CHIPS

By Staff -- Purchasing, 12/8/2000

JW Aluminum, the Mt. Holly, S.C., aluminum sheet maker, might be sold off in early 2001 by parent company Walter Industries, which is conducting studies to determine its "optimal future operating profile." Walter Industries says JW Aluminum "is a profitable, growing niche business; however, it has no relationship to any of the company's other businesses" of homebuilding and home financing, water transmission products and energy services.

Dofasco Inc. moved to the top of the 2000 list from No. 10 in 1999 in the annual customer satisfaction survey of sheet mills by Jacobson & Associates. John Jacobson, president of the Lake Forest, Ill., consulting firm says the Hamilton, Ontario-based steelmaker was cited for its product quality, response time, dependability and sales support.

Columbus Coatings has opened in Ohio, a joint venture of Bethlehem Steel and LTV Steel that is producing galvannealed steel primarily for automotive parts.

Chicago Cold Rolling, a sheet steel toll-processing operation in Portage, Ind., is on the sales block for $60 million. Investment company Chanin Capital Partners is selling the facility on behalf of co-owners Bethlehem Steel and Meco Corp., a Pittsburgh-based mill machinery manufacturer currently in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Chicago Cold Rolling specializes in processing light-gauge cold-rolled steel.

Norfolk Iron & Metal service center in Norfolk, Neb., soon will start construction on a new $7.1 million steel distribution and processing facility in Emporia, Kan., to better serve customers in Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Arkansas. Operations will begin in late 2001 or early 2002.

Canadian miner Noranda has started shipping small test quantities of magnesium from its new $529-million plant in Danville, Que. The Magnola plant, one of the biggest magnesium production facilities in the world, uses Noranda-developed technology to extract magnesium from tailings from a nearby asbestos mine. The plant eventually will produce about 63,000 metric tons of magnesium annually.

Globe Specialty Metals in Denver has attained ISO 14001 status for environmental quality. Owned by Asarco , Globe Specialty Metals produces high-purity specialty bismuth alloys and electronic-grade specialty metals such as copper, tellurium, selenium and antimony.