March 2006
Service Center News


Ports of Indiana Handled Record
$1.53 billion of Cargo in 2005
The Ports of Indiana handled a record $1.53 billion of cargo in 2005, a 2 percent increase from 2004, which was the only other year the facilities broke the $1 billion mark in the port system’s 35-year history.

In 2005, Indiana’s three ports on Lake Michigan and the Ohio River—Burns Harbor/Portage, Mount Vernon and Jeffersonville—moved 7.7 million tons of cargo, a 2 percent increase from 2004 and a 38 percent jump from 2003. Steel made up 16 percent of the port system’s total tonnage, but more than 40 percent of the total value.

The Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor surpassed its five-year average by 2 percent with 2.2 million tons of cargo in 2005. The port handled more than $677 million of steel in 2005 and roughly 15 percent of all U.S. steel trade with Europe.
The Port of Indiana-Mount Vernon finished 2005 with nearly 3.8 million tons of cargo, its highest volume since 1998 and a 13 percent increase on top of last year’s 45 percent jump. Steel tonnage there increased by 45 percent over 2004.

The 2005 hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico had a varied impact on the Ports of Indiana. Barge shortages on the Ohio-Mississippi river system forced shippers to look for cargo-handling alternatives. While this may have hampered some end-of-year river shipments at all ports, it also rerouted some additional cargo to ships at the state’s Lake Michigan port.

NBM Builds New Warehouse in Ohio
National Bronze & Metals (Ohio) Inc. recently completed construction of its new 25,000-square-foot tilt-wall warehouse in Lorain. Tilt-wall construction is a cost-saving technique in which concrete walls are poured on-site, hoisted by crane and set in place using beams. National Bronze is a manufacturer and master distributor of brass, bronze and copper alloys.

The new warehouse is designed to reduce delivery times to NBM customers in the Midwest and Northeast by increasing inventories, with improved quality programs due to better storage and handling procedures.

In addition to the warehouse, NBMO has added a second horizontal caster, which will be used for the production of various grades of aluminum bronze and manganese bronze alloys. A new CNC lathe and milling machine have also been purchased.

“Our new warehouse and new equipment were necessary in order to better serve our customers and meet the demands of our continuing growth,” explains Norman Lazarus, senior vice president.

The company also recently purchased a plate saw, which will be utilized for production sawing of various grades of tin bronze, aluminum bronze and manganese bronze wear plates.

EMJ Opens New Distribution Facility in Quebec City
Earle M. Jorgensen Co., Lynwood, Calif., is opening a new metals processing and distribution facility in Quebec City, Quebec.

The 20,000-square-foot facility will hold an inventory of bar and tube stock and cutting equipment on-site, and will enable EMJ to offer daily product deliveries and enhanced service to customers in the Quebec City region. EMJ currently operates a facility in Montreal, Quebec.

“The opening of our new Quebec City facility extends Earle M. Jorgensen’s reach into the Canadian market, while enabling us to better serve our customers with value-added services and more frequent deliveries in and around Quebec City,” said William Gertin, EMJ director of Canadian Operations.

The new facility is located at 180, Rue des Grands-Lacs, St. Augustin de Desmaures, Quebec, and will have a full-time area manager on-site.

Quebec City is the fifth new facility opening or expansion announced in recent months by EMJ, following those in or near Toronto; Spokane, Wash.; Houston; and Hartford, Conn.

Reliance Subsidiary Buys
Two Flat Rock Processing Facilities
Precision Strip Inc., a subsidiary of Reliance Steel and Aluminum Co., Los Angeles, has agreed to acquire Flat Rock Metal Processing LLC., a Flat Rock, Mich., toll processing company.

Upon completion of the acquisition, the two Flat Rock facilities will operate as Precision Strip locations that process and deliver carbon steel, aluminum and stainless steel products on a toll basis. Precision Strip currently has facilities in Kenton, Middletown, Minster and Tipp City, Ohio; Anderson and Rockport, Ind.; Bowling Green, Ky.; and Talladega, Ala.

Company officials expect the transaction to be completed around May 1.
Another Reliance subsidiary, Reliance Pan Pacific Pte. Ltd., completed the purchase of Everest Metals, a metal service center company based in Shanghai, China. Reliance Pan Pacific is a joint venture formed in October 2005 that is 70 percent owned by Reliance and 30 percent owned by Manufacturing Network Pte. Ltd., a Singapore company.

