Port Talbot Works
Visitor guide
Thanks
for
visiting
Welcome to Port Talbot Works
We hope you enjoy your visit
Tata Steel: a truly global company
We are proud to be part of the global
Tata Group spanning seven major
industry sectors – IT, Engineering,
Materials, Services, Energy, Chemicals
and Consumer Products.
difference to the world in which we
live. Steelmaking is a complex and
fascinating process and we hope you
enjoy learning about it during your
visit today.
Many of our brands will be familiar to
you and your family: Tetley Tea, Titan
watches and Jaguar Land Rover to
name a few. Operating in 80 countries,
the scale is huge.
“We share a clear vision - to be the
global steel industry benchmark for
value creation and corporate citizenship.”
The Tata Steel Group has operations
in 26 countries and produces 28
million tonnes of steel per year. Tata
Steel is the 2nd largest steel producer
in Europe supplying some of the
most demanding markets worldwide
including automotive, construction,
packaging and engineering.
Port Talbot Works is part of the Strip
Products UK business. We aim to
ensure that our business reflects the
values of the Tata Group: Integrity,
Understanding, Excellence, Unity and
Responsibility.
Producing hot rolled, cold rolled and
hot dip coated steel; we know our
products make an important
Tata Steel Values
Integrity; Fair, honest, transparent
in all dealings
Understanding; Care, respect,
compassion for customers and
colleagues
Excellence; Highest possible
standards in quality of goods and
services
Unity; Build strong relationships with
partners and customers worldwide
Responsibility; Committed to our
environment and our community
Over a century of steel
At Port Talbot we are proud of our
rich steelmaking history. In 2002,
we celebrated our centenary, but
ironmaking in the area actually dates
back to the 13th century! Port Talbot
works takes it name from the dock,
opened in 1837, and named after
Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot of
Margam, its principal sponsor.
Later additions to Port Talbot works
occurred in 1923, when Margam
works was completed.
We operate as an integrated works
together with our sister plant
Llanwern Works in Newport. Today,
5,000 Tata employees across both
plants produce more than 4 million
tonnes of high quality steel each year.
Steelmaking at Port Talbot Works
Tata Steel
In 1988, the British Steel Corporation
was privatised, and 12 years later it
merged with Koninklijke Hoogovens
of the Netherlands to form Corus,
which is now Tata Steel in Europe.
Headquartered in India, the Tata
Group can be traced back to
1868, when founder Jamsetji Tata
established a textile trading company.
Today, the group has operations in
over 80 countries across the globe.
Tata Steel acquired Corus in 2007 with
the ambition of collaborative growth.
With their very different but equally
proud and long histories, Tata Steel
and Port Talbot Works have much in
common in terms of business culture
and global vision.
Port Talbot makes steel and, together
with Llanwern, rolls it into strip.
Llanwern applies metallic coatings to
the strip to protect the steel against
corrosion. Hot-dip galvanised steels
made at Llanwern have a zinc coating
for protection in many applications.
Products made with strip steel
Countless products are made with
strip steel, but the main uses are for
automotive vehicles, construction
components, domestic appliances and
packaging. The strip steels also go to
other works in Tata Steel where they
are coated with metallic elements,
paint or plastic film, or are formed into
tubes.
by making steels that meet very
particular needs - high strength steels
for construction, pre-finished steels
for consumer products and formable
steels for automotive applications.
Investing in our future
Tata invests in the latest technology
to produce world-class products
and services. Port Talbot has
recently announced an £185 million
investment to rebuild Blast Furnace 4
representing the confidence in Port
Talbot works.
General
industry
48%
Tata Steel works closely with its
customers and provides innovative
design and processing solutions using
a range of steels. Llanwern and Port
Talbot play their part in this process
Automotive
34%
Construction
18%
Market Sector split
Steelworkers in early 1900
Melting Shop 1910
Steel worker 1920
Margam Works 1930s
Apprentice training 1940
Slab Melting pulpit 1950
Our people, environment
and community
Tata Steel works closely with its customers and
provides innovative design and processing solutions
using a range of steels.
Our people
We are proud of our people and
their passion and desire to make the
business a success.
We invest in education and training
for our employees to ensure a highly
skilled and qualified workforce that
can deliver world-class performance.
Working with our communities
We aim to play a positive role in the
communities within which we operate
and recognise that our operations
influence these communities in many
ways. We promote and encourage
economic, environmental, social and
educational development.
Tata Steel continues to help support
local community projects. We believe
community investment means more
than simply providing money. In some
cases we are able to support good
causes by providing materials, specialist
skills or the use of our facilities.
Employee volunteering is actively
supported by Tata Steel and we work
in partnership with many external
agencies on community projects.
Employees are encouraged to visit
local schools to engage in projects,
and to speak with pupils and students
about work skills and experiences.
Exhibition stand at Port Talbot Works 1965
Princess Diana visits
Port Talbot Works 1985
We are committed to supporting
local charitable and voluntary
organisations, through our
community award scheme.
