A Bandwagon with Few Passengers: Minimill and FINEX in Steel Industry

Abstract

: There is a general preconception that existing technologies are replaced by new ones. Christensen (1997) believed that integrated steelmaking technologies would be replaced by minimills in the steel industry. In addition, it was believed that traditional blast furnace technology in this industry would be replaced by FINEX technology. Whether it be the new technology of minimills or that of FINEX, either are vastly superior in cost when compared with existing technologies. In actuality, however, these new technologies have only replaced some existing technologies and even today are merely complementary to existing technologies. Both of these new technologies have issues with quality, and companies have not yet decided to discard existing technologies to replace them with the new ones.