Everest Metals provides primarily aluminum products to the electronics industry. Its 2005 revenues were $5.5 million.

O’Neal Steel Acquires Colorado’s Timberline
O’Neal Steel Inc., Birmingham, Ala., has acquired the stock of Timberline Steel from the McCallin family in Commerce City, Colo., for an undisclosed amount. The transaction marks O’Neal’s fifth acquisition since 1997 and brings the company’s total to 68 stocking locations.

Timberline Steel will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of O’Neal Steel. Dan McCallin will continue in his role as president and CEO.

“Timberline is an excellent regional service center organization with a rich history, strong leadership, excellent customer base and proven track record,” says Bill Jones, president and CEO of O’Neal Steel. “The addition of Timberline expands our full-line capability to service customers in the Rocky Mountain region.”

Timberline Steel stocks and processes carbon steel plate, bars, beams, tubing, pipe, expanded metal and bar grating from facilities in Commerce City, Colo.; Grand Junction, Colo.; Pueblo, Colo.; and Farmington, N.M.

R&R Trading to Build
New Warehouse at
Port of Longview
The Port of Longview in Washington state has approved the sale of 35 acres of industrial property to R & R Trading Inc., Delta, British Columbia, for a purchase price of $2.1 million. The company also has a three-year option to purchase an additional 15 acres.

R & R Trading has been a tenant at the port since 2001 through its subsidiary North American Pipe & Steel. NAP Steel operates a steel distribution center and will build a new warehouse and processing facility at the site.

In addition to the property purchase, Cascadia Metals, another subsidiary of
R & R Trading, will lease a port warehouse for one year with two one-year renewal options. Cascadia Metals will use the 69,000-square-foot building for processing steel coil and storage of small bore pipe and tubing while a new warehouse and processing facility is being built on the 35 acres.

Steel Warehouse Opening Facility in Monterrey
Steel Warehouse Co., South Bend, Ind., is expanding its presence in the temper pass cut-to-length market with a new location in Monterrey, Mexico.
The new facility will feature a four-high temper mill integrated with a rotary shear, dual leveler cut-to-length line. The new line will be capable of handling three-quarter-inch material up to 96 inches wide.

The Monterrey plant will become Steel Warehouse’s fifth temper pass cut-to-length installation in North America and the first line of its type within Mexico. Operations are scheduled to begin later this year.

Tico Titanium Relocating
Facility in Spring, Texas
Tico Titanium Inc., New Hudson, Mich., is relocating its Spring, Texas, facility to nearby Oak Ridge North.

The new, larger service center and warehouse facility is five miles north of the present location and totals 17,800 square feet, including 16,000 feet of equipped warehouse space.

Company officials say the new location gives Tico Titanium additional product and equipment capacity and greater efficiency of operations.

ThyssenKrupp Materials NA Acquires Hearn Group
ThyssenKrupp Materials NA Inc. has completed the acquisition of Windsor, Ontario-based The Hearn Group, including Hearn Industrial Park, Hearn Warehousing & Distribution, Hearn Logistics and Hearn Automotive.

The purchase also included the former PSA Quality Systems business unit, and Summit Personnel Services Inc.

A newly formed ThyssenKrupp Hearn division will be incorporated into ThyssenKrupp Materials NA’s Industrial Services business unit.
Four Hughes Supply Branches to Operate Under Metals Inc. Name
Four branches within the Hughes Supply Inc. Industrial Pipe, Valves and Fittings business segment are now operating under the name Metals Inc. The branches uniting under the Orlando, Fla.-based Metals Inc. name include: Allied Metals, Houston; Southwest Stainless, Dallas; Metals Gulf Coast, Mobile, Ala.; and Metals Inc., Tulsa, Okla.

Consolidating under a common name will enable the branches to take advantage of joint marketing opportunities and expand sales nationwide, company officials say. The name change does not affect operations or personnel.

Copper and Brass Sales
Adds Capacity at 3 Sites
Copper and Brass Sales, Southfield, Mich., has added plant capacity in three of its locations. In Michigan, the company has bought a new 73,000-square-foot facility in Saline, located outside of Ann Arbor. The facility will house a new 60-inch wide Braner looping-pit slitter along with leveling and shearing equipment.

