Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ-GS: STLD), today announced that its board of directors has approved the appointment of Mark D. Millett to the new position of President and Chief Operating Officer, effective immediately. Millett, a co-founder of the company in 1993, has been Executive Vice President for Metals Recycling and Ferrous Resources as well as President and COO of OmniSource Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary, since August 2008. In those capacities, Millett has been responsible for the company’s resources platform, which includes all ferrous and nonferrous scrap operations and ironmaking initiatives.
Millett, 51 years old, who is a company director, will continue to report to co-founder, Chairman and CEO Keith E. Busse. Mark will assume direct management of the operating leadership team, with all Executive Vice Presidents, except for the CFO, reporting directly to him. Mark will continue to work with the Chairman on executing the company’s growth strategies. A search is underway to fill the position Millett will be relinquishing. Until then, Millett will continue to fulfill these responsibilities. Richard P. Teets Jr., the third co-founder of the company and a company director, will continue as Executive Vice President and President and COO of Steelmaking.
“Mark’s appointment recognizes the leadership role Mark has played in the growth of the company,” said Busse. ”Mark and I have worked together for decades and he has been an important part of our company’s success, both on the steelmaking side and in connection with our ferrous resources platform. Mark, Dick and I will continue to work together to propel our company to new heights.”
“This appointment is part of the board’s on-going executive talent development and succession planning process,” said Joseph Ruffolo, the board’s lead independent director. ”This appointment is part of our mission to ensure that the company continues to benefit from consistent, strong and capable leadership.”
“Obviously, I am grateful to Keith and the board of directors, and I look forward to continuing to work with Keith, Dick and the rest of our talented colleagues in leading this great company we founded 18 years ago to new successes,” said Millett.
At Steel Dynamics, Millett led the successful integrations of The Techs and OmniSource into the company after their acquisitions in 2007. He also led the team that pioneered the company’s Iron Dynamics and Mesabi Nugget ironmaking initiatives. During his 10 years leading the Flat Roll Division, from 1998 to June 2008, Mr. Millett and his team initiated the process that led to expanded operations, products and diversification, which created the framework to increase the Butler Mill’s steelmaking capacity to three million tons annually, making it one of the most productive and profitable flat roll mini-mills in the country.
Previously, Millett was employed by Nucor Corporation for 12 years, where he served in several key positions, including the design, construction and operation of the melting and casting facility at the world’s first thin-slab mini mill in Crawfordsville, Indiana.
Millett received a Bachelor of Science degree in metallurgy from the University of Surrey, England.
About Steel Dynamics, Inc.
Steel Dynamics, Inc. (SDI) is the nation’s fifth largest producer of carbon steel products and one of the largest metals recyclers with 2010 revenues of $6.3 billion on steel shipments of 5.3 million tons and ferrous shipments of 5.2 million gross tons. Based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, SDI employs about 6,180 people and operates five electric-furnace mini mills and, through its OmniSource subsidiary, some 70 scrap facilities throughout the Midwest and Southeast. More than 60 percent of the company’s steel shipments are flat-rolled sheet steels and the remainder are various long products. SDI is among the most profitable American steel companies in terms of profit margins and operating profit per ton.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains some predictive statements about future events, including statements related to our future plans and prospects. These statements are intended to be made as “forward-looking,” subject to many risks and uncertainties, within the safe harbor protections of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such predictive statements are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results could differ materially from our current expectations.
Factors that could cause such predictive statements to turn out other than as anticipated or predicted include, among others: the effects of prevailing or worsening economic conditions on industrial demand in general or on steel consumption in particular; the impact of price competition, risks and uncertainties involving new products or new technologies; changes in the availability or cost of steel scrap or substitute materials; increases in energy costs; occurrence of unanticipated equipment failures and plant outages; labor unrest; and the effect of the elements on production or consumption.
More specifically, we refer you to SDI’s detailed explanation of these and other factors and risks that may cause such or any other predictive statements to turn out differently, as set forth in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, in our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q or in other reports which we from time to time file with the Securities and Exchange Commission, available publicly on the SEC Web site, www.sec.gov, and on the Steel Dynamics Web site, www.steeldynamics.com.
Forward-looking or predictive statements we make are based upon information and assumptions, concerning our businesses and the environments in which they operate, which we consider reasonable as of the date on which these statements are made. Due to the foregoing risks and uncertainties however, as well as, matters beyond our control which can affect forward-looking statements, you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these predictive statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. We undertake no duty to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
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United States Steel Corp. is returning to McKeesport’s National Works site.
