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ThyssenKrupp Celebrates Construction Milestones for Alabama Mill

11/07/2008 - ThyssenKrupp Steel USA and ThyssenKrupp Stainless USA celebrate the first anniversary of groundbreaking with a review of the key construction milestones to date for their new world-class complex in Calvert, Ala.

ThyssenKrupp Steel USA and ThyssenKrupp Stainless USA celebrated this week the first anniversary of groundbreaking ceremonies for their new Calvert, Ala., development.

ThyssenKrupp announced in May 2007 that it would build its new state-of-the-art steel and stainless steel processing facility in Alabama after a highly competitive site selection process.
 
The site covers approximately 3,500 acres of land and approximately 7 million square feet of building space with a 1200-acre building footprint.
 
The project is believed to be one of the largest private industrial investments in the U.S. over the next decade and is a rare case of job in-sourcing in the U.S.
 
Once operational, the facilities will operate 24 hours per day, 365 days per year, and will provide jobs for approximately 2700 people on the company payroll excluding on-site contractors.

As part of the celebration, the two ThyssenKrupp divisions announced key construction milestones for the new world-class complex they are jointly building 30 miles north of Mobile. The facilities, which will process carbon steel and stainless steel for high-value applications in the NAFTA market, are scheduled to begin operations in 2010. Key milestones include the following:
 
Site Preparation—Site preparation took place from May to October 2007, beginning with site selection. Specific site prep achievements include:
  • Tree harvesting, with more than 1740 truckloads at around 35 loads/day
  • Clearing and grading of 1450 acres
  • Soil testing, including the drilling of 26,850 feet for geotechnical testing
  • Groundbreaking, November 2007 to present
  • Grading and filling, including the movement of over 10 million cubic yards of earth
  • Grading for Stainless segment‘s meltshop completed, with grading contracts coming to a close
 
Infrastructure, pilings, and foundations—Engineering has been completed for the site’s infrastructure, pilings and foundations. Highlights include:
  • 36,000 piles driven (nearly 300 miles)
  • Foundations for buildings completed or underway
  • Foundations for equipment underway
  • Main power substation completed
  • Two additional substations, electrical buildings and switchrooms underway
  • Structural steel erection started for storage areas
 
Structural Steel Erection
 
  • Foundations underway for the Steel segment‘s hot strip mill, cold rolling mill and hot dip galvanizing lines, with structural steel erection to begin
    • within two weeks for the hot strip mill
    • within two months for the cold rolling mill and galvanizing lines
  • Majority of steel erected for the Stainless segment‘s cold rolling with about 50% hung for its cold annealing and pickling line
 
The company also noted that construction has begun on the wastewater treatment plant, and the barge terminal has been designed and contracted, and is now under construction. As work progresses, more than 1500 temporary construction employees are on site each day, with the number expected to increase.
 
Recruitment—From January 2008 to now, the company has received 5,228 applications and resumes for both salaried and hourly positions for the project. Recruitment milestones include the following:
 
  • A total of 304 permanent project team members hired for both segments
  • 82 Stainless segment maintenance and operations team members now undergoing training at other ThyssenKrupp Stainless operation facilities in Germany
  • Over 200 Steel segment maintenance and operations team members to commence training in Germany beginning March 2009
  • The Alabama Industrial Development Training program to break ground on a state-of-the-art training center at the project site
 
Procurement—According to the company, over 30% of the bidding process has been completed, the majority of which is primarily construction related). Contracts in excess of $1 billion have been awarded, excluding specialty equipment not available through U.S. companies. Alabama suppliers account for roughly 50% of these contracts.
 
The company said it has ordered more than 90% of production equipment, and that it has awarded supply contracts for energy, natural gas and media (e.g., water and technical gases).
 
"I could not be more pleased with the team we have assembled here for our new project or the people and resources we have found to work with in Alabama and in the South,” said ThyssenKrupp Stainless USA CEO Dr. Ulrich Albrecht-Frueh. “We are following ambitious targets and are confident they will be realized. This is the sort of ‘can-do’ attitude we were impressed with in Alabama during the site selection process and it is proving true. We are pleased to be a partner here."
 
Bob Soulliere, President and CEO of ThyssenKrupp Steel USA said, "We‘re looking forward to bringing ThyssenKrupp Steel‘s reputation for quality products, technological innovation and long-term customer relationships to NAFTA, and particularly the southeast U.S. and Mexico.
 
“We are assembling a growing team that has the level of talent and drive necessary to make a project of this size successful,” added Soulliere. “We‘re confident in our team, our strategy, and in our decision to call Alabama home.”
 
Next on the construction horizon for the Steel and Stainless facilities is the erection of structural steel on the Steel segment‘s hot strip, cold rolling and galvanizing lines, and the installation of the equipment and commissioning and testing of the Stainless segment‘s cold rolling line.
 
The ThyssenKrupp Group, based in Duesseldorf, Germany, is a global technology company which consists of five business segments: Steel, Stainless, Technologies, Elevator and Services. The company has annual sales of more than €51 billion (US$64 billion) and employs more than 190,000 employees in over 70 countries worldwide.
 
ThyssenKrupp Steel, based in Duisburg, Germany, is the holding company for the carbon steel activities of the Group. It is the largest single entity of ThyssenKrupp. Last fiscal year, it produced approximately 14.5 million tonnes of crude steel and generated sales of €13.2 billion (US$17.5 billion). Focused on high-quality carbon steel flat products, this business segment is one of the world‘s leading producers for this segment, ranking second in Europe. The segment employs approximately 39,600 people. Subsidiaries, which are active in processing, coating and steel services, include Rasselstein GmbH, the world‘s largest tinplate production site in Andernach, Germany, and Duisburg-based ThyssenKrupp Tailored Blanks GmbH, a leading producer of laser-welded blanks for the auto industry.
 
ThyssenKrupp Stainless is the holding company of the Stainless segment. Based in Duisburg, Germany, it brings together all of ThyssenKrupp‘s activities in the areas of stainless steel flat-rolled products, nickel alloys and titanium. ThyssenKrupp Stainless has annual sales of €6.4 billion (US$8.3 billion) and 12,037 employees around the globe. Operating companies include German-based ThyssenKrupp Nirosta, Italy‘s ThyssenKrupp Acciai Speciali Terni, ThyssenKrupp Mexinox in Mexico, Shanghai Krupp Stainless in China and ThyssenKrupp VDM, a producer of nickel materials with plants in Germany and the United States. ThyssenKrupp Stainless International is responsible for all stainless sales, distribution and service activities of the Stainless segment where these are not directly allocated to the production companies. The Stainless segment serves global customers in the appliance, electronics, automotive and aerospace industries.