October is the month to promote healthy choices and awareness across our organization

TubularNews Issue: 03 October 2012

World class manufacturing has been fixed as one of the priorities by Mr. Mittal, and it is, of course, one of our major priorities in Tubu-lar Products. WCM plays an essen-tial role in improving and sustain-ing customer satisfaction through the pillars of quality, cost deploy-ment, reliability and safety.

World competiveness grew at such intense levels since 2008 with a global over capacity, that many companies had to review and rep-rioritize their operation strategy in order to compete in this new age of manufacturing.

In today’s global competition, it is not enough for us to have low costs. Competition is not only on

price, but on customer service and product quality. We must strive to exceed our customers’ expecta-tions and excel in the global mar-ket today. We cannot afford to stand still while our customers, vendors and competitors are per-petually evolving their best busi-ness and manufacturing process-es.

We recognize that management support is fundamental in the suc-cess of any major initiative in an organization which is why our en-tire management team is commit-ted to the success of our WCM implementations.

In addition to management sup-port, we also need to create the culture in the organization. Every facility in our group is different and, although the tools and tech-

niques may vary, the overall cul-ture of ‘lean manufacturing’ re-mains consistent - less inventory, time, waste and more productivity.

This continuous improvement will add value to our products and en-sure customer satisfaction and loy-alty, resulting in longer term profit-ability.

We have seen some of our facili-ties, such as Vitry, Hautmont, Os-trava, Karvina, Iasi, Unicon, Kraka-ow, and Monterrey, already successfully implement WCM in their businesses.

We will continue to support this priority as our remaining facilities start their implementation.

Newsletter | ArcelorMittal Tubular Products Division | Issue 03 - October 2012

Arnaud Jouron, CEO takes a hands-on approach during WCM training session held earlier this year

Message from the CEO Why is world class manufacturing critical to growth and sustainability?

Health & Safety

Arnaud Jouron

FatalitiesLTIFrequency rate Restricted Work Medical treatments First Aids Near Misses LTI Days Safety Observations Employee Hours Worked Contractor Hours Worked Total Hours Worked

160.42206547755332339,002 8,406,772 6,428,064 14,834,836

Fatality in Tubular Products Facility“In my 34 years as a safety professional, this was the day that I dreaded

the most.” Mike Dwyer, Director of Health & Safety

Ankle injury - Bundle slipped while employee was preparing wood under the bundle

Employee caught between crane and handrail

Crane moved causing leg injury when positioning over bundle

Cap on extinguisher exploded and a piece of the gas injection pipe hit employee in the throat

Employee slipped crossing stairs over a conveyer and fractured his leg

Employee felt pain in shoulder removing scarfing wire and requires surgery

Absenteeism Q3 2012 Illness absenteeism ratio 3.60% *Absenteeism in Q3 2011 was at 3.85%

On August 10th, I was awaken during my holidays by the news there was a terrible accident in Roman, Romania. I was told that it was serious and the injured em-ployee may not survive.

I was sitting on the edge of my bed try-ing to comprehend what just happened when another call came in. The gentle-man did not survive. For a minute, I sat there in shock. In my 34 years as a safety professional, this was the day that I dreaded the most.

I immediately went to the plant and was met by a scene of utter horror. The acci-dent scene was very hard to stomach. It was clear by the looks of everyone, it was devastating.

How could this happen? Is this a bad dream? What did we do wrong? These questions were asked by the employees.

Fatalities affect everyone. Families are

destroyed, feelings of guilt and anger re-main, relationships between employees, the Company and unions suffer and fear remains in all of us - can this happen to me? Well, the answer is simple - YES this can happen to you. This is why we work to implement stringent H&S behaviours in our facilities.

So how do we stop fatalities from hap-pening again? We need to follow all safety rules and programs . We have to look out for each other through shared vigilance. We have to make health and safety part of our lives everyday and we need to get in-volved.

Mr. Grapina was just 40 years old with a 10 year old son. He was the 25th fatality at ArcelorMittal in 2012 and the first for our segment in Tubular Products. He is no longer with us because rules were not fol-lowed. Please do your part so the life of Mr. Grapina is not in vain.

