CBMM Nº 9 may Innovation. Riches of the Cerrado

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1 Innovation CBMM Nº 9 may 2010 Riches of the Cerrado CBMM prepares to launch an illustrated guidebook documenting more than 120 plant species conserved in its Arboretum, including endangered species 4 Ilustration: Alibertia Sessilis: Gerosina Marques Event commemorates three decades of commercial relations between CBMM and the world s largest steel producer Library of one of the world s leading business schools named for Ambassador Walther Moreira Salles 2 9

2 INTERNATIONAL 30 years of niobium in China Trailblazing spirit took CBMM into this new market in China now produces more steel than any other country. In December 2009 CBMM commemorated three decades of technological and trade relations with China by holding an event called 30 Years of Niobium in China. Some 300 people attended the event, including politicians, local authorities, and representatives of businesses, universities and research institutions. The attendees also included two members of CBMM s first delegation to China, metallurgist John Malcolm Gray, the main architect of the company s market development program, and José Alberto de Camargo, who was CBMM s managing director for over 30 years. On that occasion only Camargo visited Beijing for talks with officials of the Chinese metallurgical sector since only he had the requisite diplomatic clearance. The other members of the delegation were able to participate only in the first leg of the journey, which ended at the Canton Fair. Tribute was paid to the company for its trailblazing spirit in entering the Chinese market in 1978, when it carried out its first exploratory journey to Beijing. At that time the Chinese produced only 32 million tons of steel. In 2009 they produced 567 million tons of steel and also consumed more niobium than any other country. Chinese customers accounted for 36% of CBMM s sales of ferroniobium in Commemorative event attended by 300 guests including officials, business leaders and academics Innovation Inovação CBMM 2

3 José Alberto de Camargo and Tadeu Carneiro, former and current Chief Executive Officer, at 30 Years of Niobium in China celebrations Although niobium use by China s steel industry began in the 1970s, consumption in significant quantities has only occurred in the last ten years. Niobium consumption has skyrocketed since 2002, soaring from 1,500 metric tons to 17,500 metric tons in The forecast for 2010 is 20,000 metric tons. The scientific merit of niobium is that it is the most effective grain refiner for microalloyed steels. Grain refining is the only way to increase mechanical strength without increasing brittleness. This property, in conjunction with better performance in welding and forming steels that contain niobium, have led to more efficient technological solutions via the use of niobium. High-strength steels microalloyed with niobium are used to make safer, more cost-effective gas pipelines, lighter building structures, and more efficient, cleaner cars. China is the world s largest steel producer and is very interested in developing high-quality products using advanced technology, hence the close alliance between China and CBMM s program to develop new applications for niobium. CBMM currently has more than 10 development projects underway in partnership with leading Chinese steelmakers, such as Baosteel and Tisco. The company frequently collaborates with the Central Iron and Steel Research Institute and the University of Science & Technology Beijing, which are associated with many of these projects. Over the last 20 years, these initiatives have also been supported by CITIC, a Chinese company that has a dedicated technical team working on the development program. The results of these years of collaboration have been excellent. The success of this alliance reflects CBMM s trailblazing spirit and bold vision of China as not just a huge market, but as a partner in developing mid- and long-term solutions that address the challenges of building infrastructure, generating clean renewable energy and conserving resources. Innovation Inovação CBMM 3