Caring for the environment
We are committed to protecting
the environment by minimising
the impact of our operations and
products through the adoption of
sustainable practices and continuous
improvement in environmental
performance. In 2010, the Steel
Plant Gas Recovery scheme was
commissioned. This major project
will facilitate the capture of waste
gasses and allow the site to re-use
them as secondary fuel.
Tata Steel is sensitive to the concerns
of local communities and other
interested parties on environmental
issues and is committed to protecting
the environment and wildlife habitats
in and around its sites. We regularly
hold environmental open days for
local residents.
Being a good neighbour and part of
the local community is important to us.
Launch of the first continuous cast slab 1990s
Blast Furnace control room 2010
Steelmaking process
RAW MATERIALS
IRON MAKING
Steelmaking
HOT ROLLING
CASTING
COLD ROLLING
Coal
Coke ovens
Coke
Iron Ore
Limestone
A blend of coal is
carbonised for 18 hours
coke
sinter
Sinter plant
Raw materials are blended
and heated
iron
Blast furnace
Steelmaking plant
Raw materials are heated to
create molten iron, which is then
tapped from the Blast Furnance
steel
steel
slab
Continuous casting
Iron is mixed with oxygen
and other materials to
produce steel
Pickling and cold
rolling
Hot strip mill
Slabs are heated to 1250oC
and rolled into strips of steel
in coil form
Liquid steel is cooled slowly,
moulded and cut to slabs
Continuous annealing
& processing
Coil is pickled with hydrochloric
acid to remove the scale, and then
cold reduced to the required gauge
The steel is heated, annealed
and temper rolled to final
customer requirements
Port Talbot Works
Iron Ore
N
Landfill
Coke
Coal
JETTY
ROAD
HAUL ROAD
BOS PLANT
SOUTH ROAD
MORFA COKE ROAD
Morfa Coke Ovens
HARBOUR ROAD
Harbour
Offices
M
Coal Yard
Limestone
FA
OR
Iron Ore
NK
AD
RO
Basic Oxygen
Steelmaking
(BOS) Plant
Works
Reservoir
STEEL MAKING
PLANT
NORTH ROAD
BA
Steel Service
Centre
COKE ROAD
SINTER
PLANT
ROAD
UR
CE
N
VL
AD
RO
WEST ROAD
OA
D
RF
R
HA
W
X
Power
Plants
Fire
Station
NORTH ROAD
RO
AD
Slab Yards
AD
RO
Lorry
Trailer
Park
RF
Loco
Repair
Shop
ST
PICKLE ALLEY
West Entrance Exit
(Employees and
Contractors Only)
EA
Despatch
and Control
CAPL
HA
PICADILLY ROAD
Hot-Rolled Products
SOUTH ROAD
No 4
Blast
Furnace
W
Abbey Wall
CENTRAL
ROAD NORTH
No 5
Blast
Furnace
EN
I
CES
Occupational
Health
Contractor
Compound
Energy
Slab Yards
Refractory
Stores
CENTRAL ROAD SOUTH
Sinter
Plant
SC
MEMORIAL ROAD
Miners’
Memorial
VE
Concast
Plant
PH
O
Miners’ Memorial
The memorial is sited near the old pit
shaft. 87 men died in the last explosion
on the 10th March 1890. The memorial
consists of a mandrel, a shovel and an axe.
P. D. Allen, Managing Director, British
Steel plc, unveiled the Miners’ Memorial
on the 10th March 1990 to mark the
centenary of the explosion.
Coal
Coke
General Stores
Cold-Rolled
Products
Radiation Scanner
GRANGE ROAD
Visitor Parking
Entrance
Visitor
Centre
30 mph limit on site,
rail traffic takes priority
Canteen
CEFN GWRGAN RD
Abbey Wall
Port Talbot Works is built on the land of two ancient monastic farms. This 12th
century farm wall was retained during construction and now forms an important
piece of our history. Local folklore dictates that should this wall ever collapse; the
works will cease to operate. For this reason, it was recently underpinned!
General
Offices
KEY FACT:
Over 30,000 visitors pass
through these gates every year
Key
Public roads
HGV only road
Railways
For more detailed information about the
steelmaking process, please visit our web
site: www.tatasteel.com
or find us/follow us:
www.facebook.com/tatasteelwales
www.twitter.com/tatasteelwales
Care has been taken to ensure that
this information is accurate, but
Tata Steel Europe Limited, including
its subsidiaries, does not accept
responsibility or liability for errors
or information which is found to be
misleading.
Tata Steel UK Ltd reserves the right
to change this information at any
time without prior notice. The online
version will take precedence over
the printed version at any moment in
time.
Copyright 2011 Tata Steel UK Limited
Design: Elevator
www.elevatordesign.co.uk
www.tatasteel.com
Tata Steel UK Ltd
Port Talbot Works
Port Talbot
South Wales
SA13 2NG
UK
T: +44 (0) 1639 871111
F: +44 (0) 1639 755104
English language version