Results

2

WCM in Venezuela Training is the foundation of a successful WCM implementation

Hector Rodriguez

The first time the Unicon facilities of ArcelorMittal Venezuela heard about WCM was during the Chicago Leadership Convention in 2010, where our CEO Héctor Rodríguez met Luc Bonte, VP Operational Excellence, in charge of WCM within the Chief Technology Office (CTO). As a result of this encounter, Luc Bonte and Dirk Verdonck visited Unicon to present further details of the WCM methodology to the Unicon management. The Unicon team immediately recognised the benefits of WCM and decided to launch the process in our facilities.

Like other facilities, before starting the implementation there was a feeling of uncertainty. “We don’t have enough resources; this new process means a lot of additional work; people won’t do it anyway; how will we ‘sell’ WCM to the union?” After training, we soon realized that we were no different than anyone else in our thinking, and soon learned that WCM does not mean more work, but rather a new and more efficient way of doing things.

At the site, it took people, from top management to the shop floor, no time to become fully committed and involved. Starting with the training in two weeks, twenty three leaders were educated in the methodology and WCM principles.

To kick off the training, Unicon was benchmarked against a world-class company and gaps were identified between the two. This step is important as it helped the leaders understand the level of commitment that was needed to ensure the success of this process and enable us narrow those gaps. Following that, the trainees received detailed insight into each of the 10 pillars and how they are to be implemented.

Inspiring and changing mindsets

One of the key learning take-aways for the team was related to Health and Safety. It was quickly realized that there was a real need to change people’s mindset as to what is a normal or an abnormal

situation. This change in mindset is of utmost importance to successfully implement the Autonomous Maintenance and Health and Safety pillars of WCM.

Since we rolled out WCM at Unicon, several initiatives have been implemented in parallel. “Icebreakers’ have been the 5S and Quick Kaizen methodologies. We led 1,200 people through the 5S programme, which is an integral part of WCM. The objective is to implement standardised actions in order to clean and maintain good housekeeping practises since this is proven to increase efficiency and productivity. Good housekeeping also allows the detection of potential hazards and deficiencies at an early stage. 5S has been deployed in all Unicon

locations, covering about 60% of the workplace. Through this programme, our way of thinking has changed and we now know that eliminating the source of the issue is more efficient that addressing it after the fact. 5S also is a good introduction to the Autonomous Maintenance pillar implement-ation.

Although we know results will not be reached overnight, we are also confident that the best for us is yet to come and that WCM will be the road to our continuous improvement.

Management team in UNICON participate in World Class Manufacturing training.

World Class Manufacturing in Tubular Products Etienne Havette speaks to us about the progress of WCM at the Tubular Products facilities.

Etienne Havette

World Class Manufacturing is a key programme in ArcelorMittal and for me personally. As WCM Manager, CTO Operational Excellence, I am very pleased to see that our Company is taking a

serious approach to defining our manufacturing methodology for the future.

Visible ownership by the management and the consistent approach towards cost deployment, health and safety, quality , productivity, maintenance ,early equipment management and customer service are just some of the main advantages of implementing this programme. Getting people to believe that failures can be reduced to zero and work every day in that direction with zero accidents, zero defects and zero breakdowns is our ultimate goal.

This programme does not come

without challenges. If the top leadership does not fully support the management in their objective of achieving world class levels of performance, then WCM is doomed to fail. To adopt the WCM methodology, discipline, rigorous attention and a determined approach is required.

The culture is very important. Everyone is part of achieving

the objectives of WCM.

The Tubular Products facilities are well underway in establishing good World Class Manufacturing processes. The WCM deploy-ment at your facilities are making good progress.

The Vitry, France plant is a candidate this year for the WCM Bronze award. Hautmont and La Victoria (Unicon) have already realized some important cost savings thanks to WCM with more than 80% of their bold cost savings targets this year.

Krakow , Iasi, Karvina and Ostrava have completed their preparation phase and are implementing the needed pillars. Even the Jubail plant, currently under construction in Saudi Arabia, will start WCM.

For the North American plants, including Monterrey, a first visit is planned in November to define the next steps.

I am very confident in the success of WCM in the Tubular Products facilities for 2 reasons - the top management in Tubular fully supports this initiative; and the employees in Tubular Products are very eager to learn and are committed to the success of their plant.

