North American Stainless Continues to Invest in the Future of Steel with Latest $270 Million Expansion

---

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas). As North American Stainless Company (Ghent, Kentucky), a division of The Acerinox Group (Madrid, Spain), prepares to launch a $270 million expansion, they have started the interesting, if somewhat overwhelming, task of choosing subcontractors to bring the project to completion. It was recently announced that Voest-Alpine (Krems, Austria) has been contracted to supply the new ladle furnace, an argon oxygen decarburization converter with an ostensible capacity of 150 tons that will be able to produce up to 24 heats per day. It comes as no surprise that this company was selected, as Voest-Alpine worked with North American Stainless in the recent past installing its new #2 electric arc furnace. The new furnace tapped out the first heat on September 13, 2006.

Slated to start construction soon, the expansion is one in a long list of projects that have been tracked by Industrial Info. Over the past six years they have added a melt shop ($285 million), a #3 cold rolling mill and finishing line ($130 million), completed a cold rolling mill expansion, a #4 Grinding machine ($50 million), and an electric arc furnace ($50 million). American Stainless also spends over $10 million a year in maintenance at the plant.

With these formable projects in the line up completed and accounted for, it’s no small wonder that North American Stainless would not be content to rest on its laurels, but instead have decided to once more invest millions to improve and update the plant with the new multimillion dollar expansion. Included in the expansion plans are a 100,000 square-foot addition, a ladle furnace, a 4th annealing and pickling line as well as a 5th Cold rolling mill. With these improvements, production is expected to increase by approximately 40%, bringing the capacity of the mill to 1.5 million tons per year. The project is expected to be complete by late 2008 or early 2009.

Situated on 1,100 acres in Carroll County, Kentucky, the mill came online in 1988 and produces stainless steel coils, sheets, and long products (bar, wire and rod). The company has stated that it’s looking to the future and that the operations will continue to grow and expand to meet the demands of the marketplace all the while assuring that its focus will remain on quality and service.

View Plant Profile – 1012560
View Project Report - 23002067 23001129 23001261 23001552 23001861 23002067

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is a Marketing Information Service company that has been doing business for over 23 years. IIR is respected as the leader in providing comprehensive market intelligence pertaining to the industrial processing, heavy manufacturing, and energy-related industries throughout the world.