Unlike the cold rolling sector where sales are usually directly from the producer to the user, hot rolled strip is produced largely as a downstream activity by the steelmakers. Therefore the distribution of hot rolled strip which invariably requires further processing is often distributed by service centres, in particular ex wide rolled material. The service centre may be owned by the steelmaker or be independent.
Hot rolled strip is traditionally split in to two categories, narrow strip and wide strip.
Narrow Strip mill numbers have declined in recent years due to the inherently higher costs of production. They differ from the wide strip mills in a number of ways. Firstly they offer greater flexibility in terms of the variety of grades they offer, the range of sizes they produce and the types of finishes available. Along with the capability to offer smaller quantities and specialist tolerances they are well placed to deal directly with end users. If material is required with a natural mill edge (Rather than slit) the narrow mills are the only source. Furthermore a number of high carbon and alloy grades are only available from narrow strip mills.
Their inherent flexibility means they are able in most cases to deal directly with end users, and therefore normally they do not distribute through service centres.
Wide Strip mills produce the largest percentage of flat rolled products. Normally the mill will have little downstream processing which means that most requires further processing such as slitting, blanking etc. before it is in a useable form. Most of their product therefore goes on to service centres for onward distribution.
For the majority of hot strip requirements the service centres will be the most likely source of material. They will normally be able to offer most standard grades of deep drawing qualities, high strength low alloy and general purpose strip for press working, blanking and fabrication work.