The company expects to be operational in the new Saline facility by late spring.
Copper and Brass Sales has also grown its plant capacity in two facilities in its North Central Region, moving into a new 23,000-square-foot facility in Bloomington, Minn., and installing a metal saw capable of processing aluminum plate up through six inches thick.

The company’s Milwaukee plant has expanded from 37,000 square feet to 57,000 square feet and installed a new Tsune saw for aluminum and copper bar production cutting.

SCS Process Continues
to Gain Converts
The SCS partnership between The Material Works Ltd. and Red Bud Industries, both located in Red Bud, Ill., is gaining momentum. The companies have announced a series of recent installations.

The SCS process, patented by The Material Works, uses a brushing system to give hot-rolled black steel a smooth, clean, rust-resistant finish. Red Bud provides the equipment for the SCS processing lines, which offer cost and environmental benefits vs. conventional pickling.

Servosteel, a toll processor/pickler based in Dudley, U.K., has purchased an SCS coil-to-coil cleaning line. The 72-inch wide, 0.315-inch thick, 32-metric-ton coil capacity system features two Bradbury roller levelers.

Layhill Processing LLC, Loudon, Tenn., has installed an SCS sheet line at its facility on the Olympic Metals site. The line includes an SCS Sheet Cleaning System, Closed Loop Water Filtration System, Exit Conveyor, Drop Stacker, Stack Table, and End Discharge Rollouts.

Energy Alloys Purchases Oilfield
Distribution Assets from Ryerson
Energy Alloys, Houston, has agreed to purchase the U.S. oilfield distribution assets of Ryerson Inc., Chicago. The companies expect to complete the transaction by the end of the first quarter.

“Our commitment of offering customers and suppliers an advantage in oilfield metals, service and solutions stands firm,” says Dave Warren, president of Energy Alloys. “The acquisition of the Ryerson oilfield distribution assets strengthens our ability to provide our customers an expanded product range and tailored inventories that will better serve their growing global needs.”

The acquisition follows Energy Alloys’ purchase of IMS U.K. last year. The combination of the two companies’ complementary product portfolios and services will increase product depth and range, as well as enhance Energy Alloys’ focus and presence in the energy services market, says Warren.

Through the purchase, Energy Alloys will gain distribution facilities in Houston; Lafayette, La.; and Tulsa, Okla. The distribution locations acquired had revenues of approximately $80 million in 2005.

Briefs
ADS Logistics LLC. Homewood, Ill., was selected by Olympic Steel’s Detroit subsidiary to provide transportation management services for its processing division, which specializes in providing services to the automotive industry.

Stalprokat, a Moscow-based metal distributor, has purchased a 0.138-inch by 60-inch high-speed multi-blanking system designed and built by Red Bud Industries, Red Bud, Ill. The line utilizes Red Bud’s Servo Hydraulic Grip Feed Measuring System to produce close tolerance blanks with a plus/minus 0.005-inch tolerance straight from coil.

Marmon/Keystone Canada Inc. and members of Local Union No. 712 of the Shopmen’s International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers reached a three-year contract at the company’s Vancouver, British Columbia, service center. The new deal will expire Nov. 30, 2008.

Concord Steel Centre Ltd., Vaughan, Ontario, has purchased a new Precision Strand Extensioner Slitting Line from Herr-Voss Stamco. The line will process incoming coils up to 80,000 pounds by 74 inches wide at a maximum speed of 1,000 feet per minute with a material thickness range of 0.015-inch to 0.250-inch.

Maintenance Metals and Alloys Inc., Vaughan, Ontario, will celebrate its 10th year in business April 17. Maintentance Metals offers small-quantity metal distribution, plus flame cutting and grinding of up to 4-inch plate.

People
McNichols Co., Tampa, Fla., has appointed Jeff Croskey director of operations. He will oversee national plant operating activities at the company’s 17 metal service centers and McNichols’ ISO 9001-2000 Quality Management System.

Jim Erben and Scott Hollenhead have joined Birmingham, Ala.-based O’Neal Steel’s Jackson District as sales representatives. Erben is the special accounts representative, focusing on sales and marketing of non-ferrous products, and Hollenhead is an outside representative based in Mathiston, Miss.

Larry Schiffler has joined Chicago Extruded Metals Co. as director of marketing.

Rob Lang has joined Feralloy Corp., Charleston Division, as sales manager. Lang has 12 years experience in sales in steel processing and distribution.

 
 

Questions or comments about Metal Center News. E-mail feedback@metalcenternews.com