Samuel Reorganizes Operations in Western Canada
Samuel, Son & Co., Limited, Mississauga, Ontario, is reorganizing its western Canadian operations to reflect its growing presence in the region. The company’s latest additions included a facility in Kelowna, B.C., and flat-rolled processing facilities in Edmonton and Calgary, Alberta.

Under the reorganization, Borden McGrae will become regional vice-president, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. He will be responsible for all facets of business at Samuel, Son & Co. Winnipeg, Regina and Saskatoon.

Doug Hlady, regional vice-president, Alberta, will be responsible for all facets of business at Samuel, Son & Co. Edmonton, Samuel Coil Processing Edmonton and Samuel Coil Processing Calgary. Bob Taylor will serve as regional vice-president, British Columbia, handling the business at Samuel, Son & Co. Vancouver, Samuel, Son & Co. Kelowna and Samuel Specialty Metals Calgary.

“We believe the above changes will allow us to serve our customers in the most efficient and effective manner. We also believe these changes will position us well for growth,” says Wayne Bassett, president and CEO of Samuel, Son & Co.

ArcelorMittal, BE Group Form Venture in Sweden
BE Group, Stockholm, has acquired 50 percent of ArcelorMittal SSC AB in Karlstad, Sweden, to establish a service center joint venture. The steel venture will sell thin sheets on the Swedish market. 

The combination of the ArcelorMittal SSC Sverige facility, located in Karlstad, and the one belonging to BE Group in Borlange, forms the third biggest entity on the Swedish market, with a market share of 20 percent and steel shipments of 120,000 tons. 

“The market for cutting to length and slitting of thin sheets in Sweden is large and important for BE Group on a long-term basis. By merging our business in Borlange with ArcelorMittal’s in Karlstad, an important step is taken on a market that needs to be consolidated,” says BE Group President and CEO Hakan Jeppsson.

Burgon Tool Steel Acquires Kloster
Burgon Tool Steel Co. Inc. has acquired Kloster Steel Corp., Chicago. Kloster Steel has supplied the upper Midwest region with tool steel products since 1926.

The companies combined at the start of the year, with Kloster adopting the Burgon brand name and operating as the Midwest Division of Burgon Tool Steel. Gerry Sorensen, president of Kloster Steel, will remain with the new company to lead the division.

“We at Kloster Steel are truly excited about becoming part of the Burgon Tool Steel family. Burgon takes care of its customers with the same eye toward quality and customer service that have been the benchmarks of Kloster for many years,” Sorensen says.

Sunbelt-Turret Adds Texas Location
Sunbelt-Turret Steel Inc., Charlotte, N.C., has opened its newest location in Cooper, Texas. Along with the warehouse, the company has purchased two new Behringer saws.

The new saws increase the company’s saw capacity to 11, with four located in the new facility. Sunbelt-Turret is one of the larger distributors of cut pieces of large-diameter carbon and alloy forged bar in the country.

“The opening of our new location in Cooper, Texas, will allow Sunbelt-Turret to increase our effectiveness in servicing current and future customers with a local source of hot-rolled and forged, rough-turned carbon and alloy steel bars,” says Wendell MacDonald, national sales manager for Sunbelt-Turret.

Titanium Industries to Supply Material to UTC in India
Titanium Industries has signed a four-year agreement with United Technologies Corp. to support UTC’s emerging market initiative in India.

Titanium Industries will provide raw material to all of UTC subcontractors located in India, including titanium, nickel, steel, stainless steel, aluminum, beryllium, cobalt, iron, copper, carbide and magnesium.

Titanium Industries recently established a sales office in Bangalore, India. Plans are now under way to open a service center facility in India to service UTC’s requirements and existing medical, industrial and other aerospace customers.

“Titanium Industries brings more than 35 years of material distribution experience to India. This strategy is fully aligned with our plan to support key aerospace and medical customers in every part of the world,” says Jeff Wise, vice president of sales and marketing for TI.

Hadco Opens Warehouse in Philadelphia
Hadco Metal Trading Co., a subsidiary of Scope Metals Group Ltd., has begun to market and distribute a full range of aircraft aluminum products for the aerospace industry, including plates, sheets, extrusions and bars. The center of Hadco’s aircraft product distribution is its new 82,000-square-foot warehouse in Philadelphia.

Scope’s U.S. subsidiaries include Hadco, which operates metals distribution centers on the East Coast, and Material Technology Solutions LLC, located in New Jersey, with public warehouses in Baltimore and Los Angeles.

Scope distributes and supplies metals products including stainless steel, aluminum, carbon and steel alloys, nickel alloys, brass, bronze, copper, lead and titanium, and engineered plastics products. 

Yarde Goes Green
Connecticut-based Yarde Metals has initiated several environmentally conscious, energy-saving and recycling programs at its corporate location, and is in the process of establishing many of them at its branch facilities.

