AK Steel Marks 100 Years of Research and Innovation
09/23/2010 - AK Steel celebrates this month 100 years of innovation at its research facility in Middletown, Ohio.
AK Steel celebrates this month 100 years of innovation at its research facility in Middletown, Ohio.
Armco — AK Steel’s predecessor — announced creation of the research department on September 22, 1910. Since that time, AK Steel has been dedicated to achieving industry leadership in new product development, customer technical services and steelmaking process improvements.
"AK Steel has a proud heritage of research and innovation," said James L. Wainscott, Chairman, President and CEO of AK Steel. "Throughout historic eras of technological, regulatory and industrial changes in American history, AK Steel has held, and continues to hold, a leading position in the area of steelmaking research."
Throughout its history, AK Steel has pioneered a wide range of products and processes, including
· Development of the world's first continuous hot rolling sheet mill in the 1920s
· Development of various types of electrical steels used in power transmission and distribution equipment.
· Introduction of specific types of aluminized stainless steels in the 1990s, helping to revolutionize the automotive exhaust market.
Today, in addition to several other research projects, AK Steel is developing products that help its automotive customers design lighter, more fuel-efficient vehicles that maintain superior strength and safety performance.
AK Steel produces flat-rolled carbon, stainless and electrical steels, primarily for automotive, appliance, construction and electrical power generation and distribution markets. The company employs about 6200 men and women in Middletown, Mansfield, Coshocton and Zanesville, Ohio; Butler, Pa.; Ashland, Ky.; Rockport, Ind.; and its corporate headquarters in West Chester, Ohio.
AK Tube LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of AK Steel, employs about 300 men and women in plants in Walbridge, Ohio, and Columbus, Ind. AK Tube produces carbon and stainless electric resistance welded (ERW) tubular steel products for truck, automotive and other markets.
