XPS and Auger spectroscopies are oflen used in several fields of activity of the steel industry that may be sorted into three items : defectology and expertise, research and development on products and process, study of metallurgical mechanisms. In these fields of activity the results, that we provide our customers with, are obtained within the frame of a "Quality insurance - Certification" approach. This approach is based on the appropriate measures taken by Arcelor Research to give customers every confidence that any error of measurement will be prevented. The few examples in this paper demonstrate how XPS and Auger analysis, performed on samples of small size to study phenomena at a nanometer scale, can be a great help to the industrial line management.