Nowadays in the iron and steelmaking industry, minimills will take a substantial share of total steel production. The steel industry will witness a faster evolution of minimills into integrated compact mills, and integrated iron and steelmaking complexes will have to increasingly adopt minimill management philosophy in order to survive economically. The successful steel producer of the year 2000 will be characterized by the permanent incorporation and integration of the most advanced technologies for the production process and equipment, including maximized automation.