SeverCorr "Officially Opens for Business'
SeverCorr has begun operations on its pickling line, marking the first commercial production at the new steel facility in Columbus, Miss.

SeverCorr, which plans to complete its start-up in the third quarter, will ultimately produce 1.5 million tons of steel per year.

“We are of course ecstatic with the start-up of the pickle line,” says Mike Wagner, chief commercial officer of SeverCorr. “Our employees who are part of this area have a lot of pride in being first. They have worked diligently for the last two months during training and testing and are excited to start processing coils for our customers.”

Through the end of January, SeverCorr had processed 3,000 tons of material through the pickle line for almost a dozen customers, including Heidtman Steel Products, Kenwal Steel Corp. and MISA Metals. At full output, the line will produce 1.25 million tons of pickled and oiled product per year.

SeverCorr is currently purchasing hot-roll bands from third parties for pickling until its own hot-roll product is available in third-quarter 2007. Between now and then, Wagner says, additional SeverCorr products will become available including cold-roll by the end of the first quarter and galvanized and galvannealed by the end of second quarter.

“This is just one of many milestones we will be celebrating as more portions of the mill come on-line in the coming months,” he adds. “But it is wonderful to say SeverCorr is officially open and doing business—processing steel, filling orders and satisfying customers.”

Tata Wins Corus Bid, Now 5th Largest Mill
India’s Tata Steel has won the auction for European steelmaker Corus Group PLC, creating the world’s fifth-largest steel producer. Tata Steel’s bid, roughly equivalent to $8.1 billion, was accepted by Corus management last month over a rival bid from Brazil’s Companhia Siderurgica Nacional.

“The final offer of 608 pence [per share] from Tata is the culmination of a thorough process conducted by my board to secure both the best value for shareholders and the right strategic future for Corus,” says Jim Leng, chairman of Corus. “Tata and Corus are stronger together and will be able to compete effectively in an increasingly global environment. This combination creates a strong and robust platform for growth that will benefit all stakeholders.”

IPSCO Expanding Pipe Capacity in Regina
IPSCO Inc., Lisle, Ill., has announced plans for a $52.5 million expansion of its Regina, Saskatchewan, large-diameter pipe making facility. The expansion will include an additional pipe forming mill and related finishing equipment. Combined with previously announced projects, the company’s large-diameter spiral pipe capacity will increase 67 percent to 500,000 tons by early 2008.

“IPSCO will continue to invest in the pipe and steel technology and appropriate capacity to keep the company at the forefront of the large-diameter line pipe industry on a globally competitive basis” says David Sutherland, president and CEO. “Our footprint in North America and relationships with key oil and natural gas transmission companies give IPSCO an unparalleled opportunity to continue to be the leader in this business.”

IPSCO currently has firm commitments for more than 300,000 tons of large-diameter line pipe, which will require its mills to operate at capacity until April 2008. Beyond that period, the company has firm options on more than 500,000 tons of large-diameter line pipe. 

IPSCO previously announced a 25 percent increase in spiral mill capacity through the installation of a coil preparation line, to come on-stream in the second half of 2007. This expansion will add an additional 33 percent capacity by early 2008. This project is expected to be available earlier than an equivalent greenfield expansion by adding the necessary equipment, which had been previously acquired, to an existing site, company officials say.

Additionally, IPSCO has announced the construction of a $40 million heat-treat facility adjacent to its Blytheville, Ark., pipe mill, due for completion in third-quarter 2007. The facility, which will produce tubing in 2-inch to 5 1/2-inch diameters, will increase IPSCO’s OCTG capacity by 10,000 tons annually.

Carpenter Expanding
Premium Melt Capacity
Carpenter Technology Corp., Wyomissing, Pa., has announced a $115 million expansion of its premium melt capacity. The expansion of melt capacity and related infrastructure at the company’s Reading, Pa., facilities is part of approximately $200 million in capital expenditures Carpenter will make over the next four years.

Company officials believe the expansion will allow Carpenter to meet the demand expected over the next several years from its key end-use markets, including aerospace, energy, medical, and specialty applications in automotive and truck. Executives see more than $500 million of growth opportunities in this high-margin business over the next several years. 

“This expansion of our premium melt capacity reflects the increasing demand for premium alloy materials that is at the heart of Carpenter’s growth plan,” says Anne Stevens, president and chief executive officer. “The investment is a continuation of our strategy to focus on higher value materials that have applications in niche markets.” 

