A new steel distribution centre has opened on Teesside to provide a faster and more efficient service for the construction industry.

Tata Steel has invested £3.1 million to create the new facility, which is located on the company’s Lackenby site, adjacent to its Teesside Beam Mill.

The opening of the centre has already led to the creation of 30 new jobs, which have been filled by Tata Steel employees redeployed from the company’s Teesside Beam Mill and Steelpark distribution centre in Wednesfield, West Midlands. Further jobs could be created within the new facility in the future if improved market conditions lead to the centre handling larger volumes of steel products.

The new centre will be responsible for managing and distributing around 100,000 tonnes of the company’s construction steel stock from the Teesside Beam Mill, the sections mill in Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, and Tata Steel’s tubes mills in Corby, Northamptonshire.

Director of the new facility, Rob Ridge, said: “The steel was previously transported to our Steelpark distribution centre in Wednesfield, and other service centres, before being transferred to the customer. The Wednesfield site will still process a large number of the steel sections, but it is anticipated the vast majority will now be delivered to the customer straight from the Teesside service centre.

“This is a much more efficient way of handling our steel sections that will bring cost saving benefits to Tata Steel, while also speeding up delivery for our customers.

“We will now be able to offer our customers an improved delivery service, with shorter lead times throughout the UK and Ireland.”

As well as providing customers with faster and more efficient delivery of steel sections, tubes and flat products, the new facility will reduce the company’s impact on the environment and reduce its transport costs.

It is anticipated the new centre could reduce the amount of movement throughout the supply chain by as much as 10,000 miles every month.

Steelpark in Wednesfield will focus on exploiting its processing capability, shot blasting, cutting, and growing its current levels of business within the retail market.

Sales and Marketing Director, Sector Construction Structures for Tata Steel, Ian Beveridge, said: “Tata Steel is committed to investing in the future of its business and this scheme will provide significant cost-saving benefits, as well as ensuring the business is in an ideal position to meet the demand from our customers when the construction markets begin to recover from the global downturn.”

For further information, contact Bob Jones on +44 (0)1724 405547 or bob.jones@tatasteel.com

About Tata Steel in Europe
The European operations of Tata Steel (formerly known as Corus) comprise Europe's second largest steel producer. With main steelmaking operations in the UK and the Netherlands, they supply steel and related services to the construction, automotive, packaging, lifting & excavating, energy & power, and other demanding markets worldwide.

Tata Steel is one of the world’s top ten steel producers. The combined group has an aggregate crude steel capacity of more than 28 million tonnes and approximately 80,000 employees across four continents.