A new "slitting line" is to be launched at Tata Steel's Hartlepool Tube Mill site as part of a £7m investment.
The manufacturer said the new facilities will mean Hartlepool - which employs about 300 people producing 200,000 tonnes of steel tubes each year - is capable of processing coils of steel delivered from its main Port Talbot steelworks.
Current wide steel slabs are "slit" - cut to specified lengths and widths - at the Welsh facility before being rolled and sent to Hartlepool where they are turned into steel tubes used in everything from agricultural machinery to sports stadiums.
