Nucor said it has reached an agreement with Precoat Metals Corp. to buy its Armorel facility in Blytheville, Ark., USA, which is no more than a few miles from Nucor’s campus. Nucor said it had considered building a greenfield paint line before deciding to acquire the 250,000-tons-per-year facility. 

"Purchasing this paint line has several advantages over building a new facility, including greatly accelerating Nucor's entrance into the painted products market with existing capacity and an experienced team. We will be able to diversify our product and market mix sooner, bringing value-added products to customers in construction, HVAC, garage door, lighting, transportation and other key pre-paint markets," said Troy Brooks, vice president and general manager of Nucor Steel–Arkansas.

The line is the latest addition to Nucor’s Arkansas facility. It is ramping up an advanced cold mill there, and is installing an equally advanced galvanizing line to complement the cold mill. Together, those projects represent a US$470 million investment. 

During Nucor’s third-quarter earnings conference call, Nucor executives said that since commissioning, the cold mill has added 24 new customers and has conducted trial runs of third-generation advanced high-strength steels. It also currently is running production around the clock. 

Meanwhile, construction on the galvanizing line is continuing. Equipment installation began in the third quarter, and start-up is expected to occur in the second half of 2021, executives said.