Zekelman to Build ERW Mill in Blytheville
By
Metal Center News Staff on
Aug 4, 2019
Zekelman Industries will build a continuous ERW tube mill in Blytheville, Ark. The site is located adjacent to its existing Atlas Tube mill.
The mill will be capable of producing sections as large as 28-inch OD by 1-inch wall. Startup of the new mill is expected in September 2021.
“We’re very excited to continue investing in a community we’ve proudly called home,” said Barry Zekelman, executive chairman and CEO of Zekelman Industries. “Having two mills within close proximity of each other will only increase our organization’s efficiency. We look forward to starting construction of this groundbreaking facility.”
The $150 million mill project represents the largest private investment in the U.S. steel industry in the last decade, enabling new domestic manufacturing capabilities, executives claim. The facility will be capable of producing hollow structural sections in square, rectangular and round shapes and in sizes ranging from 8-inch square x 0.750-inch wall to 22-inch square x 1-inch wall.
While Atlas Tube has supplied Jumbo HSS since 2012, the new mill allows the full range of these products to be made in the USA for the first time — and with a larger maximum wall thickness than previously available. The largest rectangular section to be produced at the site is 30-inch by 14-inch by 1-inch wall.
The Blytheville mill will produce HSS and pipe piling to meet or exceed ASTM A500, ASTM A1085, CSA G40 and ASTM A252 standards. It will be Atlas Tube’s sixth mill in North America and its fifth in the United States, all of which also produce HSS.