4 SOCIO-ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY Erythrina speciosa Guidebook catalogues riches of Brazilian Cerrado Ilustration: Amarilis Bracher An illustrated book to be published by CBMM s Arboretum will serve as a reference for researchers and will contribute to the valorization and protection of a great many of the region s plant species The flora of the Cerrado, a vast tropical ecoregion of Brazil and according to the World Wildlife Fund, the biologically richest savanna in the world, is being precisely documented with a wealth of visual information including watercolors and digital images thanks to a partnership between the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) and CBMM. A team of scientific illustrators led by artist Belkiss Radicchi Alméri is painting dozens of species conserved at CBMM s Cerrado Arboretum in Araxá, Minas Gerais. Although only Euterpe edulis is listed by Ilustration: Leir Barbosa Styrax ferrugineus Fundação Biodiversitas as an endangered species, the destruction of Cerrado flora is making all species increasingly rare according to UFMG biologist Esmeire Cruz de Matos. The plants at the Arboretum in Araxá glow with health, flowers and fruit and will now have their images exhibited all over the world because the institution s genetic collection is about to be enshrined in a magnificently illustrated book. For each tree, a watercolor and for each watercolor, a page in the Guia Ilustrado do Arboreto. While focusing on the rarest, the soon-to-be launched book will catalogue more than 120 plant species endemic to the Cerrado, all of them alive and well at the Arboretum. CBMM has been investing in the conservation of Cerrado animal and plant species since the 1970s, but in 2005 the company accepted the challenge of transplanting native Cerrado plants to create its Arboretum with species from the Araxá uplands. Now in its mature phase, the program is preparing to receive much wider attention with the publication of the Guia Ilustrado. The idea of marrying art and science to enrich CBMM s Arboretum was born in Belo Horizonte when artist and scientific illustrator Belkiss Radicchi Alméri read the company s newsletter. She was so excited to learn of the success of the Arboretum and Innovation CBMM 4

5 its contribution to academic and scientific work presented at conferences in Brazil that she proposed the creation of a visual memory of the collection that could be accessed by scientists and researchers seeking to learn more about the Cerrado s riches. The Guide will serve as a reference. As such, it will be a research tool but it will not diminish the importance of the fieldwork performed by researchers. After all, scientific illustrations always accompany diagnosis. They show the object of study didactically, says Alméri. Not only will the academic community benefit but others too will have the opportunity to discover more about species that must be properly identified before they can be valued and protected. CBMM embraced the idea of producing an illustrated guidebook and transformed it into a project that brings together talents in the areas of botany, art and landscaping. It s a joy to participate in this project, which will enrich the work we ve done so far and will undoubtedly be a big help in disseminating knowledge of the Arboretum, relates forest engineer Larissa Veloso Paula, one of the creators of the Arboretum. Work on painting the Arboretum s species, rare and better-known alike, has been underway for 13 months and will be completed in June. Watercolor was the chosen technique to ensure that the colors used in the illustrations were both attractive and accurate. Conservation and education Species known to be valuable for food, medicinal or ornamental purposes, or as a source of cooking oil are part of CBMM s Arboretum collection, which also houses in its 2,900 square meters species that are little known or threatened with extinction. All the trees now growing in the Arboretum were transplanted as saplings from the company s nursery or from areas of native vegetation in the upper Paranaíba region of Minas Gerais. The initiative has two main objectives: conserve typical Cerrado species and develop research and environmental education activities mainly targeting the communities of Araxá and surrounding region. Examples of the best-known species include Hancornia speciosa (Portuguese: mangaba), Annona coriácea (Portuguese: araticum), Eugenia dysenterica (Portuguese: cagaita), Caryocar brasiliense (Portuguese: pequi), Anacardium humile (Portuguese: cajuzinho do cerrado, English: monkey nut), Stryphnodendron adstringens (Portuguese: barbatimão), Copaifera landsdorfii (Portuguese: copaíba, English: diesel tree), Hymenaea stigonocarpa (Portuguese: jatobá do cerrado), Tibouchina granulosa (Portuguese: quaresmeira, English: glory bush) and Tabebuia ochracea (Portuguese: ipê amarelo do cerrado, English: Brazilian walnut). Ilustration: Carla Coscarelli Ilustration: Rosa Alves Solanum lycocarpum Salvertia convalliodora Innovation CBMM 5

