Sicon adds business development director

Sicon GmbH has added George Bond as its director of business development. The Hilchenbach, Germany-based company announced in early June that Bond will assume his new role “effective immediately.”

Bond brings many years of practical experience in the steel and scrap recycling industries and is well-acquainted with both worlds and their daily challenges, the company says.

Sicon, which describes itself as a leading solution supplier for scrap treatment and processing and for reuse of resulting residues, says Bond and the entire Sicon team will focus on making raw steel production more economical. The team has developed a range of technical solutions to specifically improve scrap quality for use in electric arc furnaces (EAFs).

“Sicon has optimized the interface between scrap processing and use and consequently helps steel work operators to achieve a much more favorable overall cost-effectiveness,” the company says. Through its process “foreign matter such as dirt, oxides or copper are separated ahead of the melting process by methods and solutions adapted to the steel industry.”

Bond started his career in 1977 at the former Co-Steel, where he worked as a melt shop metallurgist at Sheerness Steel in the United Kingdom. He realized that one of the reasons for fluctuations and unwanted deviations from required specifications was the quality of incoming scrap, Sicon says. At the steelmaker, Bond “applied himself to improvement of the scrap qualities, which directly led to an increase in raw steel yield,” the company adds.

In 2014, Bond began to develop methods of raw material preparation, resulting in the new Sicon concept of “cold steelmaking,” which it describes as “an innovation in this industry sector.”