As a participant in the CT Light & Power Co. Demand Response Program, Yarde has the capability of generating its own power. During summer months when usage is at its peak, CL&P may request that Yarde switch over to its generator to deter power outages and not overextend what is available to the grid. The company was issued a grant by the State of Connecticut to finance a portion of the generator project.

A paper-recycling program was launched in October. All workstations throughout Yarde’s offices and warehouse have recycle containers in place for miscellaneous paper waste.   

Other recycling programs include the company’s cardboard waste, computer equipment, plasma dust and wood skids. Lighting has been changed over to high-efficiency T-5 fixtures with motion sensors, reducing lighting costs by 25 percent. 

In addition to the Connecticut facility, Yarde has branches in New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Florida that are incorporating some of these changes.

Apollo Acquisition Secures
TK’s Position in Aerospace Sector
ThyssenKrupp Materials NA Inc. believes its parent company’s acquisition of Apollo Metals Ltd. will position the company to become the first truly global aerospace service provider.

Apollo Metals, based in the United Kingdom, provides high-grade production materials such as aluminum, stainless steel and other non-ferrous metals with value-adding processing services predominantly for aerospace manufacturers and their supply chains.

The acquisition, completed in January, will combine Apollo’s largely European and Far Eastern operations with the ThyssenKrupp Materials aerospace service centers in the United States and Canada. Counting ThyssenKrupp Services’ aerospace operations in Latin America and Europe, the company will operate 30 locations in 13 countries with an annual turnover exceeding $700 million.

“The expansion of the aerospace business has a great strategic significance for us. With our supply chain management solutions, we already have a strong footing in the aerospace industry,” says Joachim Limberg, chairman and CEO of ThyssenKrupp Materials NA. “This acquisition secures us worldwide access to all the major aircraft manufacturers and their key suppliers. This is a key milestone for us as an internationally recognized supplier of materials and services to the aerospace industry.”

Briefs
Heidtman Steel, Toledo, will add in-line tension leveling and a Parsytec continuous defect detection system to its pickling line in Cleveland, the third facility in the Heidtman group to add those capabilities. The Parsytec system will be installed in July, while the in-line tension leveling, with a 72-inch maximum width, is targeted for installation later in the year.

Ryerson Coil Processing will install a hydraulic operated roller leveler from Butech Bliss, Salem, Ohio, at its Blytheville, Ark., facility. The leveler will process carbon steel material one-half inch thick and 72 inches wide and up to 85,000 PSI yield strength.

Petersen Aluminum, Elk Grove Village, Ill., has ordered its third precision blanking line from Red Bud Industries, Red Bud, Ill. The grip feed system included in the line will enable Petersen to produce blanks with length tolerances of 0.005-inch, and will process coils up to 50,000 pounds and 72 inches wide. 

Several companies have commissioned AGT400 thickness gauges and SPC reporting systems from Advanced Gauging Technologies LLC, Plain City, Ohio. Venture Steel Inc., Etobicoke, Ontario, upgraded from a Gamma gauge to an AGT400, the fifth at that facility; Hascall Steel, Grandville, Mich., purchased a new AGT400 for its 72-inch Braner slitter; and Allegheny Ludlum added an AGT400 for its No. 4 MG0 line.

As a result of the merger between Ferguson Metals and AIM International, the companies have created a new website: www.upmet.com. The new site details United Performance Metals’ new services and products, and expands ordering capabilities.

Future Metals Inc., a Marmon/Keystone affiliate, has been awarded a Boeing Performance Excellence Award for 2007. The award cites Future Metals’ locations in Pacific, Wash., and Cerritos, Calif., for exhibiting “dedication to high performance standards.”

First Precision LLC, Crown Point, Ind., was chosen the grand prize winner of the 2007 Indiana Venture Idol competition. First Precision’s development of a method for vertically applying powder paint to steel or aluminum coils in a high-speed manner was chosen the best concept in a field of 82 competing businesses. The grand prize designation helps position the company to venture capitalists, opening the doors to funding that can bring the concept to fruition, says Bob McShane, president and CEO of First Precision.

The McNichols Company, Tampa, Fla., has been named a Fit Friendly Company by the American Heart Association. The designation is given to companies that encourage a healthy lifestyle within the workplace.

People
Cam Smith, founder and CEO of Doral Steel Inc., Toledo, Ohio, has been named Steel Man of the Year by the Association of Steel Distributors. The award is given to the individual who embodies leadership, dedication, service and excellence in the steel industry. Smith has been in the steel industry since he was 19, beginning at Lucas Steel. He also worked at Greatwestern Ohio Steel and Heidtman Steel before founding Doral Steel in 1975.

Alfred Goings has been promoted to general manager of O’Neal Steel’s Chattanooga, Tenn., operations. Goings has been with O’Neal since 1995, working as an inside sales representative before moving to Chattanooga where he has been in outside sales and worked as sales manager and assistant general manager. Also, Gene Richard has been promoted to general manager at the company’s Tube Processing Center in Lebanon, Tenn.