the The integrated steelworks in Port Talbot The changes have been both time to manage these difficulties is our largest Welsh site covering some technological and structural. Let me together. 2,000 hectares. Since we completed a take each one in turn. £79 million investment in new 28 Interview This period of Corus’ history steelmaking onto three sites in the UK, and many changes were made. highlighted differences between the strip products in Port Talbot, long Experience from outside the steel company’s UK and Dutch products in Scunthorpe and engineering industry was recruited into the operations. How are things today? steels in Rotherham and invest over company, starting at the highest level. British Steel and the Dutch steel £200m in making these plants fit for the company, Koninklijke Hoogovens twenty-first century steel industry. As this process was extended down merged in 1999 to create Corus. It was throughout the organisation, I was at this particular time that The financial objective was to reduce the invited to join Corus as managing manufacturing industry in the UK was overall cost per tonne of steel and director of one of its most important under a lot of pressure, particularly from ensure that the UK operations generate business units, Corus Strip Products UK. the strength of the pound in relation to cash throughout the economic cycle. I was familiar with the difficulties that the Euro. British Steel was at that time The commercial objective was to align the company had faced prior to 2004 – exporting nearly 50% of its output, overall capacity to likely future demand, we’ve just been discussing them – so I mostly to Eurozone countries, and particularly in our UK home market did my own due diligence on the future making considerable losses on those where we are less exposed to exchange direction of the company. I looked at the sales. rate variation and cross-channel steps that were being taken to steer the shipping costs. company back to success and beyond to Steelmaking in the Netherlands was, sustainable competitive advantage and I and still is concentrated on a large, As far as Wales is concerned, liquid decided that I had a lot to contribute single integrated steelworks site by the steelmaking had already ceased at and that wanted to be part of that coast in IJmuiden, west of Amsterdam. Llanwern during 2001 so the focus was journey. I’m glad that I did make that It has always been, and continues to be on investment in our key assets, decision. one of the most competitive steelworks particularly in Port Talbot. I have already in Europe. The difference compared to mentioned the £79 million investment in Was the fact that you did not have a the UK operations was stark and a third casting machine at Port Talbot – steel industry background an geography begins to set the scene. this was the flagship investment project advantage or disadvantage? IJmuiden contains almost the equivalent under Restoring Success. It was opened My background is in manufacturing, of all our Welsh operations on a single in May 2005 by The Rt Hon Rhodri gained from petrochemical and site located next to its own deepwater Morgan AM, First Minister with the Welsh electronics industries, so that is a harbour. Whereas, taken altogether, our Assembly Government and we are helpful starting point. Many of the UK steelmaking operations were spread delighted that it is now running at challenges are the same irrespective of across six sites, Strip Products in Port capacity, with the twenty-five per cent which manufacturing industry you find Talbot and Llanwern; Long Products in increase in output that I mentioned yourself in. However, not coming from Teesside and Scunthorpe and previously. the steel industry allowed me to look at Engineering Steels in Rotherham and the business in a different way with a Stocksbridge. Corus’ investment in its Welsh fresh pair of eyes. Overall, I would say it operations goes beyond that £79 million was an advantage, both for me and for The key issue for Corus at the time was in a third caster. Over £200 million has the company. structural and economic: six sites in the been invested in the past couple of UK were trading with a currency years, including the caster What are your personal priorities in disadvantage and a single competitive development.