Republic Steel to Mothball Ohio Rolling Mill
01/07/2016 - Special bar quality manufacturer Republic Steel has announced that it will idle its Lorain, Ohio, USA, rolling mill by March and lay off approximately 200 workers, according to media reports.
The idling is temporary, although there is no timeframe for resuming operations.
“We hope that we can resume the Lorain operations in the near future,” Republic Steel president and CEO Jaime Vigil said in a statement to WJW-TV in Cleveland. “We are positioned for growth and will be ready to provide capacity once the market turns around.
The company said the Lorain plant struggled during 2015 and that it had no other option but to idle the mill, according to the news station.
United Steelworkers representatives told The Chronicle-Telegram newspaper in Elyria, Ohio, that the company blamed the idling on the downturn in the energy industry. The facility serves both the energy and automotive markets.
The company announced in July 2015 it was idling its electric arc furnace and would supply the rolling mill from its Canton, Ohio meltshop. The decision affected approximately 125 employees.
That move followed a round of layoffs in March 2015, when approximately 200 employees were let go. In both instances, Republic blamed the decline in the oil and gas markets, the newspaper said.
“We hope that we can resume the Lorain operations in the near future,” Republic Steel president and CEO Jaime Vigil said in a statement to WJW-TV in Cleveland. “We are positioned for growth and will be ready to provide capacity once the market turns around.
The company said the Lorain plant struggled during 2015 and that it had no other option but to idle the mill, according to the news station.
United Steelworkers representatives told The Chronicle-Telegram newspaper in Elyria, Ohio, that the company blamed the idling on the downturn in the energy industry. The facility serves both the energy and automotive markets.
The company announced in July 2015 it was idling its electric arc furnace and would supply the rolling mill from its Canton, Ohio meltshop. The decision affected approximately 125 employees.
That move followed a round of layoffs in March 2015, when approximately 200 employees were let go. In both instances, Republic blamed the decline in the oil and gas markets, the newspaper said.
