From Technological Dependence to Technological Development: The Case of the USIMINAS Steel Plant in Brazil

Carl J. Dahlman and Fernando Valadares Fonseca

Chapter 6 in Technology Generation in Latin American Manufacturing Industries, 1987, pp 154-182 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract This chapter is a case-study of technical change and technological development in USIMINAS, an integrated steelplant in Brazil.1 USIMINAS is the success story of a Nippo-Brazilian joint venture. Founded in 1956 it started production in 1962 and under the operational responsibility of the Japanese partners who owned 40 per cent of the stock, it reached planned nominal capacity of 500 000 tons per annum (tpa) in 1966. Operational responsibility then passed to the Brazilians who by then had acquired roughly 80 per cent of the stock. Over the next six years they increased capacity approximately 140 per cent to nearly 1 200 000 tpa with basically the original equipment and very little additional investment. Between 1972 and 1976, as a result of a major expansion plan, USIMINAS increased capacity to 2 400 000 tpa. As of March of 1978 USIMINAS was producing at the rate of 3 000 000 tpa, and was in the midst of a second large expansion plan which shall increase its capacity to 3.5 million tpa by 1979.2

Keywords: Blast Furnace; Technical Change; Coke Oven; Energy Crisis; Coke Plant (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1987
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DOI: 10.1007/978-1-349-07210-1_7

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