Dear Reader,

Europe’s metals and heat processing industries are navigating turbulent waters — but they are navigating, not drifting.

This issue opens with a question that cuts to the heart of the European aluminium sector: “We have no raw materials, no refineries, expensive energy. How can we survive?” Giorgio Di Betta, Sales Director of Eural Gnutti S.p.A. and President of Centroal, does not mince words. Anti-dumping duties are expiring, free trade agreements are opening backdoors for dumped imports, and hydrogen remains a distant prospect for most furnace operators. His message is a challenge directed squarely at Brussels — and at the industry itself.

That urgency runs throughout the issue. Christian Koehl, our new Market Insights columnist, makes a sharp debut with an analysis of a European steel market where politics have overtaken supply and demand as the dominant force: record import volumes, a reinforced tariff-rate quota system, a CBAM mechanism few truly understand, and an Industrial Accelerator Act that — remarkably — left steel out. We look forward to his continued analytical perspective in the issues ahead.

On the technology and process side, our contributors cover substantial ground. Łukasz Piechowicz of SECO/WARWICK examines how R&D under near-operational conditions is becoming essential for meeting the increasingly demanding requirements of aerospace, defense, medical, and energy applications. Marc-Oliver Arnold makes the case for scrap-based electric arc steelmaking as a decarbonisation lever that is available today — with CO₂ savings of up to 98% compared to the conventional blast furnace route. And Julian Irretier explores sustainable heat treatment of industrial furnaces, mapping the intersection of energy efficiency and renewable energy integration.

Further contributions address digital quality management in continuous galvanizing, a quantum-leap approach to bell annealing energy efficiency, IGBT-based power supply for channel inductors, and the cybersecurity imperatives of NIS-2 and related standards for connected industrial infrastructure.

The common thread is clear: the answers Europe needs are already being developed — in laboratories, on shop floors, and in the minds of the people whose work fills these pages.

Wishing you an inspiring and forward-looking read!