Working with other steelmakers and the government on r&d

摘要

The heavy costs and risks of commercializing a new process are obstacles to new-process development in the steel industry. Scaling up from research to production can cost up to 100 million dollars or more. This has contributed to a weak carryover from r&d to commercialization and discouraged spending on long-term r&d by U.S. steelmakers. To reduce their costs, steelmakers are joining cooperative research efforts, some of which are organized by the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) and funded by the U.S. government. Producers hope to get more mileage from their limited r&d spending; ' the government hopes to lower the risk and cost of technology development and to boost the long-term competitiveness of the industry.