The expansion includes a 40 percent increase in the company’s vacuum induction melting capacity, plus four vacuum arc remelting furnaces and two electro-slag remelting furnaces. These furnaces will augment the company’s existing 27 VAR and ESR furnaces, two of which were added in December.

The expansion program will also include related annealing, homogenization and other process machinery; associated testing equipment, raw materials management systems, and information technology infrastructure. Construction is expected to begin in late fiscal year 2007 and be completed by mid-2009.

“Our decision to make this significant investment reflects not only our confidence in the markets, but also our confidence in our workforce in Reading and at our other supporting operations,” says Dennis Oates, senior vice president of the Specialty Alloys Operations. 

DoALL Realigns Business
into Supply, Sawing Units
The DoALL Co., Des Plaines, Ill., has announced a major realignment of the company into two primary business units: DoALL Global Industrial Supply and DoALL Sawing Products.

The DGI Supply division, headed by Senior Vice President David Crawford, will focus on distributing industrial supplies and providing integrated supply solutions, including commodity management programs. Jim Carey, vice president of sawing products, will lead the DoALL Sawing Products division that will provide dedicated sales and service support for DoALL manufactured products, including DoALL band saw blades, sawing machines, cutting fluids and material handling systems.

“DoALL recently made a $650,000 investment in new communications technology for our national call center,” Crawford says. “We appointed additional regional managers, retrained support personnel and enhanced the warehouse and logistics systems to provide one- or two-day delivery anywhere in the continental United States.”

The DoALL Sawing Products unit will maintain the widely recognized DoALL brand name and logo. “We are now able to offer our program of quality manufactured products to select independent distributors as well as supporting DGI Supply as a major distributor,” Carey says.

Production Starts at Nucor’s DRI facility
Nucor Corp., Charlotte, N.C., has begun production on its direct reduced iron facility, Nu-Iron Unlimited, in Point Lisas, Trinidad. In its second week of production, the facility exceeded 220 tons per hour, achieving excellent metallization and producing DRI containing more than 2 percent carbon, officials say.

“We are extremely pleased with the start-up of Nu-Iron in Trinidad, as it represents the largest current component of our strategy to control six to seven million tons per year of high-quality metallics for the Nucor steel mills,” says Dan DiMicco, Nucor’s chairman, president and CEO.

In September 2004, Nucor acquired the Louisiana assets of American Iron Reduction, a 1.4-million-tons-per-year DRI plant. Nucor relocated the assets to Point Lisas, Trinidad, in 2005 and increased the capacity to 2.0 million tons per year. The Trinidad site benefits from a low cost supply of natural gas and favorable logistics for receipt of Brazilian iron ore and shipment of DRI to the United States, DiMicco says.

World Aluminum Market
Has New Top Producer
The European Commission has approved the creation of United Company Rusal, the merger of Rusal, SUAL and the alumina assets of Glencore. The Moscow-based company now claims to be the largest aluminum and alumina producer in the world.

Under terms of the merger agreement, announced in October, Rusal shareholders will own 66 percent of the company, SUAL’s shareholders 22 percent and Glencore’s 12 percent.

The combined company will own bauxite mining, alumina refinery, aluminum smelting and foil production facilities all over the world, employing more than 110,000 people in 17 countries on five continents.

Timken to Expand Rolling Mill Operations
The Timken Company, Canton, Ohio, will invest approximately $60 million in its steel rolling mill operations to produce steel bars down to 1-inch diameter for use in power transmission and friction management applications. 

A 76,000-square-foot addition will be built at the Harrison Steel Plant in Canton. The project will include expanded rolling, finishing and inspection capabilities. Construction is expected to begin in mid-June, with completion in mid-2008. 

The Daido Steel Co. Ltd., a leading Japanese producer, will assist Timken with the process.

“We are making investments across our company to strengthen the differentiation of our technology and product portfolio,” says James W. Griffith, Timken president and chief executive officer. 

Daido and Timken also intend to explore other possible areas of collaboration in connection with the manufacture and supply of steel and steel-related products and services.

“We recognize Timken as a company with a long history of steelmaking experience and sophisticated technical performance,” says Masatoshi Ozawa, president and chief executive officer of Daido Steel. “The collaboration with Timken will bring us the best solution to meet Japanese customers’ expectation of success in transplant projects of special bar quality steel in the United States.”