6 SOCIO-ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY Ilustration: Eliana Angelo Tibouchina mutabilis Some illustrators prefer India ink and graphite. To maintain scientific rigor, the team is guided by Esmeire Cruz de Matos who has a master s degree in plant biology while access to the Herbarium collection of UFMG s Institute of Biology is guaranteed by curator Alexandre Salino. The 11 illustrators participating in the Guia are also working on other projects that record species endemic to the Atlantic Forest and Amazon Forest biomes. Nine are graduates of UFMG s botanical illustration course with backgrounds in fine arts, visual communication, art education and landscape and environmental design. According to project coordinator Belkiss Alméri, watercolor documentation of Cerrado species is still uncommon. Moreover, not all the species in CBMM s Arboretum have been recorded in images of any kind, making the team s work all the more important. Dipteryx alata Ilustration: Dilce Laranjeira She stresses that the project would not have been successful without the collaboration of forest engineer Larissa Veloso, who works for CBMM, and José Francisco Alves Filho, Seu Zé, who is a woodsman extraordinaire. Seu Zé is a self-taught local forester who knows an enormous amount of information about the Cerrado species found in the Araxá uplands. Experience and local ecological knowledge are really important. We can all say that we have learned a great deal from Seu Zé. His contribution has been significant, Alméri reports. The Guia Ilustrado do Arboreto will also include phenology, the study of periodic plant and animal life cycle events such as budding, blossoming and fruiting, and how these are influenced by seasonal and interannual variations in climate. The watercolors will show the vegetative and reproductive parts (flowers, fruits, seeds) followed by information such as vernacular name, scientific name, geographical distribution, flowering times, fruiting (phenology) and medicinal or other uses. The scientific illustrators who are participating in the project as watercolorists are Professor Rosa Alves Pereira, coordinator of UFMG s Scientific Illustration Program and artists Amarílis Bracher, Gerosina Marques de Melo e Sousa, Helena Rodrigues, Leir Barbosa Monteiro, Belkiss Radicchi Alméri, Dilce Laranjeira and Ângela Felisberto Giannetti, who is also a landscape designer; visual communicators Carla Antonini Coscarelli and Claudia Lambert Ribeiro do Valle Freitas, who studied scientific drawing in Switzerland; and Eliana Maria Ângelo, an environmental and landscape designer. Innovation CBMM 6

7 Ilustration: Cláudia Lambert An encyclopedia of the Cerrado Strychnos pseudo-quina An encyclopedia of the Cerrado. That is how woodsman José Francisco Alves Filho, Seu Zé, is defined by CBMM s forest engineer Larissa Veloso. For 30 years no revegetation has been done with native species on the company s land without Seu Zé s participation. Seu Zé recalls that he has been collecting seeds and planting in the Cerrado since I know practically everything there is to know about the Cerrado, he says. He started learning as a child, when he would accompany his father on trips through the woods of Ibiá, where he was born, and Fazenda Morro Alto, a farm near Araxá where he grew up. Collecting seeds and preparing seedlings of jacaranda, peroba, Brazilian walnut, storax, pau pereira (Platycyamus regnellii), rosewood and many other species is what Seu Zé does. He has lost count of the number of seedlings he has planted on the grounds of CBMM and local farms. He says CBMM s Arboretum currently distributes between 200 and 300 seedlings of native species from the Cerrado to form arboreta in Araxá s schools. His work conserves the native flora. Of all the species in the Cerrado, he says he is most concerned about the monkey nut, a critically endangered species. I have to walk about 80 kilometers all the way over to Tapira to find monkey nut seeds, he says. Now 62 and married to Dona Mercedes Rodrigues with two children, Seu Zé shares his knowledge with those who are inventorying the Cerrado in Minas Gerais. He is happy to help the undergraduate students from Uni-Araxá and forest engineers who seek him out. He s our walking encyclopedia, says Larissa Veloso. Listening to her, he just beams. José Francisco Alves Filho (Seu Zé) has been collecting seeds and planting Cerrado species for 30 years to conserve the native flora Inovação CBMM 7

