Changes in the Steel Industry in Poland in the Period 1990 to 2020: Innovation and Digitisation on the Way to Steel Mills

The article presents the development path of the steel industry in Poland. Metallurgy after each industrial revolution has become an increasingly strong strategic branch of industry. The national economy of any country cannot develop without securing supplies of steel and other metal products. Construction, transport, infrastructure development and various services and separate industries would suffer. Therefore, because of the above, this article aims to analysis of changes in metallurgy in the three decades 1990-2020, with a particular emphasis on changes that are part of the wide range of innovations of modern enterprises in the global economy. The technological investments implemented, especially in recent years, and the scope of activities in the field of R&D are a chance to build steelworks 4.0 in Poland. However, it should be emphasised that the Polish steel industry is made up of foreign capital groups (the largest steel plants are owned by foreign capital). Steel producers in Poland are in the structures of international capital groups with a high position in the global steel market. The development of the Polish steel sector is presented on the basis of statistical data. The chapter is a retrospective analysis in the period from 1990-2000. The stages of the evolution of the Polish steel industry were described in the context of Industry 4.0. The structure of the work was arranged chronologically according to the time periods: the first period from 1990 to 2000, the second period from 2000 to 2010 and the third period from 2010 to 2020. In each of the analysed periods changes that formed the innovative steel industry were indicated.