Mr. Havette comes from ArcelorMittal’s CTO group and has been working with the Tubular Products division on our implementation of WCM.

3Newsletter | ArcelorMittal Tubular Products Division | Issue 03 - October 2012

MFT: What do you expect from WCM that has been launched in the plants you are responsible for?

TT: WCM is one of the key priorities of ArcelorMittal, after Health & Safety. I perceive this philosophy as an essential principal to run our mills more efficiently.

With the implementation of WCM’s 10 pillars, I’m expecting progressive improvements in our units’ performance in order to further advance our competitiveness in the difficult business

environment and remaining post crisis challenging markets situation.

MFT: What is the immediate benefit you have seen on the plant where WCM has been implemented?

TT: WCM is an excellent programme to accelerate what has already started in the different units in the past few years, particularly after the global crisis in 2008. The activities related to H&SE, 3C, and maintenance have been our priorities for a long time. However, thanks to the strict methodology and global approach, the benefits are more immediately visible.

I see the change of our people’s mindset and their increased motivation. More importantly, we are zooming for priorities with limited resources we have.

MFT: Do you see differences from one plant to another?

TT: We have different readiness levels depending on the mills. We have to start carefully, understanding the scale and the agenda of the deployment.

MFT: Concretely, what are the improvements you are expecting for 2012?

TT: The key goal for our Energy units in 2012 is to understand the principles of WCM and roll out a pilot project in Ostrava.

MFT: Do you see any risk or any danger with WCM program?

TT: WCM, like any other similar methodology, such as the progress academy, is long term and in fact, a never-ending process. The key and essential thing to remember during the implementation phase is a sensible approach.

We need to respect the specific mills starting point, their priorities and the country to country differences while keeping employees engaged. So, the challenge we will have is in our behaviours. We need to ensure our people have been trained enough to roll out the programme properly and rigorously. We also need to be sure they have an in-depth understanding of its purpose. In many cases we have to build a solid foundation before we can implement WCM fully to ensure that the people not only understand, but believe in the success of this methodology.

Tomas Teluch, CEOEnergy

MFT: What do you expect from WCM that has been launched in the plants you are responsible for?

JC: First of all, WCM is a way of life. It is a method, by which your assets become more reliable, creating an improvement in our quality which then results in more confident, satisfied and loyal customers. Apart from the financial improvements, the major benefit is the change of culture and behaviour in the plant.

MFT: What is the immediate benefit you have seen on the plant where WCM has been implemented?

JC: The first immediate benefit is the recognition of various losses translated

in EUROS, which bring the awareness of problems to everyone’s attention, starting from the shop floor up. The WCM methodology creates a willingness to address the root cause of those losses. With this awareness, people become empowered and accountable for improvements.

The second immediate benefit is that it brings back people s motivation. It is an outstanding teambuilding exercise, raising the understanding of people interactions. Everything is going right if everyone is working together. It also creates a stronger understanding of each other’s roles and responsibilities and the impact that we all have on the business.

The biggest impact with WCM is the acceptance that people take ownership of their actions and their mission. For example, if a machine is not running, it is no longer the “maintenance departments fault or responsibility”. It’s also “my responsibility”. And in those plants with greater difficulties, people see a possible future as a result of those improvements.

MFT: Do you see differences from one plant to another?

JC: Yes, of course, but what remains consistent across all our plants is the accepting the value of WCM!

MFT: What are the improvements you are expecting for 2012?

JC: Our kick-off events were recent , the financial improvements have not yet been realized. The major improvement so far in 2012 is the change in our way of working and the understanding of our responsibilities. The improvements are cultural. People take pride and ownership in the products we produce. Nevertheless, the more tangible improvement should be in yield. We will start developing synergies which we will emphasis next year to ensure further improvements in all areas of the business.

MFT: Do you see any risk or any danger with WCM program?

JC: I see 3 points with this:

1) If top management support is not visible from shop floor people, this program will fail.

2) WCM identifies savings that are not in P&L. We need to work on this point in order to clarify the expectations.

3) WCM has also a shortcoming as it is not addressing the right sizing of manpower per equipment. This is another thing we can improve as we progress.

