On Aug. 10, 2011, the final two milestones were presented to the Welsh Government (WG) by the Dyesol-Tata team together with a short summary of the successful development of DSC on coil coated steel (DSC on Steel).

The final milestones were:
• Completed study of process capabilities – a precursor to volume production.
• A comprehensive review of intellectual property relevant to DSC on metal strip – demonstration of value generation from the £5M investment by the WG in the project.

Both technical milestones were approved and feedback from the WG was that the project had made an excellent contribution to science and technology in Wales. A major factor in their judgement was the technical progress made over the three-year period and the commitment from both Tata and Dyesol to invest in employment opportunities in Wales, as reflected in the project resourcing, which has risen from 15 scientists and engineers at the start of the project, to 40 currently. Plans to increase resourcing to 50 this year were presented.

The WG reiterated their support in facilitating the continuation of the DSC on Steel project, and indicated that Wales had already become a global center of excellence for DSC, with the largest DSC product development facility in the world being located in Wales. Other comments were that the DSC project contributed significantly to indirect investment in associated research, development, test and evaluation projects (SBEC and SPECIFIC), which, in the view of the WG, in no small part arose from the successful establishment of the core capabilities in the DSC on Steel project. The joint project has been the flagship project that incubated the other projects in the field of Building Systems development, and those projects will provide core research and product evaluation services as the DSC on Steel project moves into industrial production.

“We are very proud of the achievements the team has made over the past three years,” Chris Moore, project manager for Dyesol, commented. “Starting from a core group of Dyesol experts from Australia, we have built a team of the highest calibre in DSC science, technology and engineering. The cohesion, collaboration and camaraderie have been key elements to the undoubted success of the project.”

“We have leapt the key technical hurdles to bringing DSC steel building products to market fruition,” said Dr. Gavin Tulloch, project director. “Together with Tata, Dyesol has committed to the next phase of industrialization here in Shotton. We congratulate the technical team from Dyesol and Tata on the achievement today and we are confident that we can bring home the commercial rewards from the outstanding opportunity, one that addresses markets of well over £100 billion per annum. Now let’s get on with the commercial opportunities.”