“USS Tubular Products will be assuming operation of the facility effective May 1,” U.S. Steel spokeswoman Erin DiPietro said Friday.
Meanwhile, workers completed removal of a Camp-Hill sign that adorned a former National Works electric resistance weld mill.
“We are working through the transaction with (Camp-Hill Local 5852) and the company,” said Tom Conway, USW international vice president and chairman of the union committee that negotiates with U.S. Steel.
Approximately 150 work there, including management and rank-and-file employees, according to city tax records.
“Any move by U.S. Steel reinvesting in this valley is very exciting news,” said Maury Burgwin, CEO of the McKeesport-based Regional Chamber Alliance, the coalition of chambers of commerce whose offices are on the other side of the tracks from Camp-Hill in McKeesport’s old city hall.
“That is excellent news for our city and equally good news for our region,” McKeesport city administrator Dennis Pittman said.
Pittman and other city officials would have been contacted under federal law if Camp-Hill was closing.
Instead, Pittman said, “U.S. Steel is going to reinvest here in the Monongahela Valley and specifically here in McKeesport.”
Camp-Hill is the last vestige of a complex that began with the National Tube Works in 1872. What became U.S. Steel’s National Works operated until 1987.
The beginning of the end was a work stoppage from Aug. 1, 1986, until Feb. 2, 1987. U.S. Steel called it a strike; the USW called it a lockout.
Three days after the dispute ended, U.S. Steel announced the indefinite closing of four Pittsburgh area mills. On April 24, 1987, it announced the permanent closing of the National and Homestead District works.
By December of that year Camp-Hill Corp. was making plans for the ERW mill.
In 2007 Camp-Hill president Ross Hillegass said the mill made “piling pipe … for structural purposes, for foundations where there is unsuitable ground.”
In 2008, a U.S. Steel spokesman said Camp-Hill was bringing in a flat, rolled steel called skelp from the Irvin Plant in West Mifflin, which makes up the U.S. Steel Mon Valley Works with the Edgar Thomson Plant in Braddock and the Clairton cokemaking plant.
Regional Industrial Development Corp. of Southwestern Pennsylvania purchased 135 acres of the National Works site in 1988.
It since has been home for such firms as Healthcare Waste Solutions, Bulk Conveyor Specialist Inc., Maglev Inc., EchoStar and Huckestein Mechanical Systems.
EchoStar, later known as Dish Network, operated a leased call center on the RIDC site from 1999-2010.
Huckestein sold its facility last year to EQT, parent company of Equitable Gas, which this week was given a green light by McKeesport council to purchase additional land from RIDC for storage and parking.
“I think the goal of the city always has been for what is now called (RIDC Riverplace) Industrial Center of McKeesport to have a diversified employment base,” Pittman said. “If we were going to go out and recruit a company I would always prefer to add a company that is value-added manufacturing.”
What started out as the National Tube Works first was a provider of pipe for Western Pennsylvania’s oil industry. By 1890 it was a self-contained plant.
Burgwin speculated that the rising Marcellus shale drilling industry is a factor in a new demand for pipe.
“Like Marcellus or not, it is going to become a really big deal for Pennsylvania,” Burgwin said. “Can this create jobs? Can this create supply side industries?”
In Jefferson Hills Thursday, Gov. Tom Corbett focused briefly on Marcellus shale. He reiterated his opposition to any drilling tax.
His press office also said the number of gas drilling industries in Pennsylvania is up from 9,252 in 2008 to 17,938 last year.
Corbett aides also said the average wage for Marcellus shale jobs ($67,801 a year) and ancillary jobs ($64,823) is higher than that for all jobs in the state ($44,418).
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“Keep moving” is the imperative on the steel coating line that ThyssenKrupp AG opened last week.
ThyssenKrupp coats the steel in molten zinc to prevent corrosion, and also heats the metal, softening its so that customers can stamp out parts. The line is the last major process on the carbon steel side of the $5 billion complex to begin operation.
It is the first of four hot-dip galvanizing lines to be built inside two towering buildings visible from U.S. 43. ThyssenKrupp plans to start the second line later this month, followed by the third in June and the fourth in August.
Making galvanized steel is a key step toward supplying automakers, one of the key goals that Germany’s largest steelmaker has for its first U.S. plant.
“This is the bulk of what the automotive industry is going to buy,” said Bob Holt, vice president of sales and marketing for ThyssenKrupp Steel USA.
ThyssenKrupp will also sell galvanized material for use in siding and roofing, appliances, metal furniture and air ducts.
It will take months for the plant to demonstrate that it has achieved the consistent quality and production volume demanded by automakers. During that time, officials said most sales will be to construction and service centers — distributors who act as middlemen for smaller steel users.
