Cisa Trading and US company Steel Warehouse announce joint venture

Steel Warehouse Cisa will provide steel processing and beneficiation technology to sectors such as agriculture, construction, mining, machinery and equipment, cranes and automotive, seeking to increase productivity in the Brazilian market

Cisa Trading, the largest private trading company in Brazil, which provides logistics, operational, tax and financial solutions in import and export to more than 200 customers in the market, and the US company Steel Warehouse, an industry leader in the Temper Pass Cut-to-Length line and in the processing of steel coils of greater thickness, announced the creation of Steel Warehouse Cisa, a steel service company, which will provide steel processing and beneficiation technology to be applied in various sectors, such as agriculture, construction, mining, machinery and equipment, cranes and automotive. Each one will hold 50% stake in the new company.

Through this partnership, the companies will bring to Brazil an unprecedented solution in the country for steel processing, with the Temper Pass Cut-to-Length line, which provides steel plates with the best tolerances and flatness and without residual stress. For this, an industrial plant will be built in Paulínia, 119 kilometers from São Paulo. The project relies on the support from Investe São Paulo, the investment promotion agency associated with the Department of Economic Development, Science, Technology and Innovation of the state of São Paulo.

The new technology will allow for the processing of carbon steel coils, up to 1 inch, in both commercial grades, and high strength, such as S700MC, ensuring greater accuracy, quality and productivity to the customers. “Worldwide, there are approximately 20 machines of this line in operation and this will be the first to operate in Brazil,” said David Sánchez, Managing Director of Steel Warehouse Cisa.

The new line, according to the executive, offers many benefits. “Today the material of high thickness offered by the domestic market is processed in conventional lines that do not reach the same quality of flatness, tolerance and surface finish that the new technology Temper Pass offers. For high strength materials, the only alternative available today is the import of materials, implying the minimum requirements of quantity and dimensions, in addition to all the logistics issue involved in the process”. 

“With this technology that we are bringing to Brazil, we will have a higher level of flexibility to cut in the grades and dimensions specified by the customers, to meet any of their needs, and reduce rework and scrap generation at the end of the process,” he says. The company will serve both end customers and will provide services to plants and other companies that need cutting.

“There is great synergy between the two companies and we are here after the requests from the customers themselves who are already served by Steel Warehouse in the United States and Mexico and who wanted direct operations in Brazil,” said David, who says that the new company starts its activities fully committed to the country, with a long-term and well planned project.

The headquarters of Steel Warehouse Cisa will be located on an area covering 100,000 square meters, with 27,000 sq. meters of built area. “Paulínia is located in a region with high economic strength in the state, in Campinas. I am sure that the infrastructure of highways, airport and the easy access to the port of the region will contribute to the project’s success,” said the president of Investe São Paulo, Juan Quirós. The agency has been providing support mainly on issues related to the environmental permits of the plant and tax matters.

At this moment, the company is preparing the infrastructure to receive the equipment, arriving in October at the Port of Santos. In total, there are 45 containers, distributed in five shipments, plus other break bulk parts coming from the ports of Baltimore and Houston (United States). “Fifty trucks will transport the components of the line up to the production base for installation.

The assembly, training and operation will require three months and we expect to begin the operations in February next year,” he concludes.

Supply Chain

In addition to the steel processing and beneficiation, Steel Warehouse Cisa will also offer solutions that will assist in the management of the supply chain of its customers. It is a dynamic system that can plan the purchases in advance, to the extent that the inventory is reduced, and that will provide agility and the assurance that the material will be delivered on time. The order is electronic, it does not even go through the operator and the purchase order is done automatically by the system. “It is a ‘just in time’ inventory, mostly used in the automotive industry. This is another benefit to our customers, who will gain in terms of competitiveness and product and service quality,” said Sanchez.

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