American Metal Market has announced the finalists for the 2012 Awards for Steel Excellence. The 2012 Awards for Steel Excellence program will recognize the most innovative companies across multiple categories. The winners will be announced and honored at a special dinner on 19 June 2012 during the Steel Success Strategies XXVII Conference.

Also included in the dinner is a celebration of the newly launched Steel Hall of Fame and its inductees. A video tribute to the Inaugural Class will open the dinner and a live presentation by Dan DiMicco, Chairman and CEO of Nucor, will honor Inaugural Class Inductee Ken Iverson.

The Steel Hall of Fame Inaugural Class Includes:

Andrew Carnegie
Elbert Gary
Henry Bessemer
Charles Schwab
Willy Korf
Ken Iverson
Park Tae-Joon
Yoshihiro Inayama

The Class of 2012 will then be honored with the following presentations:

• Tribute to 2012 Inductee John B. Tytus by James Wainscott, Chairman & CEO, AK Steel
• Tribute to 2012 Inductee Luigi Danieli by Gianpietro Benedetti, Chairman & CEO, Danieli
• Tribute to 2012 Inductee Father William Hogan by Frank Koeble
• Tribute to 2012 Inductee Irving Rossi by Herbert Fastert
• Tributes to Thomas Graham by John Surma, Chairman & CEO, US Steel, and James Wainscott, Chairman & CEO, AK Steel, including presentation of Hall of Fame plaque to Thomas C. Graham, the first living Inductee to the Steel Hall of Fame

The evening will continue with presentations for the AMM Awards for Steel Excellence. The full list of nominees includes:

Best Innovation

• Carpenter Technology - Phased Array Inspection System
• China Beijing Mining Exchange - China Iron Ore Spot Trading Platform
• Olympic Steel - Tube Laser installation at Chicago Tube & Iron subsidiary
• Majestic - Technology innovations to improve transparency

Best Merger & Acquisition

• AK Steel/Magnetation LLC, AK Coal Resource Inc.
• Carpenter Technology/Latrobe Specialty Metals
• AM Castle/Tube Supply Inc.
• Grede Holdings/Novocast and Teknik (Mexico from Grupo Proeza) and Paxton-Mitchell (Omaha, Neb)
• Olympic Steel/Chicago Tube & Iron

Best Operational Improvements

• ArcelorMittal Dofasco - Operating cost savings, productivity increase resulting from Primary Optimization Program (POP)
• ArcelorMittal Indiana Harbor - Blast furnace top gas Energy Recovery & Reuse (504 boiler project)
• ArcelorMittal Burns Harbor - Enhanced efficiency, quality resulting from rebuild of the 160-inch plate mill heat treat operation
• Carpenter Technology - Seven-fold increase in throughput and zero customer rejections resulting from the implementation of Phased Array Inspection System
• Superior Tube - Implementation of a Lean Manufacturing culture leading to a 12% increase in revenue and 62% improvement in operating profit

Best Brownfield/Greenfield Technology

• ArcelorMittal Dofasco - Primary Optimization Program (POP)
• ArcelorMittal Indiana Harbor - Blast furnace top gas Energy Recovery & Reuse (504 boiler project)
• ArcelorMittal Burns Harbor - Rebuild of Heat Treat Operation serving 160-inch plate mill
• Essar Steel Algoma - Installation of Individualized Oven Pressure Control System on No. 9 Coke Battery
• GE/Wuhan - Increase in energy efficiency and profitability
• Magnetation - Use of a unique, advanced magnetic separation process to recover iron ore from existing stockpiles of previously mined material.

Environmental Responsibility/Stewardship

• Sims Metal Management - Global "green" initiatives, capital investments and accreditation
• Steel Market Development Institute (SMDI) - Auto emissions reduction through the SMDI's FutureSteelVehicle Project
• Olympic Steel - Installation of a 100 KW Northern Power 100 wind turbine to supplement power used by company's Cleveland temper mill and corporate headquarters

Industry Ambassador/Advocate of the Year

• Dr. Sunil Widge, Carpenter Technology's Senior Vice President — Strategic Business Development & Governmental Affairs and Chairman of the Stainless Steel Industry of North America from 2009 to 2011, steering the organization through a difficult time for the industry.
• Thomas A. Danjczek, President, Steel Manufacturers Association (SMA)
• Thomas J. Gibson, President and Chief Executive Officer, American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI)

Logistics/Transportation Provider of the Year

• Union Pacific - Introduction of numerous new products, including Pipeline Express, Seamless Steel and Copper Connection, designed to improve the ease of doing business by rail for metal shipping customers
• Olympic Steel - Pioneering a private fleet of metal movers that now number 117 total tractors and trailers and the implementation of a state-of-the-art fleet management system

Scrap Company of the Year

• Sims Metal Management - For overall excellence in customer service/support and continuous improvement initiatives worldwide.
• Upstate Shredding - Customer-centered service, community participation and strong support, have helped make Upstate Shredding one of the largest privately held scrap metal processors on the U.S. East Coast.
• Cohen - Fourth-generation, privately owned, family business celebrated a banner year in 2011 when it rebranded, added satellite operations and adopted an aggressive plant to vertically integrate several new product lines and services into its business model.
• All Star Metals - Brownsville, Texas-based licensed ship recycling, metal processing and environmental remediation contractor that has achieved steady growth over the past nine years.

Service Center of the Year

• Berlin Metals - For excellence in customer service, support and retention. On-time delivery rates are said to have exceeded 99% for nearly a decade with customer complaint percentage pegged at less than 1/2 of 1% for 15 years. Return on net assets (RONA) 2009, 2010 and 2011 is reported at 1.5%, 21.7% and 23.9%, respectively.
• Mill Steel - Grew 41.5% in terms of tons sold and 26.3% in terms of customers sold in calendar year 2011. Also completed variety of expansion and equipment installation projects and experienced NO customer defaults or bankruptcies in 2010 or 2011.
• AM Castle - Moved aggressively to ensure future growth via the $165 million acquisition of Tube Supply at an attractive multiple of EBITDA.
• Olympic Steel - Acquisition for $150 million in cash and assumption of about $6 million in debt of Chicago Tube & Iron Co. (CTI, in July 2011 proved immediately accretive to earnings. Combined, Olympic and CTI noted revenue of about $1.5 billion.)

Steel Producer of the Year

• CMC - CMC's vertical integration model revolutionized the way the steel industry operates today.
• The Timken Co. - By applying its knowledge of friction management and power transmission, Timken helps customers products run smoother, faster and more efficiently.