8 João Lima PARTNERSHIP Excellence rewarded Ítalo Stefani, director of ArcelorMittal (second from left), delivers prize to CBMM leaders Eduardo Ribeiro, Tadeu Carneiro and José Isildo Vargas Strategic alliances enable value to be added to steel, guaranteeing CBMM s leadership in an increasingly demanding market BMM is much more than a qualified Csupplier. It s also a partner organization of ArcelorMittal in the development of research into new applications for our product, says Ítalo Stefani, logistics director of ArcelorMittal Inox Brasil, which makes stainless steel. He makes a point of stressing that CBMM is a leader among his company s suppliers, and not just because of the undeniable importance of niobium in the stainless steel production cycle. Multiple and growing uses Stainless steel has long been widely used in Belo Horizonte, thanks to ArcelorMittal Inox Brasil. It can be seen in park benches, bus shelters, garbage bins, safety fencing for road work and signage. Its sober sheen appears in the composition of modern buildings, lending a noble and sophisticated air to facades and entrance lobbies. As a product emblematic of modernity, in most of the world s major cities stainless steel is present in car and bus exhaust systems, aircraft and railcars, elevators and escalators, solar water heaters and hospital and medical equipment. It is also commonly used in machinery of all kinds including the chemical, petrochemical and pharmaceutical industries, food and farm implements, sugar mills, ethanol distilleries and breweries, among many others. In the home it sparkles in the kitchen, being used in sinks, cutlery, saucepans and appliances. And every day its uses continue to multiply. CBMM has partnered with ArcelorMittal Inox Brasil for 20 years and it has won a Quality Assurance Certificate all nine times the company bestowed the award. This constitutes recognition of CBMM s efforts to pursue continuous product improvement and its importance as a partner in developing new markets for stainless steel. Quality assurance certification is part of the quality policy adopted by ArcelorMittal Inox Brasil in 2001 when it created its supplier qualification program. The program monitors and evaluates the performance of suppliers of raw materials, inputs and services. It also recognizes companies that adopt social responsibility programs; comply with on-time delivery and quality standards; achieve zero quality non-conformity including an overall score of at least 80% and ensure safety. According to ArcelorMittal Inox Brasil, partnering closely with suppliers is mutually beneficial given the common goal of assuring product excellence. Ítalo Stefani, logistics director of ArcelorMittal Inox Brasil, quotes English writer and critic John Ruskin to stress the value of partnerships such as his company s with CBMM: Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of intelligent effort, he says. Partnerships like this are vital for ArcelorMittal Inox Brasil to keep upgrading its processes and remain competitive while increasing its share of the global market. Innovation CBMM 8

9 HOMAGE Tribute to the memory of Walther Moreira Salles Fundação Dom Cabral, a globally recognized institution, names its business administration library for the renowned philanthropist, diplomat and banker who died in 2001 Fundação Dom Cabral, a Brazilian institution recognized by the Financial Times as one of the best business schools in the world, has just paid homage to Ambassador Walther Moreira Salles by naming its business administration library in his memory. Biblioteca Walther Moreira Salles is open from 8.30 am to 7.30 pm, Monday through Friday. It is located on the Aloysio Faria Campus in Nova Lima s Lagoa dos Ingleses district, 30 kilometers from Belo Horizonte. The library is part of the school s Center for Development of Knowledge in Management, a specially developed environment for companies to share research and methodologies. According to chief librarian Stela Carvalho, the collection comprises an abundance of material on business management, including Brazilian and international journals, corporate reports and projects, research reports, CDs and DVDs, as well as books. Biblioteca Walther Moreira Salles also offers bibliographic research services and acts as a lending library for students and client companies, in addition to providing access to international databases. In 2009, more than 24,000 executives and 1,000 companies participated in the training and knowledge development programs offered by the institution, according to information supplied by Fundação Dom Cabral. Its MBA and other graduate programs are attended by students from all over Brazil and other South American countries. Founded in 1976, Fundação Dom Cabral focuses on the development of executives, entrepreneurs and business organizations. In 2009, it was ranked 13th among the best business schools in the world by the Financial Times in the London-based business newspaper s Executive Education Ranking. It is also accredited by EQUIS, a quality hallmark issued by the European Foundation for Management Development. Fundação Dom Cabral has strategic alliances and cooperation agreements with leading institutions and schools around the world, such as France s INSEAD, the Kellogg School of Management in the United States, the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia in Canada, the Moscow School of Management in Russia, Fudan University School of Management in China and Chile s Universidad del Desarollo. Inovação CBMM 9