Jeyachandran Rajasekaran, CEOMechanical Automotive Europe

World Class Manufacturing at ArcelorMittal is essentially putting the Company’s values into something practical – being a better steel manufacturer. These values are presented in the form of pillars, each of which is an important part of World Class Manufacturing. The 10 pillars are as follows:

1. Health and Safety The first priority, with a goal of zero accidents.

2. Cost Deployment Identifying where your major problems are and where funds have to be invested is priority.

3. Focused Improvement Applying problem-solving methods to manu-facturing.

4. Autonomous Maintenance Restore and maintain basic equipment conditions, ensuring that everyone looks after a plant’s equipment, not just the maintenance team. This contributes to shop floor people’s development and improves equipment reliability.

5. Professional Maintenance Guaranteeing the reliability of equipment, through regular, professional checks and improvements.

6. People Development Making sure that employees are trained according to needed skills so they can fulfil their potential .

7. Early Equipment Management (EEM) Making investments in equipment, ensuring the right equipment is chosen and that employees know how to handle it safely. EEM guarantees a steep ramp-up curve and a safe and reliable equipment, easy to run and to maintain.

8. Product Quality Aims at achieving the requested product quality for our customers. This is realised by stabilising and improving the processes.

9. Customer Service It is important to deliver a first class service to our customer if we want to reach our target of becoming a supplier of choice.

10. Environment and Social Responsibility Our operating philosophy is to produce Safe, Sustainable Steel, and this can only be done if we care for the environment and the communities around us .

Pillars of WCM

4Newsletter | ArcelorMittal Tubular Products Division | Issue 03 - October 2012

Interview with CEO’s on WCMMarie-Françoise Terlier, member of the Tubular Products management team , recently met with our leaders to get an understanding of what WCM means to their busiess and how it plays into the overall strategy for sustainabiility and growth. Here, she speaks with Tomas Teluch and Jeyachandran Rajasekaran, (JC) to talk about their thoughts around WCM .

ArcelorMittal’s tubular products division in Kraków recently rolled out the first phase of the World Class Manufacturing (WCM) methodology, as part of an efficiency drive.

The first of the pillars to be im-plemented on the shop floor is ‘autonomous maintenance’, ex-plains pillar owner, Artur Fiałek: “Autonomous maintenance was identified as the key pillar, as most losses that we plan to eliminate are connected with equipment with low reliability levels. Thanks to the engage-ment of the operators and by making sure that good equip-ment conditions are restored and maintained, I am confident we will manage to restore them to their previous reliability lev-els.”

This work is currently being car-ried out on ten machines identi-

fied as critical. The team will have to wait for the results though, as the selected devices are large and complicated, meaning the work will have to be done in stages. A plant that is clean, safe, well-organised and that achieves good results is what employees are aiming for, as they wait to see the outcome of the initial stages of WCM.

After launching autonomous maintenance, the Polish site will focus on five other pillars which were identified as a result of the cost analysis undertaken at the beginning of the project:

• Professional maintenance

• Product quality

• Customer service

• People development

• Focused improvement

While implementing autono-mous maintenance, one of the six identified pillars, the site also

implemented the health and safety pillar in order to speed up the Journey to Zero and the cost deployment pillars, which will allow them to track their results when it comes to eliminating identified losses.

In order to officially mark the launch of WCM and celebrate

the event with employees, the Tubular Products division in Kraków organised a picnic on 25 May. Through games and com-petitions, the foundations were laid for some solid teamwork.

The event was attended by the division’s top leadership, includ-ing Jeyachandran Rajasekaran,

CEO, mechanical automotive Europe and Eduardo Samblas, COO of mechanical automotive Europe.

Kraków, Poland launches WCMIdalia Dziedzic

Mirela Alboaie

After a strategic decision of the top management of our facility in Iasi, Romania, we recognized the need to increase our com-petitive position in a fast-paced steel tubing market through the implementation of the concepts of the World Class Manufactur-ing (“WCM”). All our mill’s em-ployees have intensely engaged in the preparation phase of pro-ject’s implementation, succeed-ing in closing this stage in just 4 months.

Because ArcelorMittal Tubular Products Iasi concerns itself with employees’ satisfaction and motivation, on July 6, over 300 employees covering all mill’s functions have celebrated pass-ing this important milestone by holding a one-day outdoor team building exercises, mark-ing the kick-off of the WCM im-plementation.

