One of the hot-strip rolling mills in Kazakhstan that Leussink Engineering has been involved with.
Leussink Engineering at Unanderra expects to win more work overseas after helping to refurbish six hot-strip rolling mills in Kazakhstan.
Director Jason Leussink said that since that project, more opportunities had surfaced for the company to refurbish steel mills in various parts of the world, such as ArcelorMittal in Kazakhstan.
He said Leussink Engineering, through its association with German bearings specialist Corts Engineering, was earning a growing reputation around the globe.
Six people from the Unanderra operation, including two apprentices, had travelled to Kazakhstan for three weeks last October to machine six rolling-mill stands for ArcelorMittal, he said.
They were Ray Leussink, Ian Pursey, Michael Humphreys, Marcus Bartle, third-year apprentice Haydon Skinner and fourth-year apprentice Jamie Sangster.
"We are now working on securing several new projects at present in the Ukraine and Russia," he said.
"Although in the early stages of negotiating, they are on the horizon."
Mr Leussink said the Corts-Leussink partnership had secured the work because it could provide people with the skills and know-how to completely refurbish even the oldest rolling mills (ferrous and non-ferrous) in the world to original specification.
The demand for such work was growing because the two companies worked together to extend the lifespan of rolling mills and help them remain productive.
ArcelorMittal is among the five largest producers of iron ore and metallurgical coal (or coking coal) in the world and has a geographically diversified portfolio of iron ore and coal assets.
Mr Leussink said the company had 26 mills around the world, to his knowledge, and the Corts-Leussink partnership had already worked on two.
The company tended to buy older mills and that meant they needed the skills of companies such as Leussink Engineering to help them get those operating at peak efficiency.
Mr Leussink said the Unanderra operation had trained its technical staff to become specialists.
"ArcelorMittal is arguably the largest in the world in its field and it would not make an appointment of this magnitude, with so much at stake, lightly," he said.
"So we know Corts-Leussink is there on international merit."
Since the Corts-Leussink partnership was formed several years ago, Unanderra employees had worked on three steel mills in Europe: Kazakhstan, Romania and Italy, Mr Leussink said.
"Our technical staff takes a holistic approach that includes a thorough laser-based survey of all components and including their current structural integrity."