HOT SHEET
Factory worker using heavy
Capital project
Extruder to boost capacity in $101.7 million expansion
Service Center Metals (SCM), which makes aluminum products, will invest more than $100 million to build two facilities: an aluminum extrusion plant and a Compact Remelt plant in Prince George, Virginia. The facilities will increase production capacity to meet growing demand from end users.

Founded in 2002, Service Center Metals began operating in Virginia in 2003. It produces aluminum billets, rods, bars, extruded shapes and tubing, all of which are shipped to service centers across the United States. The company is vertically integrated with two plants on its 30-acre campus.

Its flagship extrusion plant has two presses, and its Compact Remelt plant—consisting of a horizontal billet casting operation—recycles scrap and produces aluminum billets for extrusion presses. The two new facilities will mirror the existing ones.

“The Commonwealth of Virginia and Prince George County have both played significant roles in catapulting Service Center Metals from a greenfield startup into the North American benchmark for safety and productivity today,” Service Center Metals President and CEO Scott Kelley said in a statement. “Our next expansion will be the largest in our history, adding significant capacity to both our billet casting and extrusion operations that will further satisfy our customers’ needs.”

The state of Virginia successfully competed with Tennessee for the project, which will create 94 new jobs.

“Service Center Metals has experienced tremendous success in Prince George County over the past two decades, and an investment of this magnitude is extremely significant for the region,” Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said in a statement.

Northam approved a $350,000 grant from the Commonwealth’s Opportunity Fund to assist Prince George County with the project. The Governor also approved a performance-based grant of $900,000 from the Virginia Investment Performance Grant, an incentive that encourages continued capital investment by existing Virginia companies.

SCM invested $45.2 million in 2018 to expand its manufacturing capabilities. The current expansion is its fifth major capital project in under 20 years.

The Aluminum Association’s Index of Net New Orders of Aluminum Mill Products showed that through the first eight months of 2021, orders recorded by domestic producers grew 21.6 percent compared with the same 2020 period.