10 HOMAGE Talent at the service of Brazil Walther Moreira Salles, for whom Fundação Dom Cabral has just named its library, was one of the most outstanding Brazilians of the 20th century with a distinguished career lasting more than 60 years as a banker, entrepreneur, philanthropist, patron of the arts, politician and diplomat. He also greatly appreciated Brazilian and world literature, according to Professor Antônio Cândido de Mello e Souza, a renowned literary critic and lifelong friend with whom Salles grew up in Poços de Caldas. Salles served three times as the Brazilian ambassador to Washington, under Presidents Getúlio Vargas, Juscelino Kubitschek and Jânio Quadros. He was finance minister under Prime Ministers Tancredo Neves and Brochado da Rocha during the short-lived parliamentary system introduced to enable Vice President João Goulart to take office when Quadros resigned. He was also widely admired for a life s work spent building up his father s small bank into one of Brazil s leading financial services conglomerates. He was born in Pouso Alegre, Minas Gerais on May 28, In 1920, he moved with his family to Poços de Caldas where his father João Moreira Salles had opened a store, later to become a bank (Casa Bancária Moreira Salles). In 1933, he became a partner in his father s bank. He graduated from the University of São Paulo Law School (Faculdade do Largo de São Francisco) in 1936 and in 1940 he became managing director of Banco Moreira Salles, founded that year when the family bank merged with Casa Bancária de Botelhos and Banco Machadense. His political and diplomatic career began in 1948 when he joined Banco do Brasil, then the nation s monetary authority, as head of lending. In 1951, he was appointed director of the Bureau of Currency & Credit (Sumoc) and in the following year President Getúlio Vargas invited him to serve as his ambassador to Washington, where he remained until August In July 1959, President Juscelino Kubitschek, who had broken with the International Monetary Fund, sent Salles back to the Brazilian Embassy in Washington with the mission of restoring good relations with the U.S. There he remained until February 1960, fulfilling his goal of facilitating a resumption of negotiations with the IMF, as indeed occurred not long afterward. Also in 1960, Salles was asked by President Jânio Quadros to undertake another difficult mission, which he accepted in a spirit of public service: Quadros sent him back to Washington as special envoy in charge of refinancing Brazil s foreign debt. Innovation CBMM 10

11 Fundação Dom Cabral s library named for Walther Moreira Salles In September 1961, Prime Minister Tancredo Neves chose Salles as finance minister under the parliamentary system introduced as a stop-gap after Quadros sudden resignation. Brochado da Rocha, who succeeded Tancredo Neves, invited Salles to stay on as finance minister. He remained in office until September He then returned to his business activities, acquiring a controlling stake in Companhia Brasileira de Metalurgia e Mineração (CBMM) in In 1968, following his father s death, he formally took over the direction of the family bank, which was renamed Unibanco in In 1992, he unveiled Casa de Cultura de Poços de Caldas, the first cultural center of his recently created foundation, Instituto Moreira Salles (IMS). Three other centers were opened later, in São Paulo, Belo Horizonte and Rio de Janeiro. A group of intellectuals who accepted his invitation to sit on the advisory board of IMS included professor Antônio Cândido de Mello e Souza, historian Francisco Iglesias, professor Raul Machado Horta, and writers Lygia Fagundes Telles, Otto Lara Resende and Jurandir Ferreira. Walther Moreira Salles died on February 27, 2001 at his home in Araras, a district of Petrópolis near Rio de Janeiro. He is survived by four sons, Fernando, Walther, Pedro and João. Mural Valued initiatives Two technical innovations suggested by employees were successfully implemented on CBMM s production lines in Araxá. Márcio Antônio Gonçalves, an operator in the concentration plant, and Daniel Augusto da Silva, an operator in the dephosphorization plant, submitted suggestions that saved time and increased the productivity of the operating systems, according to Clóvis Antônio de Faria Sousa, head of production. Both employees won awards from CBMM in recognition of their initiative. Gonçalves proposed a modification to the ore feed duct cleaning system involving the use of compressed air. The previous method entailed a greater risk of blockage, forcing a shutdown in the feed process so that the system could be cleaned. The compressed-air cleaning system was implemented and is operating successfully, saving the concentration process three hours per week, As well as avoiding downtime with all the inconvenience that involves, says Sousa. Da Silva proposed a modification to the furnace feed system. The new system he proposed has already been implemented, enabling both furnaces to be fed simultaneously, avoiding downtime and thus increasing the plant s productivity. Recognition of these important contributions by the two employees included a financial reward. Márcio, Clóvis and Daniel: improvements suggested by employees have been implemented and productivity has increased as a result Innovation CBMM 11