The carbon steel unit, which has nearly 1,600 workers, shares the complex on the Mobile-Washington county line with the stainless unit, which has nearly 400 workers. ThyssenKrupp plans to ultimately employ 2,700 people in Calvert.
Carbon steel began production in July, taking slabs shipped from overseas and rolling them into coils.
The galvanizing line is a further step, taking coils of cold-rolled steel and unwinding them again.
In the newest line, a constant flow is required through the furnace that heats the steel to 875 degrees and through the molten zinc bath that follows. Stopping the line means steel in those areas may become unusable.
That’s expensive, said Kevin Siebeneck, one of the hot-dip galvanizing managers. Stopping the flow can mean an entire coil of steel — worth $12,000 to $20,000 on the open market — could be ruined.
But steel doesn’t arrive from cold rolling mill in one long sheet. Coils have to be unrolled one at a time and then welded together. Similarly, coils have to be wound up one at a time on the finished end.
To allow for the stops and starts of coiling, the line has a series of loopers. They build up reserves of steel, allowing a constant flow in the middle.
At maximum speed of almost 200 yards per minute, workers have about two minutes to complete a weld at the front of the line before the reserve runs out, Siebeneck said. As the end of the coil nears, the steel slows and the looping machinery begins sinking from the towering ceiling toward the floor — a dramatic visual reminder that the clock is running on the switch.
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Sourced from Agmetalminer.com
A couple of days ago we reported that heavy steel plate and galvanized sheet/coil may see global price increases due to supply constraints, namely rolling power outages for primary Japanese steel producers. Last week, Gerdau’s Steel Market Update suggested wire rod as well as hot rolled bar exports from Japan may also see some declines due to damage at an integrated mill and several mini-mills. But that may not limit supply or push up prices as China may pick up the missing volumes. Here in the domestic market, prices for HR band, CRC and all forms of scrap appear to still move in an upward direction — albeit at 1 percent increase levels, according to Steelbenchmarker. This suggests to us the upward price trend has started to slow. In fact, rebar declined by 2 percent. At these levels of increase, we tend to think the market has moved close or reached the top of the price curve. Other steel industry sources have indicated that pricing momentum has turned neutral.
On the other hand, plate prices increased by 4 percent, according to SteelBenchmarker. Since November, we have seen some buying organizations pay 32 percent more for plate today. With some galvanized steel and plate shortages expected from Japan, could we have a market in which a couple of steel product segments continue on an upward price trajectory while the balance of the market hits the top of the price curve?
Again, turning to Gerdau, their latest steel market indicator chart suggests some softening of the fundamentals, particularly around construction spending and some historical indicators such as general steel shipments and capacity utilization. But the Gerdau update report also suggests buyers still see rising prices. Does that mean we have a bifurcated market?
Oddly enough, China prices have not corresponded to domestic pricing (see this chart of key products from the last 30 days from China):
Source: MetalMiner IndX
As we said from the outset this year, we expect some ups and downs. In addition, we have also said, “very small demand upticks tend to create disproportionate price increases and in some cases, supply shortages. In addition, we know that the correlation between steel prices in China and steel prices in the US remains somewhat tight as raw material inputs (or steel-making inputs) tend to share the same general price trends (e.g. when iron ore costs increase, so too do scrap prices) meaning we can take pricing cues from places like China.” Will China’s prices lead the US market or will it work the other way around? Stay tuned.
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The Renco Group’s affiliate, RG Steel has closed the share purchase of three steel companies from Severstal US. With this acquisition, RG Steel now has an annual production capacity of 7.5 million tons of flat-rolled steel.
With this purchase, RG Steel now has integrated steel plants at Wheeling, West Virginia, Warren, Ohio and Sparrows Point, Maryland, and finishing plants in Martins Ferry and Yorkville, Ohio. The company has also acquired the Wheeling Corrugating based in West Virginia and 50% interest in both Ohio Coatings in Yorkville, Ohio, and Mountain State Carbon, a coke producing facility in Follansbee, West Virginia.
The President and Chief Executive Officer at RG Steel, John Goodwin stated that the company is planning to achieve the top position in the production and delivery of flat-rolled steel and to offer better services to its customers. The company would leverage its strengths to become a top-ranking manufacturer of flat-rolled steel in the US market.
Goodwin further said that the company has initiated the activities to resume operations via its hot strip mill in Sparrows Point, Maryland. The company is planning an organized recommencement of operations at the facility. The blast furnace at Sparrows Point facility is expected to begin production in May 2011, Goodwin said.
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