The event was opened by Mr. Jeyachandran Rajasekaran, CEO Mechanical Automotive Europe, who has updated the team about the current status and latest trends on the steel tubes market and reiterated the importance of the project to the mill, communicating its goals and expectations and highlight-ing the opportunities and the challenges coming ahead.

Then, the employees partici-pated in exercises requiring creative solutions, demanding for the right match of co-opera-tion and competition inside the team, creating trust between team members and proving the importance of planning before implementing a solution.

The games placed the employ-ees in challenging situations, ask-ing for effective communication with each other and, at the sametime, bringing to light otherwise unknown interpersonal skills,

apart from the technical skills daily involved with the job. Ar-celorMittal Tubular Products Iasi believes that the production processes and the productivity will improve, as a consequence of incorporating the Principles of WCM in our management

practices, by reducing the losses, preventing the equipments’ de-terioration, decreasing to zero the machines’ breakdowns, ensuring no defect in the prod-ucts delivered to customers and optimizing the health and safety procedures at work. Moreover,

the mill’s top management has signed on to qualify for WCM Bronze award in 3- years time.

Iasi, RomaniaArcelorMittal Iasi, Romani - Increasing effectiveness and competiveness.

Employees in Iasi participate in a team building excercise

Newsletter | ArcelorMittal Tubular Products Division | Issue 03 - October 2012 5

Newsletter | ArcelorMittal Tubular Products Division | Issue 03 - October 2012

You won't find a solution by saying there is no problem" William Rotsler

The ArcelorMittal’s WCM Awards recognise final, tangible results as well as encouraging plants that have just started implementing the methodology and are seeing the first improvements.

There are four levels within the WCM Awards:

Bronze - for plants where the WCM process is being applied, where initial results have been obtained and there is clear, visible improvement. Deployment might be limited to a specific number of model machines but all the performance targets initially set by the plant and validated during the coaching sessions have been met.

Silver - results have been obtained, showing a clear improvement curve. The deployment encompasses all AA and A (critical and important) machines and all performance targets have been met.

Gold and World Class - only absolute results are considered at this level. Targets are set according to zero loss situation and/or best results known. Plants awarded with Gold and World Class have to maintain the same level of excellence and will be audited every year. In case of regression,

plants have 6 months to improve the situation again before being downgraded.

Any sites/departments that suffer a fatality, any serious incident or major social unrest will see their application postponed until the following year.

WCM Award are assessed by a team of auditors comprised of one expert (Master or Senior WCM Instructor) plus a manager (person in charge of a plant that has already been awarded Silver level, or is an applicant to Silver level). For Gold and World Class levels, a member of the management committee (MC) also participates in the audits.

After these audits the findings are shared with an expert jury which meets to review the results of the audits and decide on the winners. The judging panel is comprised of the group CTO and Operational Excellence leader and is chaired by a member of the GMB or the MC.

Applications for the awards should be sent to rick.trojnar@arcelormittal.com. Applications are validated following a pre-audit and are then provided with an initial score and an action plan to be implemented.

CDC recommends a yearly flu vaccine as the first and most important step in protecting against flu viruses.

While there are many different flu viruses, a flu vaccine protects against the three viruses that research suggests will be most common.

Everyone 6 months of age and older should get a flu vaccine as soon as the current season’s vaccines are available. Vaccination of high risk persons is especially important to decrease their risk of severe flu illness.

People at high risk of serious flu complications include young children, pregnant women, people with chronic health conditions like asthma, diabetes or heart and lung disease and people 65 years and older.

Vaccination also is important for health care workers, and other people who live with or care for high risk people to keep from spreading flu to high risk people.

Children younger than 6 months are at high risk of serious flu illness, but are too

young to be vaccinated. People who care for them should be vaccinated instead.

Take everyday preventive actions to stop the spread of germs. Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it. Wash your hands often with soap and water. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand rub. Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth. Germs spread this way.

Try to avoid close contact with sick people. If you are sick with flu-like illness, CDC recommends that you stay home for at least 24 hours after your fever is gone except to get medical care or for other necessities. While sick, limit contact with others as much as possible to keep from infecting them.

