Metals Chips
By Tom Stundza -- Purchasing, 2/12/2009 2:00:00 AM
Patriot Metals, a new firm, has opened a full-line steel service center in Portland, Maine and plans to open two more New England service centers within the next six months, according to CEO James Post. The new 25,000 sq ft storage, processing and distributing facility handles carbon, stainless and aluminum bars, shapes and sheet. (This firm has no connection with Patriot Steel, an Akron, Ohio service center.)
Aleris International has idled temporarily most of its secondary aluminum production at its Coldwater, Mich., alloy plant for an undisclosed amount of time as demand in the North American automotive industry continues to deteriorate.
The Leeco Steel division of the Industrial Metals Group of O'Neal Steel will be moving its Chicago processing plant for carbon, high-strength low-alloy, and heat-treated alloy plate to Portage, Ind.
The Steel Warehouse service center chain based in South Bend, Ind., has purchased Cleveland property from steelmaker ArcelorMittal USA and steel processor Heidtman Steel Products. CEO David Lerman says Steel Warehouse will use the former Heidtman property to build an 86,000 sq ft warehouse, to be opened in the third or fourth quarter this year, and will use the ArcelorMittal site, which houses 120,000 sq ft of old steel mill buildings, to store steel.
Sandmeyer Steel has installed the fourth abrasive waterjet cutter at its Philadelphia stainless steel and nickel alloy plate processing center. The four machines have seven cutting heads capable of producing near net-shapes and intricate parts.
Nucor Corp. has delayed start-up of a new $150 million hot-dip galvanizing facility in Decatur, Ala., due to a lack of steel orders. John Ferriola, Nucor's COO, confirms the decision to delay the start-up from this quarter, saying it was entirely tied to the economic downturn.
Coil coater Precoat Metals plans to shut its processing plant in McKeesport, Pa., by the end of March. Jeff Widenor, vice president of strategic planning and business development at the St. Louis-based company, says there is overcapacity in the coil coating industry. The firm will transfer McKeesport's work to its eight other plants that have 11 coil coating lines.
Fulton County Processing plans to expand its Delta, Ohio, plant by 85,000 square feet to 250,000 square feet and add a fourth coil-processing line with a new slitter in March, says James VanPoppel, president, in a statement. Founded in 2002, the joint venture between VanPoppel Enterprises, Heidtman Steel Products and Kelco Metals processes and distributes hot-rolled, cold-rolled, pickled and galvanized sheet in coils.
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