Rautaruukki

Rautaruukki was founded by the Finnish government in 1960. Also Outokumpu, Valmet, Wärtsilä, Rauma-Repola and Fiskars were involved in the company's birth. The main purpose for the new company was to guarantee the availability of raw materials for the Finnish metal industry, e.g. ship building. Rautaruukki's steel mill in Raahe did not use the traditional ingot casting method which was still used in other western countries but produced steel with the cost-efficient continuous casting technique. The company grew from six people employed in 1960 to more than 1,700 by the end of the 1960s.[4]

In the 1970s Rautaruukki portfolio expanded to sheets and pipe products because it wanted to reach a wider range of customers. A cold rolling mill was established in Hämeenlinna where tube production was started. A second blast furnace was also opened in 1976 in Raahe. In the end of the decade Rautaruukki had over 7,000 employees.[4]

Rautaruukki began to grow in Western Europe by establishing sales offices and making acquisitions. It bought a colour-coating works called Metalcolour A/S from Denmark, a steel wholesale business called CCB-Gruppen from Norway and a tube mill called Schmacke Rohr GmbH from Germany. In 1989 Stelform A/S (a new cold-formed section production plant) was established in Denmark. In the end of 1980's Rautaruukki employed almost 10,000 people.[4] In 1989 Rautaruukki became a publicly traded company.

In the 1990s Rautaruukki invested to increase the degree of production's upgrading. It also entered the construction business by acquiring Finnish steel roof manufacturer called Rannila. The markets in Eastern Europe were opened first in the Baltics and Poland, followed by Russia, Ukraine, the Czech Republic and Hungary. In the end of the decade, Rautaruukki had 5,000 employees outside Finland, employing all together over 12,000 persons.[4]

When Sakari Tamminen started as a new CEO in January 2004 he began a wide renewal program. All the companies in Rautaruukki Corporation began using Ruukki as their marketing name. According to the new strategy Ruukki began to focus on special steel products and on the solutions businesses in the construction and engineering industries. Ruukki executed demanding construction and engineering projects around the world.[4]

The acquisitions in the 2000s included Velsa (2004), Metalplast and Syneco Industri AB (2005) and PPTH, OOO Ventall, Omeo, AZST-Kolor and Steel-Mont in 2006. Ruukki started in China in 2005. It opened the first sales office in Shanghai in 2009, now there is office also in Beijing.

In May 2011 Ruukki corporation's organization was renewed, it now has three divisions: Ruukki Construction, Ruukki Engineering and Ruukki Metals.

In 2011 Ruukki introduced new product, an energy panel which helps to improve the energy rating of buildings and opened a sales office in Mumbai.

In 2014 Swedish steelmaker SSAB has agreed to buy Finland's Rautaruukki Corp. The deal has not yet (April 2014) been approved by the anti-trust authorities.

Ruukki Construction´s solutions are for lifecycle and energy-efficient steel structure in the construction industry. Ruukki Construction's products are used in commercial, office and industrial construction, as well as in the construction of single-family houses, ports, wind turbines and infrastructure construction. Investments Ruukki has made in Russia has delivered results for Ruukki is now the largest steel constructor on the Russian market west of the Urals.

In May 2011 Ruukki stated it was the first manufacturer which had developed a solar panel facade converting the sun's rays to electricity. The photovoltaic system is fully integrated into a facade and the electricity produced can be used either to serve the needs of the building itself or it can be fed into the public grid. A solar panel facade of an average office can produce 18,000 kWh of electricity yearly.

Ruukki Construction's products can be found for example in the following buildings:

• Alma Media's new office building was to be opened by the end of 2012. It has a steel frame supplied by Rautaruukki.
• A mail terminal at Hallsberg, Örebro County, Sweden, has steel frame, facade and roof structures from Ruukki.

Ruukki Engineering focuses on providing fully assembled systems and components for the engineering industry. The unit's products include:

• cabins for mobile machines,
• special-steel components (such as booms, masts, frames and support legs),
• components for the lifting, handling and transportation industry,
• wind turbine components,
• oil sumps
• base frames for generators and
• engines.

In 2011 the Ruukki Metals business unit employed around 5.400 people and had net sales of €1.691 million and operating profit of €80 million which makes it the largest business area of Ruukki.

In autumn 2011 Ruukki introduced Flex service concept. Instead of standard sizes customers can get exactly the size of stainless steel and aluminium they need which helps to reduce the customer's waste material and energy costs.

Ruukki Metals' special steel products include

• high-strength, wear-resistant and specially coated products,
• wear-resistant Raex and
• ultra-high-strength Optim structural steel.

Raex is used in ships, concrete mixers, crushers, screening equipment, excavator buckets and demolition equipment. The advantage of Raex is in its lightness: a steel container made of Raex is 40% lighter than a container made of regular steel so it is easier to handle and cheaper to transport.

Optim is used in aerial and various transportation tanks and containers. Optim weighs also less than regular steel.

Ruukki Metal's other products are rolled steel products, metal and colour-coated steels, tubes, bars, beams, stainless steels and aluminium and mineral products which comes as a by-product of the steel-making process. The unit also provides product-related services including prefabrication, parts processing, logistics and storage.

According to the company's strategy, it is not worth shipping mild steel far by world standards, but it does pay to ship spearhead products to the other side of the world for example.