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Report from the Executive Committee meeting

On Thursday 20 January the ISSF Executive Committee held its meeting online. The following topics were discussed in detail:

Market Development Work ; Currently we have several projects all running concurrently, namely;

  • Under the Market Development Committee (MDC)
    • Stainless steels for ‘street furniture’ **
    • Stainless steels for reusable retail containers, with the initial focus aligned to liquid personal hygiene products and drinks **
  • Under the Long Products Committee (LPC)
    • Stainless steel fasteners and fixing systems **
  • Joint MDC / LPC projects
    • Stainless steels for coastal protections which is initially focusing on 2 specific applications, namely
      • Tsunami-type defences to protect against extreme events **
      • Soft defences using a combination of natural vegetation and stainless steels to offer ‘less harsh’ protection against sea level rises **
    • The Hydrogen Economy (Phase 2)
      • This project is now focusing on stainless steels for Hydrogen production and in transport, distribution and storage **
    • Team Stainless projects
      • Stainless steel water supply lines based on the highly successful Tokyo, Seoul and Taipei models
      • Construction with stainless steels which is now focusing on the development of the Eurocode 4 rules for composite bridges

Projects marked ** are being run as ISSF task forces and anyone wishing to be part of one of the task forces should contact Tim Collins directly. (collins@issf.org)

Life Cycle Projects ; We have two projects in the ‘life-cycle’ area, one of which has just launched and one which will launch in February 2022

  • Our life-cycle emissions (LCE) project launched in January 2022 and anyone wishing to join the task force should contact Tim Collins directly. (collins@issf.org)
  • Our second project is to develop life-cycle costing (LCC) models for stainless steels in specific applications. This project will initially be run by the ISSF team until we have established a solid process for the development of the models. Once that process has been achieved, we will establish a task force later in 2022.

Members’ Survey; In the middle of 2021, we conducted a members’ survey which was very well received and supported. Thank you to everyone who responded. We analyzed the feedback from our members and identified the following 6 strategic priorities which were accepted by the ISSF Executive Committee on 20 January 2022.

  • Market Development Projects ; Take-to-market project impact assessments and take-to-market (TtM) member guidance documents will be applied and produced for all ISSF market development projects whether they be MDC, LPC or joint projects. This process which became part of the MDC work in 2021, was well-received, and will bring an alignment to market development work that will have a significant impact on the demand for stainless steels in future years.
  • Life Cycle Costing Models ; There was a clear request for solid LCC models from our members to assist with the promotion of stainless steels by considering the benefits of life-cycle thinking.
  • Membership Expansion ; Our clear target here is to grow the ISSF membership by 2 to 3 new members per year for the next 3 years
  • Member Visits and Engagement ; Clearly the ongoing pandemic has restricted our ability to see members face-to-face, however our new plan is to visit 3-4 existing members per year once the pandemic restrictions have been lifted.
  • The ISSF Image and External Appearance ; Our plan here is to undertake two significant things, namely to rename the association as the World Stainless Association as we feel and many of our members equally feel the ISSF name no longer reflects what we are about. More information on this first piece of work will be available in the coming months. The second piece of work which will be a longer term project is to modernize the ISSF website to align the ‘look and feel’ with both the modern ‘digital’ world and the compelling image and attributes of stainless steels.
  • The ISSF Fellowship Program ; We have now completely re-designed the ISSF fellowship program so that we can offer ISSF attachments ranging from 3-6 months (for one-off projects) up to 2 years with opportunities for remote working, single site placements (Beijing or Brussels) and multi-site placements.

There were also 9 other (or tactical) projects identified which will all become aligned to the work of ISSF task forces that are currently live or will commence in the coming months. They comprise;

  • Focus the working of the Hydrogen Economy task force to yield tangible results more quickly; Already adopted
  • Launch the Fasteners and Fixings task force; Already commenced
  • Focus the work of the Coastal Protection task force towards opportunities that are both compelling and aligned toward areas who have established long-term sustainable thinking in their defence planning.
  • Life-Cycle Emissions modelling; Group already established
  • Increase Member Engagement with the LPC; Yet to be started by the LPC team
  • Develop the ISSF as a Resource Centre; Yet to be started and is likely to follow the website development work
  • Educational Modules; Yet to be started
  • Establish Connections with Associations for Co-Materials where common themes are present, eg; sustainability, market defence work; Yet to be started
  • Enhance the Annual Awards Program; Yet to be started

ISSF-26 Annual Conference

The Executive Committee decided that for the time being the ISSF meetings, including the May conference will be held online. The dates of all the meetings will be communicated later.

Short Track report to November 2021

Melt shop production YTD

worldsteel Safety and Health annual report

You can find the worldsteel Safety and Health Year-End 2021 Report here. In this report you will find important information and direct links to the worldsteel extranet concerning the following:

  1. Activities carried out during 2021.
  2. The plan for 2022 including working groups and events.
  3. Schedules and deadlines, including notes on the Sustainability Charter criteria.
  4. Important information about Steel Safety Day 2022 and the Safety and Health Excellence Recognition Programme.

We look forward to having more members actively involved in our activities and continuing to work for a safer and healthier stainless steel industry and people. For more information or to participate, contact Tim Collins (collins@issf.org).

A look at the new AISC Specification for Structural Stainless Steel

By Nancy Baddoo, Ceng, and Mark Holland, PE

Article published in the January 2022 edition of the Modern Steel Construction magazine from the American Institute of Steel Construction. The article on the new AISC specification for structural stainless steel can be downloaded here
A full copy of the magazine can be obtained here.

CO2 report

Like any other major industry, the stainless steels industry endeavours to reduce its operational CO2 emissions on an ongoing basis. The ISSF has issued a report to clarify what emissions exist and where they originate from. You can download the report here.

Stainless Steels Industry Awards

The Stainless Steels Industry Awards 2022 will be presented in four categories, namely Safety, Sustainability, Market Development, and Technology. The entries which are adjudged to be the best among those submitted, will be awarded with First, Second and Third Prize Awards in each category. The Awards will be presented during the Annual Conference, in May 2022. The following entry rules will apply:

  • Members may submit as many applications as they wish.
  • Photographs should be sent as separate .jpg files with high definition, suitable for printing.
  • Members should submit their company logos as separate files (high resolution images), which are also suitable for printing.
  • Members should submit their entries before 15 March 2022 , using the form here.
  • Entries should be addressed to Kazuki Mochizuki (mochizuki@issf.org) or Frank Sukjun Yoon (yoon@issf.org).

All entries will be published. The submissions contain valuable and useful information which can be used by other members to benchmark or improve their performance. This will not only place emphasis on the importance of sustainability to the stainless steel industry, but it will also enhance the image of the industry.