Abstract: A steel plate splicing facility includes a steel plate heating apparatus for heating a preceding material and a following material, and a shear-joining apparatus for joining the preceding material and the following material. The preceding material is a steel plate currently undergoing pickling, or pickling and cold rolling, and the following material is the next steel plate to undergo pickling, or pickling and cold rolling. In the shear-joining apparatus, the preceding material and the following material are clamped in an overlapping condition by means of a die and a clamp and are sheared by means of a punch in such a manner as to bring respective newly-formed surfaces in contact with each other for joining.