SIJ Acroni’s open day, intended for employees of SIJ Group and their family members, attracted more than 180 participants on the afternoon of Monday, May 26. We opened the doors to our work environment, showed them where we spend part of our day, and offered insight into steelmaking.

For the visitors – children, grandchildren, and parents – we prepared a short presentation about SIJ Acroni and the production processes that are carried out using the most advanced technologies. We also demonstrated how the company practices circular economy principles by producing steel exclusively from recycled steel scrap. Visitors also learned where our special steels are used – in the most demanding industries, such as nuclear, oil, automotive, and even aerospace.

The visitors then continued with a tour of the production facilities, where they saw the hot and cold steel processing in action and got a look at the activities of the mechanical laboratory. Children were especially impressed by the size of the production plants they visited and, of course, the glowing steel rolling in front of their eyes.

Managing Director mag. BrankoŽerdoner emphasized: “Our employees are our best ambassadors, and their family members often wonder where their loved ones work and what our daily production work looks like. That’s why we offered families the opportunity to take a close look at our working environment. We designed the program in cooperation with partners from the local community, which gave this so-called family day added value. We also regularly organise open days for schools and young people to inspire interest in careers at our company. With the family day, we extended the initiative to the families of our employees, hoping to spark interest in working with us – or at least to bring the world of steelmaking closer to them.”

In cooperation with representatives of various local organisations, we also prepared additional activities for the visitors. Children played football with members of Jesenice football club and explored firefighting equipment from the professional firefighters of Jesenice, with the firefighters even giving visitors a lift on the aerial ladder. In collaboration with the Jesenice Mountaineering Club, Koroška Bela Primary School—home to SIJ Acroni’s educational beehive—and the Alpe Adria Green organisation, visitors learned about mountaineering gear, explored beekeeping and the life of bees, and took part in a waste-sorting challenge. Jasna Sarhatlić from Alpe Adria Green commented on the event’s importance: “Events like this are very welcome – we lack this kind of cooperation in Jesenice. We strongly support collaboration across all levels and sectors. We know SIJ Acroni also supports volunteering, which – in addition to our role as the people’s voice constantly engaged in dialogue between the company and the local community – is another thing we have in common.” Our employees also prepared technical experiments for visitors, and the program was enlivened by a performance from the Jesenice-Kranjska Gora Wind Orchestra.

“It was all really interesting. In the production area, what we liked most was how hot the glowing steel was and how the steel plate rolled. We saw how the plate got thinner and longer.Before the visit, we couldn’t even imagine what it all looked like. It was great to come to dad’s work,” summarised their impressions young visitors Kalina and Maša.

Photo by Nik Bertoncelj, Marko Burnik, Marko Tancar