Take flu antiviral drugs if your doctor prescribes them. If you get the flu, antiviral drugs can treat your illness. Antiviral drugs are different from antibiotics. They are prescription medicines (pills, liquid or an inhaled powder) and are not available over-the-counter.

Studies show that flu antiviral drugs work best for treatment when they are started within 2 days of getting sick, but starting them later can still be helpful, especially if the sick person has a high-risk health or is very sick from the flu. Follow your doctor’s instructions for taking this drug.

Flu-like symptoms include fever, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. Some people also may have vomiting and diarrhea. People may be infected with the flu, and have respiratory symptoms without a fever.

It is important to do your part to protect yourself, you loved ones and coworkers from the flu and taking the flu shot has been proven to be very effective at reducing the risk of contracting the illness.

6

Awards WCM Awards “Take 3” Center for Discease Control Says “Take 3” Actions To Fight The Flu

Health - Flu Season

Monterrey, Mexico recently celebrated a significant achievement in Health and Safety with zero LTI’s in 365 days. Safety has been a chal-lenge in the Mexico facility in the past so this achievement is something to celebrate. It is proof that changing mind-set results in success.

With the implementation of OHSAS, increased shop floor audits and compliance with the corporate H&S policies, the team at the Monterrey

facility were diligent in mak-ing an effort to reduce inju-ries on the shop floor. That thoroughness is what has led them to achieve this mile-stone. Communication is a very important part of the success. By reviewing ac-cidents in other parts of our segment, we are more aware of the potential risks and vul-nerabilities that are in our en-vironment. The manage-ment teams are now more visible on the shop floor and conducting regular safety au-

dits to understand those risks and ensure they are identi-fied and reduced.

“We are committed to ensur-ing the safety of all our peo-ple. I am proud of each and every one of our employees for their dedication and mis-sion to Health and Safety in our plant”, Victor Cairo, Gen-eral Manager, ArcelorMittal Monterrey.

Congratulations to all the em-ployees in Monterrey!

Exactly 11 years to the day, Monterrey’s new mill produces their first tube

On September 11th 2012 at 6:30 pm we started weld-ing on the new tube mill. This is the 3rd tube mill in-stalled in Monterrey. The

installation went in record time. This is actually 9 weeks ahead of schedule!!!

The Monterrey team has done a excellent job in getting this completed. We worked with the Ital

ian manufactures to split the shipment since it was very critical to us to get this installed. The en-try equipment arrived in Monterrey in July, and the last portion of the mill was received in August.

Victor CairoGeneral Manager, Monterrey

The installation was all done by the Maintenance team with some minor help of external contractors and the first Italian Mechanical Engineer arrived on August 20th, by then the mill was all pre-aligned and was being wired at full speed.

We will be running non – ID scarf product (300 to 400 tons per month) in this tube mill until we receive the packaging line. We imple-mented some temporary processes to enable us to to

work and gain some relief on the current operations. This allowed us to start run-ning the new products. Our customers have given us more volume for small di-ameter tubing.

Saludos and thanks to eve-ryone that helped in get-ting us this tube mill. We could not be successful without the support of our colleagues in Monterrey, North America and Tubular Products.

7Newsletter | ArcelorMittal Tubular Products Division | Issue 03 - October 2012

Milestones and Achievements

Monterrey Mexico celebrates best safety record since starting operations

About AktauAktau is one of the biggest cities in the western Kazakhstan. It is located on the Mangyshlak Peninsula and is the capital of Mangystau Province. Aktau literally means “white mountain” in Kazakh, so named after the cliffs overlooking the sea. The territory of Aktau was once inhabited by ancient tribes of Scythians.

Current archeological finds are the evidece of old settlements and utensils. Aktau was founded in 1961 as a covert settlement, Guriyev-20, when development of uranium deposits was started. In 1963 the settlement was open and gained status of a city. From 1963 to 1991, the city was named Shevchenko to honour the Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko, who was once exiled to this then remote location because of his political views.

The name Aktau was brought back in 1991 as the Soviet Union collapsed and Kazakhstan gained independence.

People and cultureThe Kazakh people are rich in traditions. From birth through old age and death, every step of their lives has historically been marked with celebration.

