Press Release: Anton Chernykh, President of the Board of Directors of SIJ, was one of the key speakers on the first day of the 15th International Stainless & Special Steel Summit in Lisbon

Ljubljana and Lisbon, Wednesday, 7 September 2016 – Yesterday, Anton Chernykh, President of the Board of Directors of SIJ, was one of the key speakers on the first day of the 15th International Stainless & Special Steel Summit in Lisbon. Next year, the SIJ Group will bring the global steel summit to Slovenia by organizing the next conference, which is an important step in the integration of the SIJ Group and Slovenia into the world map of stainless and special steel producers.

At the 15th International Stainless Steel & Special Steel Summit in Lisbon from 6 to 8 September 2016, one of the premium, most significant steel industry events in the world, emphasis is being put on the development of the Industry 4.0 concept. One of the key speakers on the first day of the conference was Anton Chernykh, President of the Board of Directors of the SIJ Group, who presented the successful strategy of the SIJ Group and his view of Industry 4.0. He also announced that the 16th International Stainless & Special Steel Summit will be hosted by the SIJ Group in Slovenia. This is significant recognition, and is a step toward strengthening the position of the SIJ Group and Slovenia on the world map of stainless and special steel producers. The SIJ Group is one of the leading producers of stainless steel quarto plates in the world and of tool steels in Europe.

The International Stainless & Special Steel Summit is one of the most important global steel industry events. This year's 15th summit in Lisbon, which is being held from 6 to 8 September 2016, has brought together more than 200 leading executives in the steel purchase chain on the main world markets, who have, together with the main players from the steel industry, learned about the recent progress and challenges in the steel industry at lectures and meetings. 

This year's main topic is the Industry 4.0 concept, which emphasizes the significance of digitalization for increasing productivity, the importance of delivery dates, and reducing working capital or midphase supplies and variable costs. This concept was debated on the first day of the conference, by, among others, the key speaker, the President of the Board of Directors of the SIJ Group, Anton Chernykh, who stressed: "To successfully realize the Industry 4.0 concept, steel producers must make great progress in organizational culture and employee training in order to exploit all the opportunities and capacities of modern information and other technologies, in which we make large investments. We need to upgrade the methods of informing final users about the economic advantages of using steel."
The SIJ Group has been entrusted with organizing the 16th International Stainless & Special Steel Summit, which is a great honor and, as Anton Chernykh said, also a great opportunity: "The SIJ Group is one of the leading producers of stainless steel quarto plates in the world and of tool steels in Europe. Organizing such an important, high profile conference is great recognition and at the same time an opportunity to strengthen the position of the SIJ Group and Slovenia on the world map of stainless and special steel producers, as well as an opportunity for the entire Slovenian economy and individual enterprises in the metallurgic chain of added value."

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The SIJ Group is the largest Slovenian vertically integrated metallurgist group, ranked among the top market positions in the European and world niche steel markets. In addition to metallurgy (the basic activity), the SIJ Group is also involved in the food industry (investment in Perutnina Ptuj) and employs a total of some 7,000 people in Slovenia and abroad. In the first half of 2016 the SIJ Group generated EUR 413.9 million in revenues, with an EBITDA of EUR 60.1 million and a net profit of EUR 24.6 million. With products available on over 80 markets worldwide, the SIJ Group is one of Slovenia's largest exporters.

More info:
Dr. Denis Mancevič, Director of Corporate Communications
Email: denis.mancevic@sij.si