 In 1953 the number of planned blast furnaces was scaled back from eight to six, and overall plans for the site were reduced to include only production of pig iron.As part of a continued political process of De-Stalinization the plant was renamed "Eisenhüttenkombinat Ost" (EKO), at the same time the nearby town of Stalinstadt was renamed Eisenhüttenstadt.In 1968 a cold rolling mill became operational after 3 years of construction; plans for addition of steel production and hot rolling were initiated in the same period, but cancelled in 1967.