North American Stainless has cast its first heat of billets in Carrollton, Ky.

The equipment, installed by Danieli, can produce square billets from 6.5 to 8.0 inches thick. This will allow NAS to increase the size of its wire rod coils up to 5000 pounds, and to produce bar up to four inches in diameter.

With this startup, NAS will now have a fully integrated manufacturing process for long products.