The area of the nomadic culture of the people, their notion of the world and its beauty, the ways and forms of adaptation to nature and climatic conditions of the Great Steppe are embodied in the traditional works of talented craftsmen. The sublime form is the yurt, which is a perfect kind of demountable and portable house, which is carried by horses and camels. The inner and outer decorations of the

yurt are accentuated with carpets and embroidered things made of felt.

Our facilityOur Tubular Products facility in Aktau was erected in 2006 to support the growing oil and gas industry in Kazakhstan. We currently employee over 180 people, most native to Kazakhstan.

Located on the Caspian seaboard in western Kazakhstan, our Aktau facility produces spiral welded pipes especially for the nation’s growing hydrocarbon sector. Using steel double submerged_arc welding (DSAW) equipment, the Aktau unit is designed to produce high standard spiral welded pipes, in accordance with international standards for gas transmission lines. Pipes can be supplied with 3-layer polyethylene protective coating on the outside and food grade liquid epoxy on the inside.

The steel required is supplied by ArcelorMittal Temirtau and stringent process and quality controls have been incorporated at the plant to ensure that it meets the demands of the oil and gas transportation industry.

With a 60,000 ton capacity, Aktau is supplying to the Almaty-Baiserke-Talgar Gasification Project. This project is a 64km pipeline funded by the State using spiral welded steel tubes. All employees of Aktau have been engaged in the production to support this project. This is the first time ever in history of Kazakhstan and Central Asia domestically produced pipes are installed in gas pipeline and almost 100% local content in supplied products and services from iron ore to coated pipe. Coating unit capacity is 120,000 tons.

8Newsletter | ArcelorMittal Tubular Products Division | Issue 03 - October 2012

Aktau Kazakhstan SocietyKazakh society is made up of over 130 ethnic groups, the largest of which is Kazakh (63,07%). Local culture combines Islamic and specific Kazakh traditions, with Russian Orthodox and Western influences. Kazakhs are mix of Turkic and Mongol decent; they speak a Turkic language and are likely to be Sunni Muslim. Their national costume is displayed at traditional festivals like Nauryz (the Kazakh New Year). Russians (23,7%) are likely to be Christian, if religious, and predominantly Slavic in origin. Kazakhstan is a modern secular state that promotes ethic and religious diversity and tolerance, so freedom of religion is one of the first priorities addressed in Kazakhstan’s Constitution.

LanguageKazakh possesses a rich and ancient tradition of oral poetry, but did not exist in any standard written form until the middle of the nineteenth century. Kazakh was written with the Arabic script until 1929; with the Roman alphabet from 1929 to 1940; and with the Cyrillic alphabet following Soviet occupation in 1940. This alphabet was modified slightly in 1954 and the Cyrillic now used employs the thirty three letters to standard Russian, plus several additional symbols for sounds specific to Kazakh. Kazakh has eight vowels, and twenty-five to twentysix consonants. Words are usually stressed on the final syllable.

Doing BusinessShake hands on greeting business associates and saying goodbye. Kissing on greeting and farewells is usually reserved for very close friends and family, and bear hugs are saved for after big drinking sessions. Body language may be expressive and poetic. Kazakhs are used to wide open spaces and may take up a lot of room during an argument, with a lot of arm-waving and gesticulating. Take note that Kazakhstan shares some superstitions with Russia. One is that shaking hands across a doorway is a sign of bad luck.

Common Phrasses in KazakGood morning! --- Qaiyrly Tang [Kaihrly Tan]!Good Afternoon (formal) --- Salamatsyz ba [Sala-maht-syz bah]Good evening (formal) --- Qaiyrly Kesh [Ka-ihr-ly Kesh]!Good night (informal)! --- Qaiyrly tun!How are you? --- Qalyngyz Qalai [Kalynyz Ka-lai]?My name is... --- Menim atym...[Meh-nym ah-tym]Where are you from? --- Siz qai yelden keldingiz?Thank you! --- Rakhmet! [Rah-k-met]Excuse me --- KeshiringizTo health! --- Densaulyq ushin!To long life! --- Uzaq omir ushin!