Briefs
Evraz Group S.A. has completed its acquisition of Oregon Steel Mills Inc., Portland, Ore., via a short-form merger of Oregon Steel with Evraz’s wholly owned subsidiary Oscar Acquisition Merger Sub Inc. The subsidiary made a cash tender offer to purchase all outstanding shares of Oregon’s common stock for $63.25 per share. “We look forward to jointly building a world-class company with efficient operations, diverse revenue streams and high margins.,” says Alexander Frolov, Evraz chairman and chief executive officer. “From day one, the combined company is a global leader in the important rails market, with a strong presence in the two largest railway countries.”

SeverCorr has selected ADS Logistics LLC, Homewood, Ill., to provide integrated logistics services for its new steel plant in Columbus, Miss.  SeverCorr logisticians will use the ADS LoMaS Transportation Management System and EDI functionality to manage the ordering of equipment, load building, dock scheduling, bill of lading creation and carrier management. 

Arcelor Mittal has agreed to the sale of Huta Bankowa to Alchemia SA Capital Group, as part of Mittal Steel’s commitments to the European Commission during the company’s merger. Huta Bankowa, Poland, is comprised of a 150,000-ton rolling mill, a 26,000-ton forged rings department and a service center.

W. A. Whitney, will celebrate its centennial anniversary with an open house April 25-26 at the Whitney Technology Center in Rockford, Ill. Whitney, a member of the MegaFab family, will demonstrate equipment from all lines, including the 3400 Plasma Cutting System, 4400 MAX plasma/punch combination, Piranha Pro2 two-cylinder synchronous press brake, ironworkers and a Bertsch bending roll. All guests are invited to attend educational seminars, view equipment demonstrations and talk with product development personnel. There is no charge to attend.

International Aluminum Corp., Monterey Park, Calif., has agreed to be acquired by an affiliate of Genstar Capital LLC for approximately $228 million. The board of directors of International Aluminum has unanimously approved the merger agreement and has recommend approval by the company’s shareholders.

Bohler-Uddeholm Corp., Rolling Meadows, Ill., has announced new locations in Illinois and Southern Ohio for its steel stores. The stores specialize in the sale of premium and standard tool, die and mold steels. The Steel Store in West Carrollton, Ohio has moved to a new location at 3510 Stop Eight Road in Dayton. This month, the Steel Store in Elk Grove Village will relocate to an larger facility in Schaumburg, Ill.

Simonds International, Fitchburg, Mass., has published a new bandsaw blade reference guide in Mandarin to support its operations in the Pacific Rim. The new six-page gatefold brochure features Simonds most popular products used throughout the Far East including bi-metal and carbide bandsaw blades.

Alcoa will partner in a company constructing a power plant in Sao Marcos River in Brazil’s central region. Alcoa’s 35 percent stake in the new company, Romania, is part of its long-range strategy of developing energy projects in Latin America to support its smelters and move toward self-sufficiency in its energy needs.

St. Louis-based coil coating company Precoat Metals, a division of Sequa Corp., has purchased the assets of Chicago Finished Metals from Chicago Metallic Corp., a manufacturer of ceiling systems.

Commercial Metals Co., Irving, Texas, has completed the acquisition of the operating assets of Rosslau-Saxony-Anhalt, a steel fabrication business in eastern Germany. The fabrication unit has an annual capacity of 40,000 tons with customers in the eastern and western part of Germany serving the construction industry. 

IPSCO Inc. has contracted with equipment supplier Herr-Voss Stamco, Callery, Pa., to provide a hot-band coil-preparation line at its mill in Regina, Saskatchewan. The coil prep line is designed to process hot-band coils weighing up to 96,000 pounds at a maximum width of 80 inches.

Lake Erie Steel, a subsidiary of Stelco Inc., has been awarded ISO/TS 16949:2002 Quality Management System certification for the manufacture of
hot-rolled steel coils.

ESCO Corp., Portland, Ore., opened a manufacturing facility in the heavy machinery industrial zone of Xuzhou, China. At full capacity, ESCO Xuzhou will produce small metal castings from 20 to 150 pounds.

Dofasco Copperweld’s Stain­ less Tubing Division has announced that its website www.lasertubes.biz has been redesigned and expanded to include new technical literature, additional tolerance and size charts, an e-commerce site that will have order-entry capabilities, and new product brochures, including Chinese and Spanish versions. The site also has a new navigation system, which has been streamlined to enable easier access to the most frequently visited sections and information.

Outokumpu plans to replace one of its five annealing and pickling lines at the company’s Tornio Works facility. The project will increase cold-rolled product capacity by 75,000 tons.

