The aim of the project is to develop a flexible continuous annealing line, having the possibility to adapt very quickly the annealing parameters to the grades and/or formats to be produced. This will allow a reduction of yield losses due to transient parts of the coils compared to conventional continuous annealing. The concept will make use of the latest heating and cooling technologies, which represent a moderate investment cost, a high thermal efficiency and a high productivity. A tunnel furnace under protective atmosphere will be used to study the over-ageing treatment of some steels (in order to prevent excessive oxidation). It is expected that this additional thermal treatment will improve the ductility and the ageing resistance. Furthermore the aim is to develop certain new steel products such as formable dual phase steels with lean chemistries, high strength IF-steels and high strength packaging steels.