Demographics

Official name – Republic of KazakhstanCurrency – Tenge (KZT)Population – 16,776,000 (as of June 1, 2012)Capital city – AstanaOfficial language – Kazakh (state language), Russian (interlanguage)

Facility in the Spotlight

Contributions by: Arnaud Jouron, Marie-Francoise Terlier, Tomas Teluch, Jeyachandran Rajasekaran, Hector Rodriguez, Michael Dwyer, Victor Cairo, Idalia Dziedzic, Etienne Havette, Mirela Alboaie, Serik Babayev Editors: Lisa Stewart, Richard Trojnar

Stress Management

Avoid unnecessary stress . Not all stress can be avoided, and it’s not healthy to avoid a situation that needs to be addressed. You may be surprised, however, by the number of stressors in your life that you can eliminate.

Learn how to say “no”; avoid people who stress you out ; take control of your environment; avoid hot-button topics; pare down your to-do list .

Alter the situation - If you can’t avoid a stressful situation, try to alter it. Figure out what you can do to change things so the problem doesn’t present itself in the future. Often, this involves changing the way you communicate and operate in your daily life.

Express your feelings, be willing to compromise; try to be more assertive; and

manage your time better.

Adapt to the stressor. If you can’t change the stressor, change yourself. You can adapt to stressful situations and regain your sense of control by changing your expectations and attitude.

Reframe problems; look at the big picture; adjust your standards; focus on the positive.

Accept the things you can’t change. Some sources of stress are unavoidable. You can’t prevent or change stressors such as the death of a loved one, a serious illness, or a national recession. In such cases, the best way to cope with stress is to accept things as they are. Acceptance may be difficult, but in the long run, it’s easier than railing against a situation you can’t change.

Do not try to control the

uncontrollable; look for the upside; share your feelings; and learn to forgive.

Adopt a healthier lifestyle. Make time for fun and relaxation. Beyond a take-charge approach and a positive attitude, you can reduce stress in your life by nurturing yourself. If you regularly make time for fun and relaxation, you’ll be in a better place to handle life’s stressors when they inevitably come. You can increase your resistance to stress by strengthening your physical health.

Connect with others; do something you enjoy every day ; keep your sense of humor; exercise regularly; reduce caffeine & sugar; avoid alcohol, drugs and cigarettes; and get enough sleep.

It may seem that there’s nothing you can do about stress. The bills won’t stop coming, there will never be more hours in the day, and your career and family responsibilities will always be demanding. But you have more control than you might think. In fact, the simple realization that you’re in control of your life is the foundation of stress management.

Managing stress is all about taking charge: of your thoughts, emotions, schedule, and the way you deal with problems

Identify: Stress management starts with identifying the sources of stress in your life. This isn’t as easy as it sounds. Your true sources of stress aren’t always obvious, and it’s all too easy to overlook your own stress-inducing thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

You may know that you’re constantly worried about work deadlines, but maybe it’s your procrastination, rather than the actual job demands, that leads to deadline stress.

To identify your true sources of stress, look closely at your habits, attitude, and excuses:

Do you explain away stress as temporary (“I just have a million things going on right now”) even though you can’t remember the last time you took a breather?

Do you define stress as an integral part of your work or home life (“Things are always crazy around here”) or as a part of your personality (“I have a lot of nervous energy, that’s all”).

Do you blame your stress on other people or outside events, or view

it as entirely normal and unexceptional?

Until you accept responsibility for the role you play in creating or maintaining it, your stress level will remain outside your control.

Think about the ways you currently manage and cope with stress in your life. Are your coping strategies healthy or unhealthy, helpful or unproductive?

Unfortunately, many people cope with stress in ways that compound the problem.

These unhealthy ways of dealing with stress may temporarily reduce stress, but they cause more damage in the long run:

• Smoking • Drinking too much • Overeating or undereating • Zoning out for hours in front of the TV or computer • Withdrawing from friends, family, and activities • Using pills or drugs to relax • Sleeping too much • Procrastinating • Filling up every minute of the day to avoid facing problems • Taking out your stress on others (lashing out, angry outbursts, physical violence)

Learning healthier ways to manage stress

If your methods of coping with stress aren’t contributing to your greater emotional and physical health, it’s time to find healthier ones. There are many healthy ways to manage and cope with stress, but they all require change. You can either change the situation or change your reaction.

9Newsletter | ArcelorMittal Tubular Products Division | Issue 03 - October 2012

Health and Safety Feature - Health Week October 2012