TPI July 2013

business & market news

BSS appoints product group manager BSS Industrial has appointed Vikki Horn as its new heating and renewables product group manager, emphasising the growing importance of energy efficient products within industrial markets.

product sectors where customers require as much support as possible,” commented Ms Horn, “I’m looking forward to building on my past roles to progress the renewables sector, helping our customers to meet changing government legislation and end-user demands.” BSS Industrial, part of the plumbing and heating division of Travis Perkins plc, is a pipeline and heating distributor. Established over 110 years ago, BSS has more than 60 UK branches, a national distribution centre based in Lutterworth in the East Midlands, and a national tube distribution centre in Coventry.

Ms Horn, who joined the company in 1995 as a sales trainee, focused on bracketry and site support in her last role as product manager. She is now tasked with developing the current range of Boss products as well as working with key suppliers to expand the number of efficient heating solutions on offer. This reflects the company’s commitment to this growing product area and supports the customer requirement for innovative products such as heat interface units.

BSS Industrial – UK enquiries@bssgroup.com www.bssindustrial.co.uk

“BSS Industrial has a solid reputation for investing in growth areas and

Vikki Horn, BSS Industrial’s heating and renewables product group manager

Steel agreement Grupo Simec has announced that its Republic Steel subsidiary has entered into a five-year supply agreement with United States Steel Corporation, to provide tube rounds to the US Steel tubular products division. Republic is committed to supply an annual

Lorain, Ohio, which will have an annual capacity of 1.2mn tons per year, and will start operations in the second half of 2013.

minimum of 225,000 tons, but the amount could be as much as 450,000 tons, starting in January 2014. The steel will be produced in a new electric arc furnace that is being installed at the company’s plant in

Grupo Simec, SAB de CV – Mexico www.gsimec.com.mx

Valve World Expo: 60% already booked As early as one and a half years before the start of the 3 rd Düsseldorf Valve World Expo, to be held at the Düsseldorf Exhibition Centre from 2 to 4 December 2014, the trade fair organiser has decided to open another hall for the duration of the exhibition. and visitors to use both the South Entrance on the Rhine and the North Entrance with the underground station.

Also new will be the location of the accompanying conference. While it used to be held in the rooms of the adjacent Congress Center Düsseldorf (accessed via the South Entrance), a large proportion of conference events are now to be held in Hall 4, which is more compact, transparent and right in the middle of the action. This move means that conference content is to be embedded in the exhibition activities, and conference delegates will be brought closer to exhibitor ranges.

The End Users’ Pavilion will be located in Hall 5 for the first time. This is a special show where initially some 20 end users, ie the exhibitors’ customers, will present their corporate portfolios. The aim is to promote matchmaking between exhibitors and end users. After Valve World Expo 2012, companies from the oil, water and chemical industries had requested to be presented at the next trade fair in 2014 in this format as a contact point for exhibitors.

In addition to exhibition Halls 3 and 4, now Hall 5 and the adjacent North Entrance will be opened. At this early stage, 60 per cent of existing exhibitors have already registered, which means that re-booking has been completed. For 2014 organisers expect another increase in exhibitors. Opening the second entrance will allow exhibitors

Messe Düsseldorf GmbH – Germany www.messe-duesseldorf.com

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Tube Products International July 2013

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