Steel Mills
Indiana Harbor Aluminizing Line Closed
Written by Sandy Williams
February 25, 2016
ArcelorMittal USA has closed the aluminizing line at Indiana Harbor West. Workers have been transferred to a galvanizing line that restarted after being idled near the end of 2014.
The closing has been in the works for more than a year and was actually expected in December. ArcelorMittal has been in talks with the USW about closing additional lines at Indiana Harbor. The plan is to run fewer lines and investing in others to preserve jobs and improve efficiency according to USW District 7 Director Mike Millsap.
The action comes as part of a strategy that will move more production to the AM/NS Calvert plant in Alabama which is continuing to ramp up production after meeting some headwinds on slab costs last year.
In the Q4 earnings report, ArcelorMittal reported Calvert is expected to increase volumes and EBITDA this year. The facility is geared toward servicing the automotive industry and has been approved so far on more than 200 automotive qualification packages. AM/NS Calvert will produce high value steels including Usibor, an aluminum-silicon coated high strength steel and Ductibor, an energy-absorbing high strength steel grade designed specifically to complement Usibor.
“ArcelorMittal is considering all options to optimize our assets in the United States and beyond, including those within Indiana Harbor, in support of the Action 2020 program that was launched at our Q4 and full-year 2015 earnings announcement,” said spokesperson Mary Beth Holdford in an email.
“Action 2020 is a strategic roadmap that aims to achieve targeted financial improvements for the company by 2020. In the United States, efforts to support Action 2020 include asset and cost optimization as well as an improved portfolio of high added value (HAV) products. These products will ensure ArcelorMittal is uniquely positioned with a strong technical and product portfolio to serve customer requirements.”
The following chart is from the Q4 earnings report and illustrates the strategy ArcelorMittal will follow in the Action 2020 plan. Approximately $3 billion in structural and operational improvements are planned across all of ArcelorMittal’s business sectors from 2016 through 2020. The plan is incremental and sets as a goal 90 million tonnes of shipments by the end of 2020.
Optimization of assets in the U.S. are expected to be accomplished without layoffs by leveraging natural attrition, said Holdford.
Sandy Williams
Read more from Sandy WilliamsLatest in Steel Mills
SDI presses on with steel, aluminum investments
Steel Dynamics Inc. remains optimistic about its prospects as it ramps up flat-rolled steel operations and prepares for the production of aluminum products next year. Executives from the Fort Wayne, Ind.-based steelmaker provided an update on the company’s operations on a conference call on Thursday held to discuss SDI’s third-quarter earnings results.
CMC earnings slide, but still near top mark
CMC Fourth quarter ended Aug. 31 2024 2023 Change Net sales $1,996.1 $2,209.2 -9.6% Net income (loss) $103.9 $184.2 -43.6% Per diluted share $0.90 $1.56 -42.3% Full year ended Aug. 31 Net sales $7,925.9 $8,799.5 -9.9% Net income (loss) $485.5 $859.7 -43.5% Per diluted share $4.14 $7.25 -42.9% (in millions of dollars except per share) […]
SDI posts lower Q3 profit, sees better times in ’25
Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI) reported a drop in third-quarter profits driven largely by lower flat-rolled steel prices. The Fort Wayne, Ind.-based electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmaker also saw scrap prices slip. That happened because of softer demand from domestic mills taking planned maintenance outages.
Cliffs hosts fireside chat on industry, union, government collaboration
Cleveland-Cliffs’s Chairman, President, and CEO Lourenco Goncalves hosted a fireside chat with US Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su on Friday at the company’s plate mill in Coatesville, Pa.
Nippon agrees to sell Calvert stake, if USS deal closes
ArcelorMittal is set to take full ownership of AM/NS Calvert if Nippon Steel finalizes its pending acquisition of U.S. Steel.