Alcoa, Pittsburgh, will invest more than $6 million to expand core manufacturing capabilities at its Howmet Products and Services operation in Morristown, Tenn. Construction on the 16,000-square-foot addition to the plant began in December. The addition will be completed by mid-2007 and become fully operational by the end of the year. The company is adding a high-temperature tunnel kiln that will improve kiln capacity by 10 percent. 

More than 90 percent of United Steelworkers at Alcan’s Alma primary smelter in Quebec have ratified a long-term labor agreement. The new contract runs through the end of 2011.

Novelis Inc., Atlanta, announced that its joint venture in Korea, Novelis Korea Ltd., will invest $4.1 million to install Novelis Fusion casting technology in its Ulsan, South Korea, plant. The proprietary Novelis technology allows the commercial production of aluminum ingots with multiple alloy layers. The ingots can then be rolled into sheet products with previously unattainable combinations of product attributes, such as high strength and high formability.

RA2507 plate products and welding consumables are now available from Rolled Alloys, Temperance, Mich.  RA2507 is a super duplex stainless steel with 25 percent chromium, 7 percent nickel, and 4 percent molybdenum that offers a combination of high strength and excellent corrosion resistance.  RA2507 possesses a minimum yield strength of 80,000 psi. 

Morgan Construction Co., Worcester, Mass., will build and install a new wire rolling line at an existing bar and wire rod mill for CMC Zawiercie, the Polish subsidiary of Commercial Metals Co. The line will consist of a four-stand reducing sizing mill and ten-stand wire rod block capable of producing product from 5mm to 25mm in diameter at up to 150 tons per hour.

Steel Dynamics Inc., Fort Wayne, Ind., has ordered a premelt pot and second coating pot for its Jeffersonville, Ind., expansion from Inductotherm, Rancocas, N.J. Inductotherm will supply its coreless pot technology, allowing SDI to coat steel up to 60 inches wide with galvalume.

On Feb. 1, Macsteel Atmosphere Annealing Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Quanex Corp., purchased Atmosphere Annealing Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Maxco, Inc. AAI is a metal heat-treating company specializing in high-volume services for automotive customers, with four plants located in the Midwest and fiscal 2006 sales of $46.6 million. “The purchase of AAI builds upon Macsteel’s ability to provide its Tier 1 and Tier 2 automotive customers with additional value-added services and one-stop shopping,” said Raymond Jean, Quanex chairman and chief executive officer. “In addition, half of AAI’s new business is with the automotive transplant manufacturers, which should boost Macsteel’s penetration of this growing market.”

Greer Steel, Dover, Ohio, has upgraded the motor on its 30-inch mill. With its new mill motor, Greer has boosted horsepower from 1000 to 1200hp, allowing the company to take larger reductions per pass or running at increased speeds with the same reduction levels.

RTI International Metals Inc., a Niles, Ohio, titanium producer, has announced that Timothy G. Rupert will step down as its president and chief executive officer effective with the company’s April 27 annual meeting and retire July 31. The board has elected Dawne S. Hickton vice chairman and chief executive officer effective April 27. The company also named Michael C. Wellham as president and chief operating officer, Steve Giangiordano as executive vice president, and William Hull as senior vice president and chief financial officer.  The Chief Operating Officer is a newly-created position.

People
Steven Whisler, chairman and chief executive officer of Phelps Dodge Corp., will receive The Copper Club’s Ankh Award naming him the Copper Man of the Year 2007. The board of directors of the Copper Club voted to honor Whisler with the recognition for his leadership both within his company and in the copper industry. The award will be presented at the club’s annual dinner this month.

Tim Morris has been appointed general manager of Trumpf’s Laser Technology Center in Plymouth, Mich.

Granco Clark, Belding, Mich., has hired Ken Mishler and Terry Knowles as system engineers. They will work with prospective clients to design and support automated aluminum extrusion equipment systems.

Ports of Indiana has named Brian Nutter as director of the Port of Indiana-Jeffersonville. Nutter had been working as the executive director for the Maine Port Authority since 1997.

Brigette Douglas has joined Kaiser Aluminum, Foothill Ranch, Calif., as regional sales manager of the distribution and aerospace business. Douglas, who has 16 years experience in the metals industry, will represent the company throughout most of the Midwest region.

Ken Simmons, a 30-year veteran of the metal building industry, has been named director of sales for the new Trim Shop Plant opened by The Bradbury Co., Moundridge, Kansas.