12 Mural César CETEC s new board members Marcos Alexandre Stuart Nogueira, CBMM s director of technology, and Rogério Contato Guimarães, head of processes and management systems, visited Fundação Centro Tecnológico de Minas Gerais (CETEC) in Belo Horizonte as guests of the state technology center s CEO, Alfredo Gontijo de Oliveira. Stuart and Contato were chosen to join the board of governors. Accompanied by Marcilio César de Andrade, CETEC s director of development and technological services, the two executives from CBMM toured the research institution, visiting the metallurgical technology and mineral technology sectors, among others. These facilities house the center s atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscopy labs, as well as a pilot plant for mineral characterization. As in previous partnerships, CETEC and CBMM are again studying the possibility of developing joint projects. Charles Hatchett Award goes to Salzgitter s metallurgists The Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining (IOM3) announced in London that metallurgists at Salzgitter AG in Germany won the 2010 Charles Hatchett Award for the best paper on the science and technology of niobium and its alloys. The winning paper was titled, A novel alloying concept for thermomechanical hot-rolled strip for large diameter HTS (helical two step) line pipe. The Salzgitter research project resulted from HIPERC, a European program in which CBMM participated alongside companies such as TataCorus and Ruukki, as well as Salzgitter. The award-winning paper represents recognition of the high-temperature processing (HTP) or high niobium concept launched over 20 years ago by an important partner of the German steel industry. Salzgitter s paper shows how the use of steel with 0.1% Nb and less than 0.05% carbon is the solution that most adds value to a product, even when there are alloy elements that cost considerably less than ferroniobium. Ilharco Magalhães, one of the students who won the Brazilian Mathematics Olympiad CBMM Mathematics Prize For the third time, CBMM awarded its Mathematics Prize to secondary schoolchildren from Minas Gerais who won a gold medal at the Brazilian Public School Mathematics Olympiad. Representing the group of champions in the 2008 edition, the highlight was César Ilharco Magalhães, a student at the Air Force Air Cadet Training School in Barbacena. His teacher, Leila Magda Frizzone Cardoso, also received a prize. Each of the 26 gold medalists and their math teachers received a check for R$5,000. Minas Gerais State Education Secretary Vanessa Guimarães presided at the awards ceremony, which took place in Belo Horizonte in late She was accompanied by her deputy, João Antônio Filocre. Also present were the academic director of the Brazilian Public School Mathematics Olympiad, Suely Druck, and Susana Fornari, representing the Brazilian Mathematics Society. Governor Aécio Neves pays tribute to CBMM As he decorated CBMM managing director Tadeu Carneiro with the Santos Dumont Medal, governor Aécio Neves said the award embodied the Minas Gerais state government s recognition of the exemplary, professional and transparent partnership between CBMM and Codemig, the state agency responsible for the development of mineral resources. The ceremony, which took place on March 24, 2010, at the governor s new office in Cidade Administrativa Tancredo Neves, was attended by Codemig CEO Oswaldo Borges da Costa Filho and director Marcelo Nassif. Then during the April 21 (Tiradentes Day) celebrations in Ouro Preto, the new governor of Minas Gerais, Antônio Anastasia, presented Tadeu Carneiro with the Inconfidência Medal of Honor. Inovação CBMM is published by Companhia Brasileira de Metalurgia e Mineração Editor: J.D. Vital Journalist of record. Coordination & Graphic Design: BEI Comunicação. Camera Copy: Hiro Okita. Printed on 100% recycled Brazilian offset paper. Part of the post-consumer waste used for this newsletter is acquired directly from a co-op that collects recyclable material as a means of generating income and social inclusion.