Sybase iAnywhere today announced that ThyssenKrupp Steel, supposedly the first steel producer in the world to use RFID technology, has selected RFID Anywhere(TM) for slab identification.

The software infrastructure will be used in ThyssenKrupp Steel’s new steel mill in the Bay of Sepetiba, Brazil, as well as at the European sea harbor and local harbor in Duisburg, Germany, to identify steel slabs automatically and to speed up the unloading process.

Working with consultants from Accenture, ThyssenKrupp Steel recently completed successful pilot trials with 1,000 slabs sent from Brazil and marked with RFID tags.

The Brazilian steel mill is currently under construction and is scheduled to start production of five million metric tons of steel per year in 2009. Overall, a total of 250,000 slabs will be transported every year, 100,000 of which will be processed at ThyssenKrupp Steel’s German plants.