Mrs. Cecilia Danieli was appointed Chairman of the Board and Mr. Gianpietro Benedetti was appointed President and CEO. A strategic decision was made to expand into the flat product sector which, at that time, was dominated by German, English and Japanese plant manufacturers. Danieli acquired Wean Industries and United Engineering in the USA, founded in 1929 and
1901 respectively, which, between 1950 and 1980, designed and manufactured 60% of the plants for the production of flat products worldwide. The value and importance of Danieli’s technology in the flat product sector was recognized right from the beginning, and this led to a long series of significant orders like: the Thin Slab Caster revamp at Nucor Hickman; the Hot Strip Mill at North Star-BHP Steel; the Thin Slab Caster and HSM at Algoma Steel, the first in the world to produce a wide range
of quality steels, including peritectic. World leading companies Sund Birsta - finishing and tying services for long products, Sweden, and Rotelec - electromagnetic stirrers for casters, France, were acquired. The world’s second unique "direct casting-rolling" plant for quality steels was commissioned at Republic Engineered Steels in the USA. Kia Steel, Korea, ordered an
automatic conditioning plant for specialty engineering steels. Danieli becomes shareholder of ABS - an Italian specialty
steelmaking company.