Factory interior
NEW CAPACITY
U.S. Steel exploring sites for new EAF
U.S. Steel Corp., Pittsburgh, has begun an exploratory site selection process to build an EAF minimill in the United States. The company is considering a 3-million-ton melt shop and sheet rolling mill with differentiated steelmaking and finishing technology, including equipment already owned by the company. The continued adoption of minimill technology will expand the company’s ability to produce the next generation of proprietary sustainable steel solutions, including advanced high-strength steels. Potential locations include states in which U.S. Steel has existing EAF operations, as well as greenfield sites. The estimated investment is $3 billion. The new mill will help the steelmaker reach its 2030 goal of reducing its global greenhouse gas emissions intensity by 20 percent, compared to a 2018 baseline, and positions the company to progress on its 2050 net zero carbon emission target. The new mill will also create a platform to expand U. S. Steel’s verdeX sustainable product line, delivering differentiated steels made with significantly lower GHG emissions than the traditional integrated steelmaking process. U.S. Steel expects to begin construction during the first half of 2022 with production to start up in 2024.
Gerrit Teunissen Headshot
People
Machinery maker appoints new GM
Gerrit Teunissen was appointed general manager for HGG Profiling Equipment operations in the United States, Mexico and Canada. Teunissen will be based in Houston, overseeing customer service and support, product and sales management.
Metal products
EXPANSION
SAF expands U.S. footprint
SAF, Atlanta, has opened a 60,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in Temple, Texas, where it custom fabricates and distributes metal products, including the manufacturing of panel systems and extrusions. SAF also operates facilities in Atlanta and Villa Rica, Georgia; Nashville; Indianapolis; and Redding, California. The company expects it may hire up to 50 people in the next few years.
REVIVAL
Former JW Aluminum plant purchased and will be reopened
Chance Aluminum Corp will open its first Pennsylvania manufacturing operation in Williamsport, investing nearly $19 million into the project and creating over 100 jobs, according to the office of Gov. Tom Wolf. “Chance Aluminum [will] bring new life to a new life to a shuttered factory [and create] good-paying jobs,” Wolf stated Sept. 8. Chance Aluminum recently purchased the closed JW Aluminum facility in Williamsport and will use the plant to manufacture aluminum foil and other common alloy coils. The mill will serve as the lead domestic supplier for Chance’s sister company, AA Metals Inc., Orlando, Florida. Chance Aluminum will also install additional equipment to transform the facility into a fully integrated aluminum rolling mill. “Having our own [U.S.] mill is part of our vision to be the most dependable master distributor in North America,” stated Jack Cheng, president and CEO of AA Metals and Chance Aluminum.
M&A
Alro Steel purchases Philly distributor
Alro Steel, Jackson, Michigan, has acquired Metal Stock, Philadelphia. This asset purchase will allow Alro to grow its customer base while providing improved service for cut-to-size metals and plastics. Metal Stock was established in 1994 as a full-service metal distributor serving Eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Metal sheets
Airplane engine
PARTNERSHIP
Rolls-Royce chooses thyssenkrupp for 3PL contract
thyssenkrupp Aerospace has signed a 15-year contract with Rolls-Royce to manage the storage and logistics of all finished parts for its engine manufacturing and assembly operations in Indianapolis. The third-party logistics (3PL) contract includes inventory management, as well as kitting, inspection and transportation services. thyssenkrupp Aerospace already provides vendor-managed inventory services for a portion of Rolls-Royce’s supply chain. This expanded contract will be in full operation in 2022 when thyssenkrupp Aeospace opens a 330,000-square-foot distribution facility near Indianapolis.
Press feed line machine
INSTALLATION
COE installs press feed line
COE Press Equipment, Sterling Heights, Michigan, shipped and installed a SpaceMaster Series 3 compact coil lines to Ameristar Manufacturing, a metal fabricator in Mankato, Minnesota. The compact coil line combines unwinding, straightening and feeding of coil stock into one piece of compact equipment capable of processing a variety of material within space-constrained areas. Ameristar will use the new equipment to process carbon and stainless steels and aluminum from 0.01-inch to 0.187-inch thick, up to 20 inches wide, from coils weighing up to 5.5 tons.
M&A
Ryerson acquires Specialty Metals Processing
Ryerson Holding Corp., Chicago, which operates a network of metals processing and distribution facilities, has acquired Specialty Metals Processing, a toll processor located in Stow, Ohio. SMP processes stainless steel, aluminum, titanium and nickel alloy products for a variety of industries including aerospace. SMP’s expertise in buffing, grinding and polishing adds to Ryerson’s existing value-added processing capabilities. SMP’s capabilities “will provide a more complete and integrated value-added experience for our stainless customers,” CEO Mike Burbach said in a statement. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
More news at modernmetals.com
Car frame
PARTNERSHIP
Novelis expands university research pact
Novelis Inc., Atlanta, has expanded its participation with the Georgia Institute of Technology’s Novelis Innovation Hub. More research will be conducted on materials and processes that will help Novelis to become more sustainable and reach a net zero carbon footprint by 2050. This work will build on existing programs engaged to accelerate the pace of innovation via high throughput development methodologies, coupled with artificial intelligence, and to develop new generations of electric vehicle batteries. Novelis and Georgia Tech expect to show how aluminum improves EV battery performance. The new research will target improved performance using higher amounts of recycled aluminum.
NEW CAPACITY
Nucor eyes locations for 3MT sheet mill, plans melt shop for bar products
Nucor Corp. plans to erect a new 3-million-ton sheet mill, with Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia being considered for the location. The mill will be geographically situated to serve customers in the Midwest and Northeast. The new mill is expected to cost $2.7 billion and produce hot-rolled sheet products with downstream processing including a tandem cold mill, annealing capabilities and two galvanizing lines. The mill’s capabilities will include an advanced high-end automotive coating line with full inspection capabilities as well as a construction-grade coating line. Once state and local incentives, permitting and other regulatory approvals are received, construction is expected to take two years.

Separately, Nucor plans to build a new melt shop at one of its existing bar mills in the Western United States. The $100 million melt shop will have the capacity to produce 600,000 tons annually. Nucor has 15 bar mills across the United States that roll 9.5 million tons per year of carbon and alloy steel concrete reinforcing bars, hot-rolled bars, rounds, light shapes, structural angles, channels, wire rod and highway products.

POV of car driving fast
EXPANSION
Samuel to grow in Mexico
Samuel, Son & Co. Ltd., Oakville, Ontario, plans to expand into a new automotive processing facility in Querétaro, Mexico. Construction of the facility is expected to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2021, with full production ramped up in January 2022. The 140,000-square-foot facility will be equipped with a new slitter and related processing capabilities.