At Sparrows Point, the key to producing high quality tin mill products is consistency�from steelmaking through finished product. This consistency is achieved by using quality standards that were established when we received the ISO 9002 Certification.

This deliberate focus on quality through consistency begins with our world-class hot metal facilities.

Our $260 million continuous caster insures that all tin mill products begin with the cleanest and most consistent steel available from modern caster technology. With the $225 million hot mill modernization, you get the kind of consistent thickness and mechanical properties required for today�s demanding welded, D&I, and DRD canmaking.

In addition to making major investments in facilities, Bethlehem Steel has developed an operations philosophy that produces consistent practices at each stage during the production process. This effort defines key process variables, sets operating limits for those variables, and monitors performance against the operating limits.

The result is a deliberate, systematic approach that helps build consistency�and quality�into tinplate at every production step.

Blast Furnace: Iron ore pellets, limestone and coke are heated to produce molten iron.

Basic Oxygen Furnace: Molten iron and recycled ferrous scrap are combined with oxygen and alloys to make liquid steel.

Continuous Casting: Liquid steel is poured into the caster, which solidifies the steel into a thick slab.

Hot Strip Mill: Steel slabs are reheated and reduced to strip, which is rolled into coils.

Pickler: The pickler uses an acid bath to remove surface scale from the strip.

Tandem Mill: The thickness of the strip is reduced by compression through a series of rolls.

Washer: The washer removes tandem mill residual oil from the sheet surface to prepare the coil for box annealing.

Box Anneal: Box annealing softens the sheet through controlled heating cycles.

Washer/Continuous Anneal: Washing/annealing is performed on a continuously moving strip, resulting in harder tempers than box anneal.

Double Reduction: The Duo Mill reduces sheet thickness up to an additional 38%.

Skin Pass: The Temper Mill imparts final temper, shape and surface for single reduced products.

Plating: In the plating lines, the coils can be plated with tin or chrome/chrome oxide. Our tin and chrome-plating lines have in-line coil trimming.

Coil Packaging: Coils are place on skids, wrapped and sent to the warehouse.

Warehouse/Shipping: Coils are stored, then loaded onto trucks or rail cars for shipment.